The importance of the observation made by Whangarei District councillor Greg Innes at a 2014 council meeting that "Whangarei needs a point of difference" was dramatically brought home to me during a recent road trip around New Zealand.
A key thing that stood out was the different economic well-being and prosperity of provincial towns and cities. It was glaringly apparent that those towns that were thriving were those that had a tourist attraction that was marketed as their point of difference.
Currently, Whangarei is starting to resemble those towns I saw that were economically depressed with many empty commercial premises. To me, it seems that the proposed Hundertwasser Wairua Maori Art Centre building is the only current proposal that will provide our point of difference and spark off the economic revival we all want.
Sue Mawson
Whangarei
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