Porirua Mayor Anita Baker
Porirua Mayor Anita Baker describes her role as a challenge. But after three years in the position she shows no lack of enthusiasm or drive in her quest to make the city a better place for everyone. At all times she strives to place the interests of the city and its citizens ahead of everything else.
Mayor Baker explained that Council generally worked together in a positive fashion despite their varied backgrounds. With 57,000 residents and only 19,000 ratepayers, the role was always challenging, particularly with a large proportion of residents on fixed incomes. Upgrading the water supply was a major priority, as the city continued to grow at a fast pace, with the new subdivision opposite Whenua Tapu almost ready to get underway, and others planned.
The Mayor was adamant that Council should always make decisions that did not discriminate against any group of citizens but were as fair as possible to all residents.
Always on the lookout for ways to promote the city, Mayor Baker could recently be heard singing on The Breeze radio station, an experience she thoroughly enjoyed.
The Council was currently considering the impact of the “Three Waters Reform” proposed by Central Government. The three waters are drinking water, waste water, and storm water. Changes were unlikely before 2024. The proposal was to create four large regions in New Zealand, with one controlling body for each region. Porirua would be combined with 21 other Councils under this proposal.
Meanwhile, Mayor Baker was pleased to confirm that new businesses continued to spring up in the Porirua region, while on the ecological front, plans were afoot to plant 50,000 more trees in the near future, rising to a total of 600,000 over the next five years.
The opening of Transmission Gully had generally been positive for the City, particularly for residents of Pukerua Bay and Mana.
The main challenge Mayor Baker could see in the near future was the effect of climate change, particularly in low-lying parts of the region such as Pauatahanui and Mana.
The Mayor urged her audience to become involved in local issues by using the council website to interact with Council.
Poll: Do you think NZ should ban social media for youth?
The Australian Prime Minister has expressed plans to ban social media use for children.
This would make it illegal for under 16-year-olds to have accounts on platforms including TikTok, Instagram, Facebook and X.
Social media platforms would be tasked with ensuring children have no access (under-age children and their parents wouldn’t be penalised for breaching the age limit)
.
Do you think NZ should follow suit? Vote in our poll and share your thoughts below.
-
85.1% Yes
-
13.4% No
-
1.5% Other - I'll share below
Got a Minute? Prove You’re the Smartest Neighbour!
What is it that when given one, you’ll have either two or none?
Do you think you know the answer to our daily riddle? Don't spoil it for your neighbours! Simply 'Like' this post and we'll post the answer in the comments below at 2pm.
Want to stop seeing riddles in your newsfeed?
Head here and hover on the Following button on the top right of the page (and it will show Unfollow) and then click it. If it is giving you the option to Follow, then you've successfully unfollowed the Riddles page.
OCTOBER'S WEATHER IN KĀPITI
This third spring month in Kāpiti was milder and sunnier than average, and for three weeks we also seemed to be heading for a record dry one, but rain here and over most of the country on the last week changed that.
We ended up with 110mm of rain (airport), but this was only 12mm above the historic average for this month that is frequently our wettest. Despite the rain, we had the equivalent of 15.5 sunny days, slightly above average.
Our daily average maximum temperature was 17.8, almost 0.4C above average and 0.7C above last year, and our overall mean temperature was 14.2C, 1.3C above last year, and the warmest in central New Zealand.
November could average around 20C, as it often does, so we can look forward to the possibility of enjoying our first summer month.
Loading…
