The Hack Circle or Hack was a nickname given to an amphitheatre in central Christchurch, New Zealand.[1] It was built as part of the second phase of developing a pedestrian mall in the central city in 1989 and was officially opened on 6 December of that same year by then mayor Vicki Buck. For a time it was a popular Hacky Sack venue (hence the name), later it became a popular hang out for "black-dressed emos, goths, heavy metal fans and United States style gangstas".[2] A 2004 survey conducted by the Christchurch City Council identified the Hack Circle as a popular place for young people to "hang out, smoke, meet friends etc."[3] The same survey found that 90% of 13- to 15-year-olds and 94% of 16- to 18-year-olds came to the central city in their spare time.
Christchurch police claimed the Hack Circle was a venue for criminal activity; on 20 October 2006, a 19-year-old was arrested for swinging a metal pipe around, and police claim that aggravated robbery, assault and the trafficking of cannabis happened in the area. Sergeant Murry Hurst told The Press that "Ninety per cent of the kids hanging around there are fine, the other 10% cause the problems."[2]
In February 2007 Senior Sergeant Glenn Dobson told The Press that the young people in the Hack Circle were not as intimidating as they could look to others, and commented that "[W]e can't move them on because they look different".[4] Millionaire Christchurch property owner Antony Gough, who is considered one of the most powerful people in the city[5] was an advocate of stronger security for the Cashel Street mall, particularly the Hack Circle, telling The Press that the people who associate there "are just very scary".[4]
Destruction
Destruction begins on the Hack Circle on 1 February 2008
In October 2006, the city council announced plans to demolish the amphitheatre and replace the pedestrian mall it is located in with a one way slow road. Daniel Griffiths, a student at nearby Unlimited high school, stated that the council plan was to remove an "undesirable youth element" though the council stated this was not their intention.[2]
On 14 December 2006 the city council voted 7–6 to go ahead with plans to build a road through the pedestrian mall that the Hack Circle is located in, despite "overwhelming opposition".[6] Councillor Bob Shearing said the council's original decision to dump the slow-road happened because it was captivated by a group of people using the City Mall as a "school playground".[6] This comment was criticised by a number of Christchurch citizens, the 19 December issue of The Press carried a number of letters to the editor on the subject, one stated "I am appalled at the sneering remark by Cr Bob Shearing, about young people using the mall as a school playground. What sort of message does it send to the young people who took the time and effort, not only to write a submission but to front up to the council to present it?".[7] Another noted that of the 570 submissions to the council on the plans to build a road, 400 of them were against the proposal, commenting "it is clear the council cares not a jot for public feedback"[8]
On 18 May 2007, Food Not Bombs and students from Unlimited Paenga Tawhiti gathered in the Hack Circle to "reclaim public space" and oppose the plans of the city council and the business group appointed to manage the area (Central City Business Association/City Mall Business Steering Committee) chaired by Anthony Gough, and also including business owner Richard Ballantyne and property developer Dave Henderson,[9] as well as Melbourne based property investor Michael Ogilvie-Lee, who was a significant financial backer of mayor Bob Parker's 2007 election campaign.[10]
Destruction of the Hack Circle began in February 2008. It was replaced not with a slow road however but with a renovated pedestrian mall. The renovations on the area formerly home to the Hack Circle were completed in October 2008.[11]
The destruction of the Hack Circle was an important issue for young people in Christchurch; in August 2007 Canterbury University student magazine Canta questioned four students on the issue, all had strong opinions on the redevelopment, despite apathetic opinions on other issues such as Student Association elections.[12] Gloria Sharplin, a spokesperson for a protest that occurred at the mall on 7 August told The Press "Young people are being made to feel unwelcome. The hack circle and the fountain are not great places, but it is all you have when you have no money. They can't shut us up and just drive us out of the city."[13]
Another protest occurred on 13 August 2007, as demolition of the Stewart Fountain near the Hack Circle began. A number of young people were arrested for protesting against the demolition in the afternoon.[14] That morning local industrialist Sir Robertson Stewart, the public benefactor who had offered to continue his family's funding of the fountain, had died. Protester Jayde Henry commented "It's terrible that they started today. They must have known."[14]
New Hack Circle
In a 2009 Press article, Central City Business Association manager Paul Lonsdale referred to the former location of the Hack Circle, now a paved area with some seating (but notably no amphitheater) as "The new Hack Circle."[15]
Notes
↑ Chch emos have style, lack anguish The Press 21 October 2006
1 2 3 "City Mall plan 'bars youths'". The Press. 21 October 2006.
