Editorial: Focus is now on our vote

Time to vote for the new City Focus.

Change is inevitable, whether you like it or not.

And it looks like it will be inevitable for Rotorua's City Focus.

The Rotorua Lakes Council has given us three options for change, after extensive consultation with three design companies, but has not given us a fourth option - "no change".

As councillor Peter Bentley said, the council's mind is already made up and it will go.

So it seems in the near future the old City Focus will become a thing of the past and it's now up to us to choose which design we think is best.

It's a shame the council did not think of holding a design competition, as suggested by one of our letter writers today, it seems like a really good idea. There is a lot of talent in this city and what better way to get people engaged in its future than have a local design it for us?

I very much like the concept of an Ideas Store - but shouldn't that have been done before we were given the three options?

On a quiet, rainy winter's day the current City Focus is a sad and dreary place which is lifeless and bland with a sea of cobblestones and little to attract the eye.

But the one thing that really bothers me is the one-way road system, that if you are not vigilant (think about our city's many visitors) sends you round in circles. To me it's just a road block, and an ugly one at that.

Is it iconic? Not by a long shot. How many tourists do you see taking photos there? It's not as if it's St Faith's or the Government Gardens and not once have I seen it used in any advertising to attract people to the city. It's pretty obvious why this is the case.

The one thing I'm certain about is that it has to go, or be changed drastically, to breath new life into the central city. We can do a lot better than the boring old structure that sits there now.