It’s 2010 All Over Again – A Panda Paradox!

Posted on October 1, 2015 by Andrew Frame

“Minister, have you changed your hairstyle?”

If you think all the current Panda-monium over a couple of Chinese residents possibly getting preferential treatment and $10mill of taxpayer money is new then you’re barking up the wrong bamboo tree!.

One of the saddest aspects of New Zealand’s current media standards is that they seem utterly unable to remember anything.

This used to be the realm of editors and sub-editors, who would spell and fact-check items before publication. With media cost cutting and profit making, these positions were outsourced, disestablished, automated, or just plain forgotten – and with it went our media’s memory.

Because, had these “Sub-eds” still been in place today, they would have gladly informed us that pandas were all the rage way back in 2010!

Former Wellington Mayor Kerry Prendergast discussed bringing pandas to our capital’s zoo when she met with the mayor of Beijing on a visit to China in June 2010.

That same month newly minted Prime Minister John Key said he had not ruled out acquiring a giant panda for Auckland Zoo.

“Mr Key yesterday told TVNZ’s Breakfast programme he would suggest trading two pandas for two kiwi as a cost-saving measure.
“My idea was, I know people pay $10 million but we’re a special friend of China, why couldn’t we give them some kiwis. Two for two, kiwis are worth a lot.”
He later said the aim was to determine the value of the panda “versus the value of a kiwi”.
“The argument is really to say, look, this is a forming of a strong bond with China and one way is to exchange animals that are of national significance to each country.”
Mr Key said any zoo that took on the pandas would to pay costs, including building enclosures and supplying food. The animals would also require specialist staff.”

John Key, NZ Herald article, June 29 2010

Even Napier was having a go – In July that year local man Max Patmoy proposed the empty Marineland site as a potentially perfect panda playground.

Napier’s concept even made it onto TV3’s Campbell Live! (please tell me you remember that marvellous show?)

None of these bids amounted to anything, of course.

But here we are, five years later, panda-ing to yet another distraction, going through the same hoopla and rigmarole yet again.

If only someone had the cranial fortitude to remind the nation we’ve been here before.

I bet the pandas remember…

…And Be Counted!

Posted on September 1, 2015 by Andrew Frame

“The ultimate rulers of our democracy are… the voters.” Sir Richard Branson

If there was an election held today on voter participation in Hawke’s Bay apathy would win in a landslide.

If anyone bothered to vote, that is…

I did a bit of research and found for the last four local body elections – coming up on 14 years now, less than 50 percent of registered Napier voters have exercised their democratic right.

I could only trace records for the Hastings District Council elections back three elections, but they were even worse!

That’s pretty stink.

As a result of voter apathy, elected rulers of our region have largely attained or kept their positions of power thanks to the majority of a minority.

That’s not good enough.

But voter apathy could cause even more harm to our region if such a trend continues.

The vote on whether to keep Hawke’s Bay’s current governance system, or amalgamate the region’s five councils can’t have escaped many people’s attention – even more so in recent weeks with the mailing out of election papers and the ramping up of rhetoric from both sides.

Rather than being a shining example of how local body politics and an electoral system SHOULD work, it has steadily degenerated into an embarrassing farce for our region as the debate wore on.

There have been empty promises and even emptier slogans. Claims and counterclaims of cooperation and competition. Heck, both sides have even resorted to name-calling.

All that’s left is spitting, scratching and biting.

It’s basically become one big Taylor Swift song, just without the teenaged boys’ fantasy of music video.

Had all the money that’s been spent on placards, postcards and pushing different points of view (just how much does buying a front page wrap-around “advertisement” on multiple local newspapers cost these days?) been put to better use, many of the problems our region currently faces – and many of the reasons for the big-spending side’s existence could have been dealt with!

All this could have been avoided by one simple action – a MAJORITY of the population voting!

So here is your chance – Do some research, make an informed decision, tick a box and VOTE!

This is OUR region and WE get ultimate say in how it is governed!

