Some additional information.

The Church shared Crossways Community House with the local community for thirty years. It heavily subsidised operations paying rates, insurance and a proportion of utilities. It provided the people-power for the Management Committee, which also had representatives from the community. It employed ministers who were committed to working alongside the community. It was not an absentee landlord.

The Trust's initial 'offer' was $1.2 million but it didn't actually have that when the offer was made. Its only legitimate offer was $1 million in the tender process.

The church made the decision to sell Crossways in April last year because its other building, which is actually more heavily used by the community than is Crossways (by the same sorts of groups that use Crossways), was in need of huge urgent repair and earthquake strengthening. The overall cost is between $3.5 and 4 million. The church delayed the sale for over a year so the Trust could fundraise the $1.5 million goal it set. The delay cost the church significantly. That money would have gone into upgrading community facilities at St Andrew’s, which will have to wait until further fundraising can be undertaken. However, the congregation is determined to do this because it is committed to providing a place of hospitality in the city.

Making the decision to sell was a really tough decision for the church community. Many people in the congregation had a strong connection with Crossways, which had also been the home of a faith community, for many years. They are not wealthy or powerful people. They are, like those who tried to purchase Crossways, a community organisation. The property the church has was purchased as a result of the sacrificial gifts of ordinary people in earlier generations.

My perception is that Mt Victoria community* did not generously support the Trust. A small dedicated group of people did work very hard and were generous with time and money. Some of them were members of St Andrew's church. But the majority of people in Mt Victoria did not get behind the drive to save Crossways. Neither did the most of the charitable trusts from which grants were sought. $900,000 of the Trust's offer came from a mortgage and an interest-free deferred loan from a Trust.

The Wellington City Council didn't think that the Trust could sustain the repayments and interest, and declined to provide any financial support apart from helping St Andrew's manage some of the costs of the delay in sale.

It is curious that the role of the Council received no attention in your article.

Quoting Bible verses is easy. So is blaming others. But theology and life are more complicated than that. I support Indymedia and I support journalism that makes an attempt to hear both sides of a story. The good thing about Indymedia is that it provides an opportunity to respond. So thank you for that.

Margaret Mayman
St Andrew’s on The Terrace

* Some Stats on Mt Vic from 2001 census
The median income of people in Mt Victoria is $27,700, compared $18,500 for all of New Zealand.
The unemployment rate in Mt Victoria was 4.6 percent, compared with 7.5 percent for all of New Zealand.
The most popular occupational group in Mt Victoria was Professionals (25.8 percent).