Christchurch is the largest city in the South Island of New Zealand and the seat of the Canterbury Region. Christchurch lies on the South Island's east coast, just north of Banks Peninsula on Pegasus Bay. The Avon River / Ōtākaro flows through the centre of the city, with an urban park along its banks. The city's territorial authority population is 389,300 people, and includes a number of smaller urban areas as well as rural areas. The population of the urban area is 377,900 people. Christchurch is the second-largest city by urban area population in New Zealand, after Auckland. It is the major urban area of an emerging sub-region known as Greater Christchurch. Notable smaller urban areas within this sub-region include Rangiora and Kaiapoi in Waimakariri District, north of the Waimakariri River, and Rolleston and Lincoln in Selwyn District to the south.
Martin Place is a pedestrian mall in the Sydney central business district, New South Wales, Australia. Martin Place has been described as the "civic heart" of Sydney. As home to the Reserve Bank of Australia, the Commonwealth Bank, Macquarie Bank, Westpac and other corporations, it is also a centre of business and finance. The Sydney GPO is also located on Martin Place.
The Bucket Fountain is an iconic kinetic sculpture in Wellington, the capital city of New Zealand. It is located in Cuba Mall, which is part of Cuba Street. It consists of a series of "buckets" that fill with water until they tip, spilling their load into the buckets and pool below. The fountain was designed by Graham Allardice of Burren and Keen and erected in 1969.
Sir Robert John Parker is a former New Zealand broadcaster and politician. He served as Mayor of Christchurch from 2007 to 2013.
Christchurch Central City or Christchurch City Centre is the geographical centre and the heart of Christchurch, New Zealand. It is defined as the area within the Four Avenues and thus includes the densely built up central city, some less dense surrounding areas of residential, educational and industrial usage, and green space including Hagley Park, the Christchurch Botanic Gardens and the Barbadoes Street Cemetery.
The Canterbury Earthquake Recovery Authority was the public service department of New Zealand charged with coordinating the rebuild of Christchurch and the surrounding areas following the 22 February 2011 earthquake. After it was disestablished on 18 April 2016, CERA's functions were taken over by a variety of other agencies.
City Mall is the main pedestrian mall in the central city of Christchurch, New Zealand, comprising two sections of Cashel Street plus the Bridge of Remembrance and one section of High Street. It is also known colloquially as Cashel Mall. The Bridge of Remembrance was pedestrianised in 1976. The main mall was closed to traffic on 11 January 1982 and formally reopened as a pedestrian mall on 7 August, but it was not until 1992 that the entire mall was paved. The mall was redeveloped between 2006 and 2009, and track was installed for an expansion of the heritage tram network.
The 2013 Christchurch mayoral election was part of the New Zealand local elections and was won by former MP Lianne Dalziel. The elections were held on 12 October 2013 for the Mayor of Christchurch plus other local government roles.
The Central City Red Zone, also known as the CBD Red Zone, was a public exclusion zone in the Christchurch Central City implemented after the 22 February 2011 Christchurch earthquake. After February 2013, it was officially renamed the CBD Rebuild Zone by government agencies, but remained known as the Red Zone. It gradually shrank in size and the last cordons were removed on 30 June 2013, 859 days after the earthquake.
Deon William Swiggs is a New Zealand politician serving as the Environment Canterbury Councillor representing the Christchurch West/Ōpuna Regional Constituency. He previously served as the Christchurch City Councillor representing the Central ward from 2016 to 2019. Prior to Swiggs being elected, he was most well known for his participation in Rebuild Christchurch, an organisation founded after the 2010 Canterbury earthquake.
Wainoni is one of the eastern suburbs of Christchurch. It is a lower socio-economic area.
