A TERRIBLE IDEA

The Whangārei District Council (WDC) has been forced into an embarrassing rethink of its $29 million Waterfront to City project after business owners overwhelmingly rejected plans that would remove dozens of car parks from the city centre.

The proposal, championed as a vision to transform John Street into a one-way "destination street", was unanimously rejected at a meeting of local business owners. They described it as a "terrible idea", disconnected from the realities facing a struggling city centre.

Maori wards - why are we having a referendum?

 Why? Because the WDC, NRC, and FNDC decided to change the voting system without allowing the public to have a say, and without the public having the right to veto their decision via a binding referendum! The Coalition government is putting that right by forcing all 42 councils that created Maori wards without the veto in place to hold a binding referendum so the public can exercise a fundamental democratic right that some councillors still fail to grasp. 

Opinion piece by Frank Newman: THE PODIUM OF PROMISES

A 𝐌𝐞𝐞𝐭 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐂𝐚𝐧𝐝𝐢𝐝𝐚𝐭𝐞𝐬 𝐦𝐞𝐞𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐚𝐭 𝐍𝐮𝐧𝐠𝐮𝐫𝐮 (Thursday, 15th August) reminded me why so few people engage in local politics. It was underwhelming and, in hindsight, less attractive than an evening in front of the telly.

The public, of course, was smart enough to know that, which would explain why so few attended. Those who were present were largely candidate hangers-on, with a fair number of greenies adoring the Saints of Wokeness who spoke from the podium of promises.

Before us were candidates for the mayoralty and ward candidates from the NRC and WDC, general and Maori wards (although none of the NRC Maori ward candidates turned up).

Most of the speakers started by attempting to demonstrate an empathetic connection with the local community, like how their second cousin's grandfather used to collect kai moana from a local beach. Most said it with sincerity, which suggested they actually thought we might be interested. And I guess, those who want to know about irrelevant nonsense would have found it interesting.

The voting record does not lie

The voting record does not lie. 

Eleven of the 14 elected representatives on the WDC are seeking re-election. We are astounded by the disconnect between the election promises being made by some candidates and their voting record.  Actions speak louder than election waffle, so LETTERBOX has tabulated the way the mayor and councillors have voted on critical decisions.

Tory Whanau Disaster

Veteran journalist, Barry Soper, recently asked, “How did Tory Whanau get the Wellington mayoralty?”

It’s a question that many are asking and the answer is relevant to Whangarei.

Barry says, “It's the same reason why one of the country's most revered mayors in recent years, Dame Kerry Prendergast, lost her nine-year grip on the city's mayoralty to another unfathomable choice, Celia Wade-Brown. It's not because both Whanau and Wade-Brown are Greens and it's not because both of them love cycleways, despite vocal ratepayer opposition to the amount of money being spent on Wellington cycleways. It's because of the single transferrable voting system (STV) that saw them winning against all odds. It's the system where you vote for candidates on a preferential system, where once a quota's been reached for a candidate, they drop out and the votes for the second preference kicks in - and so on until a winner is found.”

Cr Scott McKenzie - voting record

HOW THEY VOTED

Cr Scott McKenzie (Hikurangi-Coastal Ward)

Woke Madness from Cr Scott McKenzie

The Whangarei District Council has voted in favour of constructing a dedicated 6km bus lane going south along Kamo Road between Kamo and Whangarei. The estimated cost is $2m. For two hours a day, cars carrying one person will be prohibited from using the lane and may be fined for doing so. 

A bus lane in Whangarei? Why? 

According to Cr Scott McKenzie, it is because Auckland and Wellington have them, and it (as reported by the Advocate) “provided interesting and innovative public transport options”.

This is ideological madness and shows how captured our local councils have become.