Craig Cooper: The right HAC decision needs to be made

Whangarei District Council made the decision to not proceed with the HAC project. Photo / Michael Cunningham

There are certain expectations ratepayers have when they vote.

They don't always get met, that's life. But for what it's worth, these are my expectations.

Whangarei District Council made the decision to not proceed with a Hundertwasser Art Centre funded heavily by ratepayers.

I think they got that decision right, in hindsight.

The Northern Advocate has always supported the HAC, if the money was right.

The paper has nothing to gain from the HAC, other than the general economic wellbeing of the town improving. And earlier this year, the money wasn't right.

In making the right decision to reject the ratepayer funded model, the council indirectly forced a massive rethink of the proposal.

The result - a new proposal for the HAC that is privately funded and driven by a community trust.

It is a challenging decision for the WDC, as previous tools used to assess the HAC have been rendered irrelevant.

Past Advocate polls were assessing opinion of the ratepayer funded HAC, the WDC telephone survey the same. They have no value to the council in assessing the new proposal. Letters to the editor, editorials, advertisements - any opinion voiced before the June council meeting - is irrelevant, given the magnitude of the change in proposals.

Here is where the ratepayer expectations of a functioning government come in - the assessment of the new proposal needs to be sound, robust and in the best interests of the city.

My expectation is that the councillors will put all past prejudices aside and consider what is a new proposal.

It is a unique gift, or koha, from an artist who produced a design that is only applicable to the former NRC building at the Town Basin. Other proposals for the building submitted recently have merit, but could be built in any of the vacant buildings at the Town Basin.

So the HAC can't be built somewhere else, as detractors opposed to its aesthetics have suggested.

Aesthetics, I believe, should be put aside. If what something looks like dictated development in Whangarei, the oil refinery would never have been built on the edge of the beautiful Whangarei Harbour.

I'd also expect that councillors establish the gravitas of the promises from the cruise ship industry and hotel industry. These are promising promises, so to speak, but I would not expect any councillor to vote "yes" on a whim.

Similarly, if there are concerns about profit generation or running costs - how can we make the scenario work, rather than kill it off without investigating every opportunity.
Whangarei has many civic facilities that are not profitable. The Northland Events Centre, for example. Yet, if we did not have that facility, we'd be a much poorer town for it.

I would also expect councillors to appreciate the magnitude of the opportunity to have a successful HAC in Whangarei, and to question themselves along the lines of "how could we make this happen so that it is a success?" rather than "I don't believe it will work, so we shouldn't do it".

I expect our councillors to be open minded and consider all options.

There are promising signs that this is the case. You only have to look no further than the invitation the council extended to the business community to submit proposals for the building.

One is the new HAC proposal. Another is a proposal that the submitter has admitted is conceptual only, and that he actually supports the HAC proposal. And the remaining two demonstrate that there are people in this town who are prepared to "do" rather than sit back and moan about whatever predicament befalls them on any particular day.

Whangarei has an opportunity to demonstrate its ability to work through a difficult challenge and be known as a town that overcame its differences, and made the right decision. Having looked at the four proposals that are now before the council, this time, I cannot see how our town can say no to this gift from Hundertwasser, or indeed, a privately funded gift that would be owned by the ratepayers.

This time, the money is right. Where it could go wrong is if the decision is muddled by politics, emotion and personalities. Here is where the town puts its trust in our councillors to act with the integrity and vision that befits a progressive town, and tick the HAC box.

There is an opportunity tomorrow to visit the NRC site at the Town Basin and talk to Prosper Northland supporters. I'd suggest that, whether you are for or against, go down there at 2pm and talk to them.

Ask the hard questions, assess for yourself what you think of their proposal. As a community, the more people who are aware of the pros, and cons, the better. It enables progress, it may enable compromise, and it surely enables success. Which is all any of us are seeking.