Ed Said - Mangawhai's teen angst

Many New Zealanders have been in a hurry to throw open the borders to our South Pacific neighbours and create some sort of semi-international travel bubble. The prime minister was equally as quick to say, hey, just hold your horses. Turns out it’s just as well. Despite our initial success at stamping out coronavirus it continues to run rampant in the rest of the world, and that’s the problem. As we continue to repatriate, we are exposed to those bringing the virus back with them.

Has the fact that coronavirus is basically under control here lulled us all into a false sense of security? Quite possibly. And as we as communities have cranked back up again and the saturation of Covid media coverage has slowly evaporated, it is easy to forget what is happening overseas. Several continents are seeing a massive resurgence in cases – tens of thousands per day. We need to be mindful of the world situation, the plight of others, and how lucky we are, as we go about our new daily lives at work, school, mowing the lawn, or going for a surf.

We also need to be mindful that Mangawhai is heading into an unprecedented development twilight zone and there won’t be any going back. There will be no reverse osmosis, tardis or time machine that will restore Mangawhai to its former sleepy seaside self. Mangawhai is about to hit puberty folks. Yes, our little town is growing up. And like most teenagers it sometimes seems to be doing whatever it bloody-well likes. One day it just won’t get out of bed – all day – and then over summer it just wants to stay up all night.

A building boom has left Mangawhai metaphorically pimple faced, and this is, literally, putting the squeeze on infrastructure. Something’s going to burst.

Along with this disharmony comes a feeling of a lack of parental control. Everything was going so well. We as parents used to be united in how we raised our town, but the reality is the town has learned how to play us against each other, turn us on ourselves, and inevitably get its own way.

There is a lot of angst as we parents start to wonder what Mangawhai will be like when it grows up, and the constant hand wringing – have we done the right thing, or where did we go wrong?

The reality is, as Mangawhai grows up there will be no right or wrong way. Good, bad, or otherwise, if Mangawhai is forecast to increase by 15,000 permanent residents over the next 20 years, then what we need is a plan. Community interest on Mangawhai’s future was highlighted at the recent Council-led Mangawhai Community Plan meeting. Many want to be included in the process. That’s a positive. I think it takes a village to raise a village.