Wednesday, 19 December 2012

Councillor's Corner - December 2012

Another year has passed, one that has made a great impact with earth quakes and tsunamis, financial turmoil, political instability, elections and a reorganization of the world as we know it.

At the Whangarei District Council we can look back at a year where a great number of projects were successfully finished.

Roading projects were finished and the new bridge has started, wastewater improvements are ongoing, town basin and our new art gallery and information center to name just a few, plus new strategies are in place for extension of the Mall, car parking, cycle and walkways and inner city development.

The Long Term Plan is about to be finalized and from March onwards we will be looking at submissions to this plan.

Nothing ever moves fast in the “Council” world, most decisions are compromises and come to fruition many years later, but we do get the odd fast results.

Looking back at the last year in Council I can report that sometimes I can be happy with progress and the shared vision, other times I wonder how much more hair I can loose and how much greyer I can get…I can tell you it can be quite a roller coaster ride and patience, whilst a virtue, can at times be found with great difficulty…


But at least when you sit around the table you have the opportunity to have a certain amount of influence about the outcome.

Not always straight forward, take the plan to have most of our “noisy” outdoor motor sports moved to one site in Hikurangi. We have a good bit of land there, and we need in the next decade “plan” for the inevitable shift of these activities.

However the increased traffic and possible noise pollution is not attractive to those that live nearby on Gomez Road, very understandable. Long term alternatives are not easily found, so if we can allay some of the negatives we might make some progress.

There is a cost associated with this and we need to make sure that the final outcome is one we can all live with, so a bit of give and take from all parties involved in the process…Democracy at work!

Sometimes we see this process as a hindrance and a negative, we even take it for granted…In other parts of the world people give their lives for this very process, and on that note it is sad to see a low turnout to our elections, more people didn’t vote than people who voted for the new government..

Our process may be flawed, but it is a hell of a lot better than even a benevolent dictatorship….even though sometimes….

For the next month our priorities will be elsewhere, let’s enjoy the coast and make the most of the holiday….after that there will be much more of the same, if we are lucky!


For those in business, let’s hope it is a long dry hot summer so we can survive the next winter!

Best wishes for the Christmas/New year period


JJ

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