The Eugene Mall was a car-free zone in the heart of Eugene, Oregon, United States, designed to encourage pedestrian access to shopping and entertainment areas. Dedicated on February 13, 1971, the mall opened amid three days of fanfare and dreams of a revitalized downtown. Conflict over the scope and use of the mall began immediately and continued for 30 years until the last remaining parts of the mall were opened to automobile traffic. At that time, a former Eugene mayor commented that the city's dreams for a bright future just hadn't worked. Many residents, however, shared the much-earlier view of a former downtown merchant, that Eugene had sustained more damage from the mall than it would have from a natural disaster.
Sir Robertson Huntly Stewart was a New Zealand industrialist and exporter. He is credited with starting to manufacture plastic goods in the country.
Container Mall was a temporary mall built from shipping containers in Christchurch Central City, New Zealand. It had been a response to the 22 February 2011 Christchurch earthquake, which destroyed most buildings in City Mall, and resulted in the central city being cordoned off from public access while buildings were being demolished. Initially considered a short-term response to the lack of permanent buildings, Re:START was popular with locals and tourists alike and remained open for business until January 2018.
The Crowne Plaza in Christchurch, New Zealand, originally known as the Parkroyal Hotel, was a hotel of the Crowne Plaza group. Built in 1988 in the north-west corner of Victoria Square after much public protest, as it cut off the first part of Victoria Street, its construction happened at the same time and enabled the substantial redesign of Victoria Square. The building had New Zealand's largest atrium, and was one of the city's largest hotels. The building suffered significant damage in the 2011 Christchurch earthquake and was demolished in April 2012. The Crowne Plaza group has secured a lease in the Forsyth Barr Building at the opposite end of Victoria Square.
An earthquake occurred in Christchurch on 14 February 2016 at 1:13 p.m. local time and initially recorded as 5.9 on the Richter scale, but subsequently reviewed as 5.7. Often referred to as the Valentine's Day earthquake, it was centred in the sea off New Brighton at a depth of 15 kilometres (9.3 mi). It was the first large earthquake that the Christchurch area had experienced since May 2012, and it was part of the earthquake sequence that started with the 4 September 2010 Canterbury earthquake.
New Regent Street is a pedestrian mall in Christchurch. Built as a private development in the early 1930s with 40 shops in Spanish Mission architectural style, it is one of the city's major tourist attractions. Providing a number of small shops as a comprehensive development was an advanced idea at the time, and New Regent Street is regarded as a forerunner to modern shopping malls. Due to its coherent architectural character, the buildings in the streets are listed as Category I heritage items by Heritage New Zealand, and in addition, the entire street has a historic area listing. The street was pedestrianised in 1994 in preparation for the introduction of the Christchurch heritage tram, which began operation in February 1995. Damaged in the February 2011 Christchurch earthquake, the street and buildings reopened in April 2013, and the tram returned from November of that year. Following the 2016 Valentine's Day earthquake, five of the buildings that had not been repaired after the previous earthquakes have been cordoned off, which stopped the tram from operating on its original heritage loop until May.
The Christchurch Central Recovery Plan, often referred to as the Blueprint, is the plan developed by the Fifth National Government of New Zealand for the recovery of the Christchurch Central City from a series of earthquakes, in particular the February 2011 Christchurch earthquake. The Canterbury Earthquake Response and Recovery Act 2010 required the Christchurch City Council to develop a recovery plan for the central city. The plan, known as Share an Idea, was presented to the Minister for Canterbury Earthquake Recovery, Gerry Brownlee, in December 2011. Brownlee rejected the city council's plan, established the Canterbury Earthquake Recovery Authority (CERA), and tasked that organisation with developing a plan based on the city council's draft. The Christchurch Central Recovery Plan was published in July 2012 and defined 17 anchor projects. All projects where a timeline was specified were to have been finished by 2017; none of the 17 projects have been delivered on time and some have not even been started yet.
The Bus Interchange is the bus station in the Christchurch Central City in New Zealand. Built as one of the 17 anchor projects identified in the Christchurch Central Recovery Plan, it opened in May 2015 after the previous Bus Exchange had been damaged in the 2011 Christchurch earthquake.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply. Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.