A Tale of Two Hawke’s Bays

Posted on July 31, 2015 by Andrew Frame

What is wrong with the picture of Hawke’s Bay society painted in today’s Hawke’s Bay Today?

$65,000 has been raised, a two-storey building and countless hours of expertise, assistance, skill and labour have been donated for Limitless Hope to help provide emergency shelter for those most in need.

But they almost didn’t make it – if the last major donation had been a single day later, all that money would have been returned – the contributions essentially voided.

Worthy praise has been heaped upon the organisers of what is indeed “such a noble cause”.

Meanwhile at the other end of the socio-economic spectrum another article highlights the regions “Rich-Listers”:

“The father and son dairy duo of Sir Selwyn and David Cushing increased their net worth by $20 million in the past 12 months despite the headwinds in the sector.

“You just have to grin and bear it,” Sir Selwyn said.”

They only INCREASED their wealth by TWENTY MILLION DOLLARS – over 300 times the amount raised for Limitless Hope and this is something you have to “grin and bear”??!!

I can’t help but think that highlights not only the disproportionate levels of income equality in New Zealand, but also the perception of wealth we each have. But I guess it’s just a side effect of New Zealand’s “Rock star Economy”

Can you imagine the net social and economic impacts of Hawke’s Bay’s economic wealth increasing by over $20 Million in a single year?

I could certainly bear the amount of grinning that would cause across our region!

New York, New Zealand, Same Old Problems!

Posted on July 8, 2015 by Andrew Frame

Spot the difference – it’s not as obvious as you’d think…

Split Enz were wrong – History repeats all the time.

Most gallingly, it always seems to be the worst aspects that repeat most often.

Scientists have spent centuries testing the attentions spans of dogs, goldfish and other animals, but the species that does the testing seems to have such a deficit of mental storage that we keep doing the same stupid things over and over again.

Of course, it doesn’t always repeat in the same place. But the advancement of communication technology now allows us to see what has happened – and indeed IS happening, AS it happens – across the globe, so you would think our new global awareness would lessen the chances of bad aspects of history repeating.

But it doesn’t.

Over summer, Mrs in Frame and I spent several evenings watching a quite remarkable documentary series on the history of New York City. From its discovery and settlement, through to the 2001 terrorist attacks it covered wondrous highs, terrible lows, heroes, villains, and all the flotsam and jetsam that make up what has become one of the greatest cities in the world.

Throughout the series – 17 ½ hours viewing in total – I kept having a form of Deja-vu – that I had seen or been through all this before. I had – just not in New York City, but here in New Zealand and in Napier.

Because at the same time as we were watching this HISTORICAL series similar scenarios were being played out daily in out papers, news programmes and online.

Of particular current topical interest in the documentary was New York’s development in the early to mid-1800’s

Immigration was a massive issue as millions of Europeans flooded into New York City seeking a new life in the “New World” of America. They were not always welcome and faced injustice, persecution, racism and were often forced to live in terrible conditions.

It wasn’t until the turn of the 20th century that Emma Lazarus’ “The New Colossus” (“Give me your tired, your poor, Your huddled masses..”) was inscribed upon the base of the Statue of Liberty that stood as a beacon of hope and a slightly warmer welcome to those entering New York Harbour.

210 years later and little has changed.

Racism is still prevalent across the globe and here in New Zealand we still face the same problems New York faced two centuries ago.

Debates over refugee quotas and boat loads of poor foreigners seeking asylum and a new, better life in our own country feature in the news often. As do attacks on working immigrants and claim Auckland’s appalling house prices are the result of foreigners, apparently, buying them all.

From the mid-1800’s until the turn of the century, the gap between New York’s rich and poor exploded as industrialist “Robber Barons” made millions, while those working for them on the lowest levels struggled to make ends meet.

Corruption became rife, especially at government levels, where graft, cronyism and all sorts of un-sporting political and social nastiness exacerbated the plight of those with the least, while feathering the nests of those with the most.

