Guest speakers
Garry Poole and Paul Davidson from the Tauranga City Council gave us an update on what the council are up to around the 10-year plan amongst other things.
Cities are about people and spaces.
Very heartening to hear that the council are aware of the woes of our booming city,
Traffic congestion, Homelessness, home affordability, infrastructural needs. All are on their radar. Committees are being formed, chair people being appointed, focus groups are focussing, studies being done. 10-year plans (which are outdated within 2-3 years) are being consulted on, Modeal shifts in traffic i.e. buses, cycleways are being talked about. $2.4billion in infrastructural investment is being planned.
There was a revelation that Rail links have been discovered from Katikati to the north and Te Puke to the east. That could move masses of people if only council, transit and NZ Rail formed a committee and talked about it. (Apparently, they did in the 50’s and 60’s but we have progressed!)
Help has arrived with congestion problems. A new committee
has been formed to enable people to predict how long they are going to spend in traffic. Alas, google has usurped them as you get this information on your phone when you wake up in the morning. Thankfully this committee may get unwound and focus may switch to a radical concept of fixing the problem.
Our recycling problem has been fixed. We are going to stop doing it. Bring back swap a crate I say.
Spare a thought for our beloved mayor, counsellor’s Max and Jane – so much to do and so much bureaucracy.
