The renaming waiting game

The Aucklander published this article yesterday (with a slight correction in the online version -- the print version had me as President of Blockhouse Bay Historical Society, where I'm really north of the border here in Avondale-Waterview ...) Thought this might be of interest.

"I didn't think it would take this long to change a sign. I realised that there would be some delay with the council changes, but it has been a year." Don Currey points to where glass greenhouses once stood, filled with tomato plants. "When I was 10 I used to mow these lawns for pocket money," he says. "My father used to grow tomatoes here and he was one of the biggest suppliers in New Zealand during the 40s and 50s."

Over the years, the Currey family's  hectare of greenhouses has been replaced by houses, but a small section, New Windsor Reserve, remains. Mr Currey wants to see the park renamed Arthur Currey Reserve, and although the former Auckland City Council approved the name change a year ago, the old green sign - with the old name - remains ...

In Blockhouse Bay, locals have waited even longer for Avondale South Domain to be renamed Gittos Domain. The former council agreed to rename the reserve in December 2009, but none of the signs has changed.

Avondale-Waterview Historical Society president Lisa Truttman says the organisation is surprised nothing has been done. "There was a lot of fanfare two years ago when we found out the name was changing," she says. "It seems like it has completely fallen through the cracks and we are surprised we've waited so long because we followed all the right processes when we approached the council to have the name changed."