Letters 24 June 2011
Multipurpose facility
No matter how well-intentioned the desire for an additional new recreation facility is, its supporters must stop using minimising language to describe the source of TDC funding. David Lewis (GBW 17/6) wrote glibly of “possible finance available from the TDC”.
Money is not hanging on a tree in the TDC Richmond compound or languishing, stashed in its vaults. As stated previously, it will be borrowed from a bank.
There is an update on current funding costs. The previous calculation example was based on borrowing at 6.2 per cent. For the 9 June 2011 full council meeting, TDC staff proposed that the new budgeted interest rate be 6.6 per cent. The report cautioned that interest costs are likely to rise further. For an example, $3.4M borrowed for 30 years at 6.6 per cent incurs a total debt repayment of $7,813,516.
Taking on a debt of almost $8M on top of the $600,000 our community would have to find as a contribution towards the project, together with incurring the TDC facilities maintenance rate, is more fairly described as a “liability” than a “wonderful opportunity”.
Joe Bell
Hands Across the Sands
I hope that none of the people attending the event on Pohara Beach planned to drive out there, thus using fuel to make sure that further supplies cannot be found. That would surely be rather hypocritical. Why not cycle out there wearing no clothes especially now during winter? I am sure the photograph then taken will be far more widely shown and will prove just how popular and important they are. No doubt there will be people from the Chinese and Indian Embassies there, and they will go back home to their countries and make sure that they develop no further, and import no fuels. Meanwhile back in the real world a lot of people in the Bay consider it an irrelevance. They find it hard to make a living, and are concerned that the only way their children can develop careers is to leave the Bay because there is no industry here apart from agriculture.
John Wilkinson
Amalgamation
It is essential that the draft re-organisation documents are considered before submissions are made. <http://www.lgc.govt.nz/lgcwebsite.nsf/wpg_URL/Proposals-Current-Proposals-Index!OpenDocument>
Knee-jerk reactions instead of proper consideration could mean a great opportunity is lost. This is a chance for improvements in: effective and efficient community representation; increased resilience in emergencies; rational land-use planning; regional transport; infrastructure management; and rates affordability.
Richmond is described by TDC as “the urban centre supporting rural parts of the district”. If this is true, and we add Nelson to this urban centre, all of the communities of the region will be included and supported.
Centralising the regional office in Richmond makes sense. Extensions to the existing TDC office have already been proposed. There needs to be careful thought before any plans are finalised and contracts let.
Delegations to the new community boards need further thought. There are very few responsibilities that cannot be delegated to boards. Delegations need to be as wide as possible.
Previous difficulties between councils and between councils and communities can largely be eliminated with goodwill and correctly budgeted decision-making powers.
Some may see a reduction in councillor numbers as a loss. However, with additional, empowered community boards, the number of elected representatives for rural wards actually increases.
Joe Bell
The recommendation has come in that the governance of Golden Bay should be absorbed into an even more distant, greater regional structure. While respecting the viewpoint that this may be preferred as a lesser evil to TDC’s strange dance, it seems obvious that only local governance can really represent the best interests of local stakeholders. Anything else is a disconnect of basic wisdom. Across the world people are dying in the streets for democracy lost, while “community resilience” is becoming the practical catch phrase of the future thinking peoples of the world.
Small, smart local governance is more possible now in this technological age than ever before, with all sorts of streamlined information and communication systems and business templates. Excellent models are available to draw on from around the world from communities that are already there. If enough people in the Bay were to vote for relocalising back to a GB District Council there is legal structure and precedents for making this happen.
Reclaiming our local governance may be beyond the capabilities and determination of the people of Golden Bay, or it simply may not be practical, but if that is the case it is a conclusion we should come to after we have debated earnestly the merits and the possibilities. Please email me if you are interested in this conversation, laurenceboomert@xtra.co.nz
Laurence Boomert
Collingwood’s Old Post Office
This is a much delayed and overdue message: Thank you everyone for your contributions, generosity and support towards the replacement front doors for the Old Post Office in Collingwood. The very welcome donations given didn’t reach the goal needed to go ahead with a sympathetic replacement for the current door. I have been deliberating (in circles!) and exploring possible options and have reached the conclusion that painting what is there, using colours to match the building, will finish things off for now and hope this will at least help the building look better than it does at the moment.
My appreciation goes to Reg Turner for your inspiration and organising the fundraising, and to Penny Griffith for your support and organising. Thanks again everyone for your donations and good wishes.
Julia Griffiths
A Poem
I met a friend the other day
In jacket bluey green
A dashing scarf of black and white
And leathers set the scene.
My friend is not a young person
Nor is he very old
I asked him why he looked so sharp
And why he looked so bold.
“Ahaa” he said with gleam in eye
“I‘ve bought something I like.
It’s really very awesome
A 250cc bike.”
“I had one too” I told him then
“When I was but a girl.
And though I wasn’t very big
I gave it quite a whirl”
“Ahaa” he said - he likes that word -
“That’s something that I’ve found.
That every time I mention it
then bikies flock around”
It then became my turn in queue
To register my car
I left him talking to friend John
With dreams of going far.
How great it is in Golden Bay
That each time we go out
We end up meeting many friends
And sort what life’s about.
Name withheld
