Councils Lame Excuses An Insult
The lack of respect shown to Waikanae residents regarding the closure of the recycling centre has reached new heights. Not only did they not bother to consult with the community before rushing it through, but the reasons given for the closure (and I use the term "reason" loosely) are seriously flawed. According to KCDC, it is inequitable for Waikanae to have a recycling centre when residents of Paekakariki don't have one and Waikanae residents can drive to Paraparaumu, which does have a recycling centre. One could equally argue that it is inequitable that Waikanae (now) doesn't have a recycling centre when Paraparaumu and Otaki do have one.
Taking this reasoning further, Paekakariki residents should pay for their own seawall. They don't need a beach as there is a perfectly good beach at Paraparaumu that they can drive to. Nor does Paraparaumu need the Te Newhanga Comunity centre when there is a perfectly good, and recently refurbished, hall around the corner they can use. Or perhaps Waikanae residents should refuse to pay their share of the maintenance of the Aquatic Centre, the Paraparaumu Library and Marine Gardens. Actually, they dont need an Aquatic centre either when there is a perfectly good beach at the end of the road.
It may not be the only thing that is at the end of the road for council. One thing we do have in Waikanae is an over-representation at the polling booth (and they cant take that away from us). We get out and vote, and we have much better memories than most people think.
Some Choice News!
DOC is rolling out a new tool to help figure out what to tackle first when it comes to protecting our threatened species and the things putting them at risk.
Why does this matter? As Nikki Macdonald from The Post points out, we’re a country with around 4,400 threatened species. With limited time and funding, conservation has always meant making tough calls about what gets attention first.
For the first time, DOC has put real numbers around what it would take to do everything needed to properly safeguard our unique natural environment. The new BioInvest tool shows the scale of the challenge: 310,177 actions across 28,007 sites.
Now that we can see the full picture, it brings the big question into focus: how much do we, as Kiwis, truly value protecting nature — and what are we prepared to invest to make it happen?
We hope this brings a smile!
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