Letter to the Editor Thursday August 15, 2013

Apology owed

Sandy Myhre's article 'A View of China from Skudders Beach,' Focus August 2013, calls the FNDC's Motto 'The Top Place where talent wants to live, work and invest' into question. Genuine or just hollow words?

The plight of Andrea Loggia and Marzia Turcano and the way they have been treated is an absolute disgrace, and demands a full, unreserved apology from the Mayor and council. Do they want to live here? Definitely, as they left Milan six years ago and chose the Bay of Islands as the place they wished to live.

Are they talented? Irrefutable; not only talented but successful, as evidenced by the numerous international awards they have won, including three gold medals.

Do they want to work? Unquestionably, as evidenced by the success of their business.

Do they want to invest? Without a doubt, as otherwise they would not be marketing internationally.

As my memory serves me, did not Mayor Brown have a ratepayer-funded trip to China to establish a Sister City relationship? If that is correct, then why did he not use that relationship to promote, foster and grow the Chinese market for these international products? Or was it that perhaps that the Sister City relationship was used merely to establish connections for establishing a mining company? If not, then why does the New Zealand China Trade Association see the Far North as nothing but a "laughing" matter?

This raises, for me, another question; where was/is the deputy Mayor, Anne Court, in all of this? These people are ratepayers in the ward she was elected to represent. Has she not recently announced that she recognised the importance of treating her ratepayers and citizens with respect? If a ratepayer communicating with council is made to feel like a criminal, how you could possibly call that respect?

I for one would like to offer my unreserved and sincere apologies as a ratepayer and citizen to Andrea, Marzia and their sons Paolo and Stefano, for the unacceptable way they have been treated.

J DAVIS Kawakawa