In New Zealand today the wealth gap continues to exist and indeed grow – making us one of the least equal countries in the western world. This not only harms our economy, but also social structure.

And while it may not seem as obviously prevalent as back then, skulduggery amongst those in power certainly still seems to exist, while the poor public pay for their power struggles and multi-million dollar follies.

Jump forward 50-plus years and New York is almost unrecognisable post-World War Two. The city had literally and figuratively reached for the sky. The city’s landscape goes vertical with the development of skyscrapers, while new bridges, tunnels and a new-fangled invention called the “highway” cross the city and open up between Manhattan Island and the surrounding mainland.

The point of these highways was to ease congestion on New York’s city streets, but all it did was encourage more people to buy and use cars, further clogging an already jam-packed system.

That certainly sounds very familiar to present day Auckland traffic congestion and our government’s rather short-sighted transport policy, doesn’t it?

Leading the charge on most of New York’s civil projects was city planner Robert Moses. While many of his early works were lauded and welcomed, he started to lose favour with the city’s citizens when he started ploughing great swathes – usually through the heart of poorer urban neighbourhoods for more of his expressways. But because he was not an elected official, the public could do essentially nothing to unseat him.

Don’t you think that sounds similar to the creation and project management of a grand, artistic Napier edifice in recent years?

Around the 1940’s and 50’s housing New York’s poor – especially those uprooted from neighbourhoods demolished for highways and other features – became a pressing issue. While local and national governments assisted with the creation of “Projects” – they also attempted to encourage the private sector to construct affordable homes. This was not always successful and New York real estate prices reached staggeringly high levels – “affordability” suddenly becoming “utterly unobtainable”.

Today in New Zealand “affordable housing” – especially in Auckland, Wellington and Christchurch is becoming a thing of the past with prices reaching up to and beyond New York levels.

And while in New York they BUILT housing for the poor, in New Zealand, our government SELLS OFF EXISTING STATE HOUSING TO PRIVATE DEVELOPERS!

When will the madness end?

When will we learn?

When will history stop repeating?

We deserve much better than to go through this all over again!

Into the NCC Lions’ Den – Making My Submission!

Posted on June 9, 2015 by Andrew Frame

Below is the speech I gave as part of my submission presentation to the Napier City Council’s Ten Year Plan yesterday (Monday 8 June 2015)

Napier’s youth are its biggest export, but also its biggest asset.

We spend so much money, focus and publicity attracting tourists to Napier for a single day or two each year, why don’t we try to use that same level of funding and focus keeping our young people here and making it worth their while?

Each year around 750 year 12 and 13 students finish / leave Napier high schools: 170 from Napier Boys’ High School, around 150 from Taradale High and 135 from Napier Girls’ High School, with lower but similar numbers from Tamatea and Colenso High Schools – 600+ of those go off to university.

That’s over 1000 Hawke’s Bay youth leaving the region each year!

Most never to return.

When they do it’s three years later and at least $30,000 in debt. All too often with a qualification that has no relevance to attaining their ideal job.

Despite the message that Hawke’s Bay has an ageing population, Statistics NZ shows the percentage of 10-20 year olds in HB outnumbers the 40-50 or 50-60 age bracket!

So what do we have for them?

The Youth Council of Napier, NCC’s “Youth Policy” and “Youth Services Plans” are outdated and need serious attention – The policy and Plan were last updated in 2010 and 2011/12 respectively.

YCON appears to be a token gesture at best – it does not cater to all Napier schools and youth and is hardly ever heard from or in the public eye.

I have spoken to past YCON members who joined with the best of intentions to make a difference but ended up feeling irrelevant and ignored by the council and councillors.

The YCON website is a joke, having only just been updated last year for the first time in three years. The “latest” YCON meeting minutes are dated September 2011

The “What’s on” section of the page somehow completely ignored last Friday’s Stage Challenge, in which 10 schools from around HB took part in a dancing, musical extravaganza – something YCON and local media should have been all over , but did recommend alcoholic FAWC events and a “Moving on after breast cancer recovery programme” – hardly appropriate or relevant.

