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Christchurch mayor, Bob Parker - Source: ONE News -
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Christchurch Mayor Bob Parker says he would like to bring the University of Canterbury back into the heart of the city as part of the earthquake rebuild.
Parker was asked on TV ONE's Close Up tonight if he has a vision for the city, in the way San Francisco's then mayor, Art Agnos, looked to the future after the big quake there in 1989.
Parker said Christchurch first of all has to be the safest city seismically, and the opportunity should be taken to make it as clean and green as possible.
His real wish was for the university to be brought back into the city.
"My real wish is I'd like to bring the university back into the heart of the city and establish an extraordinary precinct which would tie together the university, CPIT (Christchurch Polytechnic Institute of Technology) and a number of other educational institutions," he said.
The university is situated in the suburb of Ilam, but the campus used to be at what is now the Arts Centre in the central city. The historic Arts Centre buildings were badly damaged by the quake.
Parker said he also wants to see the commercial heart of the city given the opportunity to return "and a city which carries with it a quality of beauty and amenity reflecting the history and the garden nature of Christchurch."
But he said he has to listen to the whole community, and working through the process is not going to be easy.
Parker said Agnos had executive powers as mayor whereas he is effectively just the chair of the council.
"Our vision should naturally come from our community. We're going to download as many ideas, as many visions from right across the city as we can. And then we've got an incredibly difficult job. We've got to condense that down, try to capture the best of it, taking good advice and effectively present that to government in around about six month's time."
Recovery Bill to be passed urgently
Meanwhile, Earthquake Recovery Minister Gerry Brownlee told Close Up there will be no compromise on standards to rebuild Christchurch.
The government will introduce a Bill in the House tomorrow to give it the authority to move very quickly to make decisions in the best interests of the community, he said, and that move would be controversial.
"There'll be plenty of people lining up to kick it as being highly unconstitutional etcetera. But they're not living in those broken up houses out in the far eastern and other parts of the city. Nor are they seeing the devastation in the central city and I think not appreciating the urgency with which most of us who are residents in the city want to move," he said.
The Bill will enact the Canterbury Earthquake Recovery Authority (CERA) and the government intends to pass it under urgency this week.
CERA will lead and co-ordinate the ongoing recovery effort in Canterbury. It will enable an effective, timely and co-ordinated rebuilding and recovery effort by working closely with local councils and engaging with local communities, Brownlee said in a statement later.
He said the purpose of the bill is to provide CERA with the necessary powers to relax, suspend or extend laws and regulations for clearly defined purposes related to earthquake recovery.
"The bill has undergone extensive consultation with government department legal experts and has been provided to the opposition parties for their review."
A CERA newsletter will also be delivered to all greater Christchurch households from tomorrow to give an update on earthquake recovery efforts.
"There was a lot of criticism following the first earthquake about lack of communication so CERA has undertaken to send this newsletter out as its first official communication to keep residents informed about what is happening," Brownlee said.
The newsletter includes an update on land damage and states the government hopes to be able to give an initial indication about the state of the land and identify options for the worst affected suburbs by late May.
The government is working to build a comprehensive picture of the damage to both residential and commercial land and to identify the key issues for rebuilding, Brownlee said.
"We hope to be able to give a general overview of the damage that has occurred to land across Canterbury and how it has moved due to the earthquakes - upward, downward and horizontally," he said.
"We are also aiming to give an initial indication of new hazard issues for areas that have experienced the greatest land damage, and to give an indication of the areas of relatively undamaged land where it's okay to start repairing and rebuilding.
"There are terabytes of data to collect, collate and analyse so an accurate picture can be formed about the damage to land in Canterbury and options for the future.
Brownlee says currently only about 30% of the technical information needed is available and has been collated.
"We are working as fast as we can but due to the scale of this disaster it will take time."
"There's still a long way to go to do all the work to obtain this technical information. We need to take this time because it's important we base our decisions on the best scientific and engineering advice available.
"However, we realise we need to get information out to residents in the worst affected suburbs to keep them informed about what has happened to the land and the process from here, which is why we have said we'll have an update for them by late May.
Brownlee said they hope to give some timelines for when more detailed information will be completed and available, by the end of May.
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