LOCAL BODY ELECTIONS

Jan from Ebdentown

WHATEVER YOUR OPINION – WHATEVER YOUR CONCERNS – WHATEVER YOUR ISSUES – EXERCISE YOUR DEMOCARACTIC RIGHTS AND VOTE – IF YOU DON'T TELL THEM WHAT YOU WANT, THEY DO WHATEVER THEY WANT!!
THE CANDIDATES
What caught my eye when reading all the candidates profiles were the ones that said they would:
Involve youth
involve the community
give community a voice
community focus
collaborate with community
fresh ideas and fresh thinking
be connected to a multicultural community
safe community in which to grow our children
climate change issues to be addressed
fresh water usage and preservation to be addressed
the planting of fruiting trees
recycling
reviewing the Library
mental health facilities
social housing
These were the words that spoke to me, that tell me that to some candidates, people matter, that our concerns are valid, and that wide community engagement is still seen by some as an essential in a vibrant democaracy. My hope is they come true. My greatest fear is same old, same old.
It is possible to balance regional issues, infrastructural issues, financial issues, with people issues, to listen to those of us who live here, pay our rates here and have to live with the consequences of decisions made without proper community involvement or consensus.
COUNCILLORS - Chris Carson – Blair Griffith – Paul Lambert – Glenn MacArthur – Dave Wheeler – along with the for now Mayor and a few of the new aspirant candidates.
All of them have very narrow field of focus - all about number crunching, growing the ratepayer base (more sub divisions) but not growing the infrastructural services needed to accommodate that level of populaton growth, inappropriate badly thougght out cost cutting and non involvement with ratepayers or citizens who elect them and who they are supposed to serve.
We need a better balance of Governance vs Operational going forward and not grow Upper Hutt in a way that punishes those of us that already live here, many of whose families have lived here for generations and laid the foundations of out city, whose hearts are here as well as our homes.