NCC had a “Youth Coordinator” position years ago, but it was dis-established and the money put into developing skate-bowls. Not all youth are skaters and if the current resurfacing of Anderson Park’s bowl is expected to take up to 6 weeks, plans to do the same to the former Marineland site are made with similar surfaces; repairs could see it out of action for months.

We have people and organisations in Napier prepared to help local youth, but they are bypassed for out of town, Christian-based organisations. Why does the council not use those who know Napier best?

Again we hear so very little from these “youth groups” – It appears the Zeal of youth and Atomic power appear to give way to Greed of collecting funding and Sloth of doing as little as possible, while retaining that funding.

With Napier’s diversifying to now include Muslim, Hindu and LGBT communities– the belief structures behind these organisations aren’t always appropriate or as egalitarian as they should be.

Napier’s youth need and want a place to a place to congregate, relax, learn and have done so for years.

Former Napier City Councillor John Harrison called the last attempt at a youth facility in the late 90’s early 2000’s a “Den of iniquity”.

We can do better than that on a facility and councillor level.

We can do better for those who choose not to go to university too.

We need more local programmes like Youth Futures – (NCC CEO Wayne Jack is a trustee, but the website leads you to believe it is) supported solely by HDC it appears – where youth can “learn as they earn” – internships, apprenticeships with local businesses.

On this council alone we have accountants, community workers, event and hospitality managers, who could surely help facilitate the implementation of such programmes with their own local business connections.

If NCC can spend 5{3919f50c199a8627c147b24d329ff0de8aa05e3a462fa3330e11cd9ea56ed948} (or $3.75mill) of their $75mill operating budget attracting tourists to Napier, imagine the wonders even one third of that could amount could do to Napier’s economy, demographics and vibrancy.

Napier and its youth deserve better!

There was a question time from councillors afterwards and responses were mixed to muted.

Councillor Richard McGrath noted there were hundreds of volunteer groups around the city doing stuff with youth.

I replied that’s great – get them all around a table and get a plan going, because I can guarantee that most of them don’t know the others even exist!

Councillor Tony Jeffery referred to my written submission’s comment about NCC looking after “Baby-boomers” and that almost half the current council, for the first time in decades, was far younger and newer than it had usually been.

I again agreed, stating it was a great opportunity to make a difference and that’s why I had made my submission now and not three years ago.

Councillor Michelle Pyke, once a champion of a section of Napier youth with her venue “The State of it” (now the kitchenware section of Farmers department store) appeared to take offence to any and all my criticisms of NCC youth doings.

She even asked me “What have you done for the youth of Napier?”

In hindsight I could have mentioned:
• The two years I volunteered for the HB Cancer Society working as a Smokefree ambassador.
• Helping Stage Challenge really establish a foot-hold in Hawke’s Bay in 1998, again voluntarily.
• Playing for organising and being secretary for Napier Old Boys’ Marist Cricket Club
• Writing this blog – 105 and counting posts of inspiring, (mainly) though and debate-provoking writing. Asking questions and shedding light on local issues.
• Promoting as many local events, ideas, products and thoughts as I can on social media.

But rather than “unleashing the beast” (cathartic, but we’re asking for assistance here) I just mentioned my time on the Napier City Council Youth Forum, but admitted that looking after my family had been my first and foremost priority in recent years and it was only in the last few months that I have had time to put real focus on other things.

But it was a typically lazy, political criticism from Michelle.

Because, unlike her, I haven’t been a member of the Napier City Council for the past five years.

I don’t have access to a $75mill operating budget, easy links and access to facilities, organisations and my council’s own Youth Council.

I DO, however, have great people supporting me, a world and world-wide-web of potential in front of me and at my finger-tips and the determination to actually make a difference in not just the next five years, but a great and potential-filled future!

