I am now at thereabouts of the first and last contact cruise tourists travelling to Wellington meet. Outside of my formal security line, I greet foreign folks with a bit of promotion for CentrePort Wellington as the place where the sun rises and always shining.
That's a bit odd considering its natural cold wind. However the irony is more human friendly than the usual 'this is a restricted area and you require authorisation to pass this point. Please show me your credentials!'
And the people are like jumping at you with their boarding passes and IDs as if they are proud to be in Wellington.
Later in the day when touring folks return you notice the long face and open criticism of the city. One lady after waiting for a shuttle a little longer than usual said she noticed in Wellington the amount of containers turned into buildings and offices everywhere.
Yes, the waiting room is a kind of Porta Com shed as well as bathroom facilities or Porta Loos. What can I say other than Wellington is still under construction from the earthquake in November just as the housing crisis strike. And of course instead of living in cars and on the street, the government then saved a lot of money by turning ship containers into homes. It created business for the private sector.
However it must trace a distant squander of how we all end up in the land of the sun; compacted into containers for the south seas. Well that's for those who followed the great migration discovery. They brought tin and plastic.
And if you are in the vicinity of CentrePort, the Tin Can stadium overshadows just about everything on site, except for the towering cruises that also attract trespassers.
My first report when arriving into Wellington last year described travelling back in time. People are still organised according to the status quo based on the hierarchy of ethnicity. The predominant culture is the landlord while the usual suspects make up the population of squatters and tenants.
That's right. The landlord and agent dictate the terms of tenancy. And if you dare challenge them according to the RTA, then they are bold enough to pursue a lie to the Tenancy Tribunal. And you know it's just a formality in the course of a good thing going on. It's a place where nice people do bad things.
I also wrote a message on how landlords and agents are making extra money by way of derivatives. That's pursuing the tenant for repairs they did not cause but are actual wear and tear. Agents who are professional at their trade pursue tenants for cleaning the place beyond reason able standards. You see, the Bond has become the iron chains innocent tenants are tied up to unfair demands by agents.
They know the system as well as the adjudicators behind the Tenancy Tribunal.
As at this moment, the rent for a 3 bedroom flat is $875 while a 2 bedroom is rented at $750. Trademe Rental Residential Property Trdeme Rental Residential Property 1
Agents have corporate landlords behind them and they have the luxury of access to technical help that is not available to the ordinary tenant. And the so-called Tenancy Tribunal has become a sacrificial place for tenants to be executed. It's a massive inequality of power.
Talking about power struggles, all the agent or landlord has to say is the five-letter word beginning with 'A' that heightens feminist adjudicators' instincts and the tenant might as be bankrupt instantly.
Professional agents and landlords have resources to fabricate their arguments in such a way the adjudicator finds it easier to understand. At the same time, an ordinary tenant who is trying to put together a cohesive sentence is already looked guilty of whatever the landlord and agent are claiming. And his/her bond is slashed in halves if not lost all together.
Most ordinary folks I know borrow the money to pay for bond. And if the bond is sliced by the landlord, the tenant is already bankrupt. He/she will not be able to pay back the borrowed money. And if looking for another place, he/she would not be able to raise another bond.
Is it why living in a tin house more accessible in Wellington because housing is suffocated by a socialist power fanatic? These socialist regimes never end well in history. And I'm hoping the socialist Labour government doesn't go there.
You see, the collective conscience is based on pure principles that are transcended into objective being. No one is dictating the terms for what ought to be the right thing to do. When the time comes, those who know would do the right thing irrespective of power protocols and dictatorial regimes.
Meantime, the outlook for Tin City is somewhat shiny on the outside but only to reinforce archaic stereotypes on the inside. It is a city stuck in the external past of metal and concrete design. Its narrow outlook is oblivious of purpose for human well being.
With all its towering powers, they have given Wellington the height to simply overshadow her people. It is skin tin without a spirit. This is the fate of socialist organisation. We are ruled by the head and made subservient to power protocols at the expense of stagnation.
All good changes come from within. That's where the shine should rise.