LAST DAY FOR SUBMISSIONS! Petone Arena/HCC Annual Plan Submission

I was at Hutt Rec today watching Rugby, Hutt Old Boys Marist V Old Boys University. A Woman came around with a Petition to stop The Petone Stadium. She claimed that Petone Rugby were against it and in her words she hated soccer and Rugby was the Number One Sport..

I reminded her that far more people play Football than Rugby in the Valley and if she read this weeks Dom Post article Senior  Rugby numbers were dwindling at an alarning rate. Also explained that Rugby has all the best grounds i.e. Hutt Rec wiith beautiful field and grandstand where football has had to put up with third rate fields such as Bell Park, Naenae Park etc. 

Also what does the stadium proposal have to do with 'soccer'? 

Rugby would use it much more than 'soccer' would. 

It's great to see tbe old boofhead rugby die hards are still alive and well. One day they might realise that rugby will not end up as the worlds number one sport. I thought NZ had grown out of the Rugby, Racing, Beer mentality.

Or be like Mark Watson who is all good with taking pot shots at Lydia Ko and her funding (and I have no real issue with it) but wont go after the 7s side and their funding.... Then tell everyone that they are not a professional athlete and that only triathletes are the real deal.

Boofhead.

Nothing much happened with that email to editors about NIMBYs deleting comments on Facebook by the way. Petone chronicle said "we are going to press" which seemed a polite way to say 'who cares?' And Hutt news never responded. 

I wouldn't expect they would - it's not exactly government legislation we're talking about being changed... just a public forum for a neighbourhood group of noisy nobodies.

I too watched rugby there on Saturday (the shame of it i know, a workmate making premier debut).  I was sitting in a stand that is labeled "earthquake prone" and an explanation along the lines of sit here at your own risk also on the sticker.  I was approached by a man with a clip board basically demanding I sign his petition.  When he explained what it was, I refused to sign saying that I thought the stadium was an excellent idea.  I pointed out that this stand that was liable to fall down according to the sticker and the spectators currently on the grass on the other side of the pitch would be able to sit in comfort also as would i in two new stands that the whole community, not just the Phoenix would be able to enjoy for all sorts of events.  He then went into a tirade of abuse (that was aimed primarily at Phoenix and supporters) before I basically told him to piss off. 

I then noticed when I went to get a coffee at half time that he and his mates had set up a table outside the refreshment shop.  I am so tempted to go back there the next time that Petone rugby premiers play at home and set up a similar table right next to them

This is classic of the attitude of that generation of Rugby people.  They don't understand that most of New Zealand don't live for Rugby and that in fact plnety of people enjoy both codes.

The trouble is that their propaganda campaign and scaremongering has been answered by silence so they will win.

About sums it up. 

Somebody for the arena making reasonable points, somebody against the arena going on a mindless tirade that includes football hating. 

I emailed the Hutt Valley Chamber of Commerce to find out if they were making a submission. They replied (which was good of them actually) and they will be including the following in their submission on the draft annual plan:

"PETONE STADIUM PROPOSAL

Hutt Valley Chamber of Commerce has listened to the views of many of its members about the proposed mini-stadium which would serve as a home-base for the Phoenix soccer team. The lack of defined commercial edges to the proposal makes the commitment of ratepayer-funding a difficult choice.

Jackson Street business interests see a considerable windfall benefit from the co-location of a stadium nearby but there other downsides in terms of constraints on community facilities, congested parking, concern by nearby residents around noise and nuisance factors from attendees.

We have refrained from taking a position at this early stage and have been been encouraging our members to make individual submissions to council"

That's a bit wishy washy if you ask me. If you live, work, or own a business in the Hutt Valley why not email them and encourage them to be more supportive: info@hutt-chamber.org.nz

There's also this crowd who represent Jackson Street retail interests:

I Love Petone - Jackson Street Programme:  info@jacksonstreet.co.nz https://www.facebook.com/ilovePetone

I've emailed them too, but no reply yet.

Auckland Phoenix has a point.

We have decided it would be a poor use of fever funds to run another ad this week.

My sauces (chipotle and sweet/sour) tell me that the submission count is massively against us.

Traffic on our petonearena page is not encouraging either.

Hope springs eternal however.

I know the mayor realises that a lot of people are just negative for the sake of it whenever something new starts. He said as such in a speech at a private function recently in which he made a brief comment about the petone arena.

That makes me a little hopeful that at least he won't take any of the emotive scaremongering crap too seriously. Do get the impression that he wants it to happen as well. Obviously even as mayor he is only one member on the council. 

My sauce (Lea and Perrins) informs me the mayor doesn't think it's going to happen. Neither me or my L&P have heard of anyone who genuinely does.

I'm shocked by the multiple stories describing football-bashing from people opposed to the arena.

Bizarre that someone could be so passionately against this just because they don't like football. 

That's probably not a bad angle to take to the press. Give example of incidences where people petitioning or organising against the idea go on tirades about football. Then mention that it won't just be a football stadium, in fact most of its use will be from rugby, and other events. 

Sign the petition with a crude drawing of a penis. Let's see them hand that in

Sent in an out of town submission. 

Pity, don't know Petone as an area, but a smaller arena sounds like a real cracker of an idea.

Another sad truth behind all this is a lot of wellington football supporters don't want the team to move out of town. Can't blame them really, but some of the comments I've had have been disappointing. Tried raising it with my club and yeah, nobody thought it was a good idea. Seems personal convenience is more important to some.

Build it in Upper Hutt then. My backyard and I don't care. Be great for us. Could always revelop that Racing club that sees about 4 meetings a year with only one that has a decent turn out. Build a new stadium in the middle, would have heaps of parking.

Racing de Phoenix.

Have done my submission as an out of towner

MODS only 4 days to go, how about doing a countdown in the topic title and giving it a rev up

Or should that be Racing Club Phoenix?

Racing Phoenix de Santander 

Change of tack. Quickly, someone send a note claiming responsibility for this:

http://www.stuff.co.nz/dominion-post/10036621/Cafe-hygiene-link-to-councillors-bug 

BNZ Tulsi?

Everyone should just keep submitting and hassling others to submit.

There's a misunderstanding about the consultation process that it is a pure numbers game - it's not.

In order to keep evaluating the proposal the council just wants to be able to say there is significant support, they don't need to say it has majority support (yet). So even if there are lots of negative submissions a few hundred positive ones might be enough to keep the idea alive.

Even the Hutt News appears to have copped on to the fact that there is a lot of BS being talked about this and is trying to put the record straight a little bit: http://www.stuff.co.nz/sport/10037276/Petone-Arena-Sorting-the-facts-from-the-fiction

Good piece. 

I imagine a lot of the negative submissions will be along the lines of "I won't be able to walk my dog through the park anymore" which is untrue and fairly irrelevant, so submissions like this will be largely ignored.

It's about quality of submissions, not quantity. 

Ava Station - Petone Rec 200m less than Wellington Station to Westpac Stadium... didn't realise that

Yep, shows how long that bloody concourse is! 

...and I think Petone Station is only another 100m or so with bars and cafes along the way.