Will my submission make a difference?

Who knows…

All I DO know is Napier and its youth deserve far better than they have gotten in past years.

Is the HB Farmers’ Market’s “Goose Cooked”?

Posted on June 2, 2015 by Andrew Frame

The beautiful Waikoko Gardens in Hastings’ Showgrounds – Current summer site of the Hawke’s Bay Farmers’ Market. But possibly not for much longer…

Hawke’s Bay’s A&P Society wants The Hawke’s Bay Farmers’ Market out – of the Waikoko Gardens at least.

Word on the (Market) street is stall holders at Hawke’s Bay’s biggest weekly foodie and social gathering – not to mention nation-wide (and worldwide) tourist attraction are rightly fuming that they may soon be ousted from their current spacious and picturesque summer location in the showgrounds’ Waikoko gardens and relocated into a permanent, less spacious and, you would have to think, far from picturesque marquee elsewhere on the Hastings site.

The yet-to-be-built marquee is to be a permanent feature at the grounds, primarily to provide more “indoor” space for Hawke’s Bay’s “Horse of the Year Show”, but it will be a multi-purpose facility.

Currently the Hawke’s Bay Farmers Market has two sites at the showgrounds – the Waikoko Gardens during the summer and the under the grandstand and in the exhibition hall in the colder months and on wet days.

During the depths of winter, the grandstand and hall are far from ideal venues – often creating their own chilly wind-tunnels, but you could hardly imagine a marquee – some reports have it as being just more of a roofed-over area than a fully enclosed tent being much better.

The kicker, however, is I’m told this marquee is set to be the new summer location for the market too!

The Waikoko Gardens are what gives the market it’s wonderful, natural vibe!

Local growers and producers sell their wares underneath leafy, green trees.

The thousands of people, who attend the market each summer Sunday stroll around the gardens and stalls, socialise and lounge on the grass while they eat and drink their freshly made, picked, brewed, laid, baked and grown purchases, or seek shelter under the shade of nearby trees on hotter days.

To uproot all of that and plonk it into, essentially, a large tent in a bare field would appear to be a rather ridiculous – perhaps the more appropriate term would be “half-baked” – idea.

It would be killing the goose that lays their golden eggs!

What are they thinking??

Hawke’s Bay deserves better!

Are Amalgamationalists Holding HB’s Economy to Ransom?

Posted on May 26, 2015 by Andrew Frame

Every once in a while I write something, people listen and great stuff happens, but no-one notices that I bothered to begin with.

Such a case was Bruce Bisset’s “Create ‘Potential’ in Regions, Too” piece in Saturday’s Hawke’s Bay Today.

“Central government doesn’t care about growing the regions simply because there’s too much money being made, in too many ways, from Auckland’s rampant growth. ‘

Trying to devolve that growth is in the “don’t start” basket; better the provinces become a dull patchwork of dairying, forests, mines and service towns, with our best sent off to be grist in Auckland’s rapacious mills than offered a viable alternate future at home.”

I have been saying and writing about this sort of stuff for years. Yet no-one seems to have taken much notice.

But when someone who gets paid to voice the same opinions as I do, there’s suddenly a flood of publicity and activity towards it.

Just yesterday I read there was a “Forum” on demographic change in Hawke’s Bay and how best to handle it.

Other than local MP Craig Foss saying:

Hawke’s Bay having an older population “was not necessarily a bad thing. They’re not boy racers, they don’t wear patches”

The main concept HB Today highlighted was an academic’s recommendation to use retirees living on the pension as volunteer (i.e. “FREE”) labour to do tasks that younger generations would be paid to do, further deepening Hawke’s Bay’s economic and employment doldrums.

If that’s the best the nation’s “academics” can come up with, I’m REALLY glad I never went to university.

But back to Bruce’s article. Or rather the paper’s online comments section – which often makes better reading than the articles themselves.

