What will Waipu/Whangarei look like in 30 or 50 years?

What will Waipu/Whangarei look like in 30 or 50 years?
Are we putting in place the necessary infrastructure to resource that future?

While we might be experiencing a downturn in the economy at present, there is no doubt in most people’s minds that our district will at some future stage continue to grow and develop.  The Whangarei [...]

Will Binding Referenda be on the agenda of the new Council?

Just before voting finished, someone emailed me and asked me about what my position was on binding referenda.
This was my reply:
1. The idea of them has arisen because many people feel alienated by the the present processes of having their voices heard in the democratic process.
2. I believe that this is a real issue [...]

Coastal Representation now missing on Whangarei District Council

One of the results of the recent WDC Elections, is that neither the Tutukaka Coast or Bream Bay Coastal areas have any representation on the new Council. In the past Robin Leiffering has being a strong advocate for coastal issues and with her retirement along with boundary changes and local voting patterns, the result [...]

Utility Cyclism

This is Alan Preston’s blog about utility cycling. He has written to local body candidates asking them about their thoughts on utility cycling.
Although I have recently become a keen cyclist (though limited to flat terrain I confess!) I had not heard of utility cycling. Essentially it is about getting from one [...]

Back in Waipu at last

I have been in China for two weeks and out of touch with my blog – for some reason I could not access it in China (?censorship). I have kept in touch with the Northern Advocate online, so have watched some of the election games with interest.
Last Saturday I was at the Waipu Hall [...]

Homogenous companies are dinasaurs…

This article by Matt Nippert in the NZ Listener is worth reading. It is about swedish man Franz Johansson who believes that creativity is correlated with difference and homogenous companies are dinosaurs. Franz casts his eye over the Listener’s 50 most powerful people list who are predominantly old, white men, and wonders [...]

Welcome to Our Place Whangarei

A lot of local interest groups are sending questions to councillors – Chamber of Commerce, Manaia PHO, disability advocates, National Council of Women.
This is good new local website looking at the Local Election process. The owners of the site have asked all the candidates green flavoured questions – their answers (or not) are listed [...]

Bream Bay Meet the Candidates meetings

We have just had two Meet the Candidates meetings in Bream Bay – at Ruakaka and Waipu. As is usually the case in the more rural parts of the district, they were both well attended – with about 100 at each. There was also a great turn out of candidates to the meetings [...]

Independent Inquiry into Local Government Rates

Here is the the link which I could not find earlier to the Rates inquiry. One interesting point is that they did not support bed taxes or “eco” taxes such as a waste levy. The report of the Local Government Rates Inquiry calls for councils to remove the business rate differential and make better [...]

Council Values

Creating the Ultimate Living Environment is the well known, and oft quoted WDC mission. What is less well known is the Values that lie beneath this Mission:
* Communication
* Customer First
* Innovation and Excellence
* Valuing Employees and Partnerships
* Visionary Leadership
They are great values, but I would find it difficult to find anyone who felt that they [...]