A109 Light Utility Helicopter flight with mayor Gisborne City from the air in November 2023.
Opinion
Last night I had the privilege of attending the Tairawhiti Rainbow Action “meet the candidates” evening.
As a candidate standing for council, I was somewhat surprised by comments from some current councillors who attended this event, in terms of what they have achieved over the past three to six years
— a new council building, the beach boardwalk, Titirangi hill redevelopment and the inner harbour project etc.
Don’t get me wrong, a couple of these projects have gone basically smoothly and are an asset to the community, but we still have poo going into our harbour, our roads are still a mess, our footpaths are broken and areas do not have channel and kerbing etc (basic council infrastructure).
And to rub salt into the wound, the current council have increased rates by 4.6 percent this year and budgeted further increases over the next three years.
Should we not get the basics right first?