Ardent pro-amalgamationalist and anti-Napier City Council complainer “Enid” wrote:

From a couple of grammatical slips in previous comments, “Enid” would appear to actually be a member of, if not one of the lead protagonists for “A Better Hawke’s Bay”.

He would also appear to be a former, apparently very bitter, Napier City councillor. So that might explain a lot of his constant bagging of NCC and his promotion of fellow pro-amalgamationalist Hastings mayor Lawrence Yule and his council.

But what concerns me in his comment is why are these “100’s of jobs” “pending transfer” to just Hastings?

The organisation he is a part of is called “A Better HAWKE’S BAY” – not “A Better Hastings” – why not share the love, jobs and opportunity?

Oh, that’s right…

And, Heck! Why are these hundreds of jobs just “PENDING”??

HB’s economy continues to suffer. Real estate prices are low, labour is cheap.

WHY WAIT??!!

Or are these “100’s of pending jobs” at the mercy / whim of fellow ABHB members’ companies?

A Better Hawke’s Bay has some big, influential, moneyed backers with links to lots of big businesses. So is this is some kind of sick “If you don’t play by our rules, we’re taking our bat and ball and going home!” tactic from them?

Or is “Enid” just fishing with a red herring and these “corporates” who are “pending transferring 100’s of jobs to Hastings” are going to do just that – TRANSFER 100’s of jobs, along with the staff who currently fill them – negating any local employment for the positions, to Hastings?

We ALL want Hawke’s Bay to do better. Not just Hastings, Not just Napier – the entire region!

So I dearly wish those with the most direct opportunity and resources to make Hawke’s Bay better WOULD STOP STUFFING AROUND WITH IT!

We Gonna Run This Region!

Posted on May 21, 2015 by Andrew Frame

Looks a bit quiet, eh?

I met with someone who reads my blog the other day. We had a very interesting, long talk about how we see things in Napier and Hawke’s Bay, what’s wrong and what can be done.

It was one of those meetings where you walk away from it feeling quite inspired and keen to get on and do things – a rarity in recent times.

The person I met (to protect their identity I won’t name them) had been involved in central Napier goings on over recent years and had been trying to do even more for the CBD and eventually the greater Napier community.

But they had pretty much given up after repeatedly been ignored, fobbed off or bypassed by Napier City Council and other similar organisations – despite starting some great initiatives and covering areas those authorities used to, or should have covered.

All too often it seems those who hold the positions of local power or those most likely to be able to do great things or effect change are the ones who do the least.

They have their own little interests, their own little agendas and money-spinners which take precedence. All too often they use public money, and all too often they fail miserably.

It’s frustrating as hell.

Hawke’s Bay has SO MUCH untapped potential!

But we are being held back by inaction and some sort of sense that if the councils, governments, business associations, tourism / promotional agencies etc. – people who SHOULD be doing these great things AREN’T, then nobody can.

Rubbish!

To paraphrase Napier’s own Sir Douglas MacLean:

“A region makes progress despite of its politicians”

To quote musician and bazzilionaire Jay-Z:

“…Who’s gonna run this town tonight?
We gonna run this town
We are, yeah I said it, we are!”

If you don’t think something is being done well enough – do it yourself and do it better!

Heck, make a song and dance about it!

Get social and mainstream media involved in, or informed about it!

Reporter: “So, Mr Bloggs, why did you start your own agency to promote Napier as a place to develop tech business?”

Mr Bloggs: “Because I didn’t think the current authorities we had were doing a good enough job at it!”

There are always excuses and smokescreens for things NOT being done.

One of the current favourite distractions is the ongoing amalgamation debate.

If those bankrolling the push for one super-council are such astute and affluent business people as they claim to be, then the number of councils should not affect their operations much, if at all!

Hastings rates are too high? Open operations in Napier! Napier’s building inspection service is too tardy, build in Hastings.

Simple, logical problems SOLVED!

With the economy becoming so digitised, Hawke’s Bay has plenty of room and potential to grow as a tech business hub.

