Letters: Candidates fire off views ahead of election day

Designs submitted to Hastings District Council hint at what a multimillion-dollar water museum called Water Central could look like. Photo / Supplied

Hastings trio make investigator pledge

Re. "Water leak: Councillors to hire an investigator". Since this headline hit Saturday's paper we have been contacted by numerous ratepayers who have real concerns and asking why?

For us, this is an absolute waste of ratepayers' money and the guesstimate of $100,000
maybe on the low side when staff time is taken into consideration.

This is why it is a waste of your money:

1) Confidential and non-confidential information about water storage and the Water Central concept has been on the council hub and councillors' iPads for quite a while. IPads are council property and as such, they have checked them all and found nothing has been leaked via that platform.

2) Some claim media had a hard copy. When we asked who had been handed hard copies they couldn't tell us. A record hadn't been kept.

3). Had someone talked to the media? Yes, that is always a possibility, cellphone, home phone, email, text, through a third party.

How does one investigate that especially when possibly funders of Water Central had been involved in prior discussions and one location had been discussed with the Pipe Band Association.

4) If this had occurred outside of election mode. This issue would have hardly seen the light of day.

We can assure you if the two of us who are standing are fortunate enough to be re-elected we will do our utmost to get this decision overturned. It is a waste of time, money and effort. $100,000 + could fix an awful lot of footpaths or potholes.

Hastings District Councillors Malcolm Dixon, Rod Heaps and Simon Nixon

Can you do better than Greta?

Not unexpectantly there has been a flood of letters and texts to the editor degrading our kids who attended the recent school strike for climate change.

Civil disobedience is an effective way of raising awareness.

The fact that there has been such a visceral response proves just how well this has worked.

Swedish climate activist Greta Thunberg speaks to reporters after receiving the key to the city of Montreal during a ceremony in Montreal last month.

One has to wonder what the deniers are so concerned about.
Why is it they feel so threatened by a 16-year-old-girl (Greta Thunberg) from the other side of the world?

My guess is that they are scared of change and that to defend the status quo they are simply hitting out at the easiest target they can find.

If deniers had the courage of their convictions then perhaps they could organise a "hoax rally"' to prove their point. It would be interesting to see how many turned up.

Regardless of how we feel about climate change, taking action to mitigate its effects will only make our society, environment, and economy more resilient than they are at present. If climate change is a hoax we are better off, and if it is real then we're doing something to protect our future generations.

A win-win situation all round.

Paul Bailey
Hawke's Bay Regional Councillor
Napier Ward

Time to rail against being pale, male and stale

So, I'm not a young spring chicken, so I'm of European descent (but born in NZ) and I'm male (hope that's not too gender-specific).

And while I've got a thick skin and happy to handle any criticism over what I stand for, I am sick of being told I'm "Pale, male and stale".

For the past two weeks, I have had a number of posts on my Facebook page about old white men and why they shouldn't be on council.

A number of posts were without doubt racist and would have not been tolerated if the comments were reversed.

I look around at the amazing things my generation (both men and women) have done for society and I look at some of our young critics and wonder what they are contributing – apart from criticise. Like the oldies, of course, there's plenty of young people doing a great job but you know the old saying if the cap fits wear it.

Our city and district is the result of the hard work put in by successive councils over the years and while we don't get it right all of the time, the intention has been honourable and achievement remarkable.

In HB Today there was an article (September 24) about the Hastings/China relationship and while we are still behind many tourist destinations in Chinese visitor numbers, "old white guy" Councillor Kevin Watkins was ahead of his time as he advocated for strong Chinese tourism relationships 20 years ago.

There's an "old white guy" who has devoted his time with his Christmas float amongmany other achievements so before our critics rush to print (or bag us on Facebook again) how about some recognition for the legacy we have built and are still building.

Stuart Perry
Council Candidate – Mohaka Ward
Hastings

TANK proposal dead in water?

Retiring regional councillor Peter Beaven's advocacy of the TANK plan as the answer to water problems on the Heretaunga Plains fails to mention two recent logjams sufficient to stop his flow of optimism.

Firstly the Government has issued its National Policy Statement on Fresh Water.

The seven years' work by stakeholders and the $5 million of ratepayers' money invested in research will not be entirely wasted but it is a new process now and Government and Parliament will be the drivers, not "local voices" unless the regional council makes a successful submission against the new proposals .

Of equal concern is that the regional planning committee of which all regional councillors, including Mr Beaven, are members has failed to determine a pathway ahead for the public consideration of the TANK Plan change.

The committee had three options and rejected all three. A podcast of the meeting is on the council website. Thanks to the current majority on the regional council, TANK is effectively dead in the water.

A new fresh council is urgently needed if progress is to be made.

Guy Wellwood
Candidate for Hawke's Bay Regional Council