Like I’ve said before, there is no reason why the likes of local business icon Rod Drury – an avid supporter of attracting tech businesses like call-centres opened in Hawke’s Bay – couldn’t bulldoze the rotting hulk that is Napier’s Mid-City Plaza and open an international call-centre for his own company Xero on the site.

Under current circumstances, Napier City Council could hardly say “no, you can’t – we’re full!”

So there you go. Feel empowered?

I do!

Let’s go out there and make some positive change happen in Hawke’s Bay.

If you see something being done badly or not at all – do it yourself and DO. IT . BETTER!

Power to the people

“…Who’s gonna run this region?

We are!”

Because Napier and Hawke’s Bay deserve better!

The “P”s of Amalgamation in HB

Posted on May 15, 2015 by Andrew Frame

“Amalgamating Hawke’s Bay’s five councils into one entity WILL result in lower council rates”

This is one of the major selling Points “A Better Hawke’s Bay” / “Amalgamate Hawke’s Bay” and their Proponents would have you believe.

And you know what? They’re right – it will!

But, as always, there are catches. In this case they all begin with the letter “P”.

Just as one nasty “P”, Pseudoephedrine, has been found silently contaminating local state houses recently, another nasty “P” contaminates the minds of those who hope for and bankroll the campaign to amalgamate Hawke’s Bay.

This “P” GUARANTEES lower rates.

But when Pushed for Proof by its Proponents this “P” is seldom highlighted – it’s Practically a “silent P”.

Because it’s “Privatisation”

It’s simple, really.

If, under a new amalgamated council’s strategy, contracts to Provide the likes of rubbish collection, water supply or libraries across Hawke’s Bay are sold off to Private companies – your rates WILL be lower, because you won’t be Paying the council for them!

For a time Hawke’s Bay residents may still Pay the same total overall as they do now to get all the services we receive under the current structure – just with one Part going to the council rates and the other Part going to Private enterprise.

But then along comes the second “P” and this is one that will really catch you out!

Because, unlike local governments, Private businesses are PROFIT-driven.

Somewhere, sometime down the track you WILL be Paying more for all the services you receive now.

But, unlike now, where ratepayers can at least vote out councillors who hike rates, fail to Provide services, or go back on Promises. If a service you Pay for, like water supply for example, is controlled by a single, Private entity – you don’t get a say in the matter. Private companies’ / corporations’ loyalties are ultimately to their “bottom lines” and shareholders.

Privatising such essentials of human life as water has been done before and does continue around the world.

But when Profit Pandering overrides common and commercial sense, People Power often kicks in and it doesn’t end well for the Privateers. That should cause Pause for thought.

But while Private companies and corporations are often seen as and act like, heartless, mindless drones to Profit, our recent current civic leaders don’t appear to have shown much in the way of credibility, accountability or consideration of the finances they are using being Public money.

So there you go.

We ALL want Hawke’s Bay to do better than it has been over recent years, but Picking out its Prime assets and services for Private Profit won’t improve things – it will just Put us further down the Path to Pandemonium.

Anyone who tries to convince you otherwise is just taking the Piss.

Have Your Say on the Future of Napier!

Posted on May 12, 2015 by Andrew Frame

Napier City Council is currently taking submissions for its “Long Term Plan”

You can make your own submission HERE

It takes a mere five minutes to fill out the Council’s questionnaire and then there is a space for you to write your own submissions to the council on how you think our city should move into the future.

But you have to be quick – Submissions close TOMORROW (Wednesday 13 May at midday)

I was a bit tardy, having been busy while the submission window was open, but I managed to get my submission down and have just sent it off.

I hope you feel empowered to make your voice heard too!

Below is a copy of my submission:

“Napier is a wonderful city. It has been my home all my life and I cherish it dearly.

But Napier has been allowed to “age disgracefully” over recent years under previous administrations. It has often felt like “baby-boomers” rule and the interests of anyone under the age of 40 get ignored or have to fend for themselves.

As a result, we annually lose generations of our bright and talented youth to other parts of New Zealand and the world. A few return in later life with their families, most never do.

This creates not only a great gulf in the age bracket, earning Hawke’s Bay its sunny ‘Retirement village’ image, but also major cultural and economic holes in the region.

When it comes to looking after Napier’s younger generations needs or allocating them some form of infrastructure, N.C.C.’s solution to date has been “build a skate-park!” Ho-hum!

Skateboards and BMX’s alone do not a youth make. Where are the events, concerts, expos and exhibitions for our youth? Where are the workshops for young writers, actors, designers, technicians and entrepreneurs?

Our central city is often bereft of shoppers, while the number of empty shops grows and festers. Napier’s CBD is a favourite destination for its young people, so why not combine these two elements for mutually beneficial results?

Where is any voice or influence for Napier’s “Youth Council”? It has essentially vanished off the radar since I was a member in 1995!

How are they being guided or given a voice? I remember hearing that in the last few years they staged a shanty town in the Library forecourt for the 40-hour famine and raised money for children in Africa. What about those underprivileged children in their own city?

There is so much focus and so many millions being thrown at attracting tourists and their wallets to briefly visit Napier, but where are the initiatives and funding to keep our talented, inspired school-leavers in Napier?

This is a problem that has been nagging at me for years. I never left Hawke’s Bay for university, a career or global migration after high school. I stayed here, living and working in what I still consider one of the best places in the world. It has had its advantages, but also some major disadvantages.

Over the past decade the major drawbacks have been few career opportunities within the region and poor pay. Hawke’s Bay’s economy has suffered because of these factors and the poor economy has depressed wages and career opportunities even more.

We need to break this cycle.

I have talked to and read items written by local business people and entrepreneurs in their 30’s who, like me, never left Napier, or went away and returned. They have good ideas on keeping Hawke’s Bay youth empowered, employed and engaged in Hawke’s Bay.

There are also older, far more established business people in the region who are more than capable of being inspiring mentors to younger generations. Unfortunately their attitude to the region’s “Lost Generations” of 20-somethings is:

“It’s really hard to keep people in their 20’s in the Bay. Be great if we could, but there are easier places to focus where we swim with the tide.”
(Rod Drury, Xero founder and Hawke’s Bay resident – Quote taken from “Fruitbowl” website)

I don’t consider continuing to put this problem in the “too hard basket” and hoping Hawke’s Bay’s bright and talented young one day return to be an option any longer. Somebody needs to take a stand and do something about it.

Will you?

Rod Drury’s Xero is a successful, global company. But one thing Mr Drury fears (I read this in a special CEO lift-out in the Herald) was his company losing its “start-up feel”.

Start-ups are often skin-of-the-teeth operations. Someone starts with an idea and builds a business from it. People using their raw talent and skills – often without tertiary qualifications. I really admire people who can do that – I’m not sure I could.

The technology industry is one of the main benefactors and biggest earners of start-up thinking and business. Just look at Facebook. Typically, modern start-ups are often begun by people in their late teens and early twenties, just the segment Hawke’s Bay is missing out on!

We need to target these high-value tech companies and foster such start-ups to set up operations in Hawke’s Bay. Especially with web-based content, where work can be done from anywhere in the world, so why not Napier?

With our youth being so tech-savvy, school-leavers would be ideal employment candidates. Pay them more than the local retail of hospitality industry (it shouldn’t be too hard), provide some on the job training and “Boom!” – instant workforce and all-round benefits to Napier and Hawke’s Bay’s economy!

This isn’t asking for preferential treatment for Hawke’s Bay’s school leavers and 20-somethings. This is about giving them the opportunity to stay in their home towns if they want to and at the same time creating real, well-paying career opportunities and boosting our regions flagging economy.

Doing nothing is no longer an option. It’s time we did something about it.

Will you do it?

Napier In Frame

Tag Archives: Business