Letters to the Editor

 

Goodbye John Robertson
Personally I will miss you. I wrote so many suggestions to you. You ignored them all, and now off you go leaving us to live with the after-effects of all your ingenious creations.

The future – as always will reveal the truth.

Your very last action, the Wastewater Bylaw, could have waited for the elected council, who are accountable to the community, but no, you had to ram it through. You will be remembered in the next drought by those whose gardens die because you have made it illegal to water gardens with shower run-off.

You have frequently patted yourself on the back about your progress in reducing the debt burden but, in the absence of any transparency, many of us suspect that Development Contributions have been used to make the books look good and now there will be no money for all the infrastructure needed to build roads, footpaths and cycleways that the growth demands.

Democracy, if it is going to work, needs all the different views and ideas on the table to be vigorously and openly discussed with all their benefits and disadvantages. Your appointed Advisory Panels and your entire approach during your time here left me with the feeling that for you “democracy” is for your chosen 1 per cent, and everyone else can lump it.

Governments come and go. We have to live with the consequences of what you have done. But we will continue to have our own “Open For Everyone” discussion to guide the destiny of our town. Everyone is welcome to join in – see mangawhailongterm.org.nz. We are especially interested to understand the long-term vision of the newly elected councilors.

Christian Simon
Mangawhai


New perspective
To the constituents of Northland Regional Council, Coastal South: Following the release of the official results on Thursday October 13 I would like to take this opportunity to thank you for your support in electing me to the Northland Regional Council.

Craig Brown has represented this constituency and the entire Northland region diligently over the past 12 years and I would like to personally thank him for that.

I bring a new perspective to this role. As I have stated previously I believe the integration of community, economy and environment is the key factor here.

Once again thank you and please do not hesitate to contact me on 021 823 770 should you have any issues that you would like to discuss.

Rick Stolwerk
Mangawhai


Hypocrisy, pure and simple
Open letter to Dame Susan Devoy, Race Relations Commissioner:

Thank you for your enquiry pertaining to race relations in New Zealand. I stand for democracy, government of the people by the people for the people, not the divide and rule policy of the current Government.

This is not democracy. It is hypocrisy, pure and simple! I believe that anybody may come here from overseas, and enjoy the freedom that we have here, but they must be able to answer yes to these four questions: 1. Do you believe in the freedom of religion? 2. Do you believe in the freedom from religion? 3. Do you believe in the freedom of the individual? 4. Do you believe in equal rights for women?

These I believe should be the requirements for coming to New Zealand and gaining citizenship, but no doubt the United Nations would have us believe otherwise. Answering these questions in the affirmative will save many problems for us in the future. If anybody answers yes to these questions, then comes in and practices otherwise, out they go.

One of your predecessors said that we treat the Maori people like the taleban. I am of the firm belief that we are one people, and that the Treaty of Waitangi should not be in any way part of a constitution, that the Waitangi Tribunal should be abolished, that Maori seats in Parliament should be abolished, and that the Maori elite should take their rightful place in society along with the rest of us. I believe that the Government is running a divided society and both major parties are responsible for the current fiasco. I believe also that the current payments to Maori elite must come to an end some time, so New Zealand can proceed into a future fit for all on an equal path.

While on payouts, I believe that the Patupairarehe (Ngati Hotu) and Waitaha people, who were here long before Maori, and whose tribes were decimated by Maori on their arrival, must be given land and financial backing as well. The Patupairarehe people today number some 3000. Let their story be told!

Kevan G Marks
Kaipara
[Abridged]


Race and Myth
In 1950 the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) released the following statement:

“The biological fact of race and the myth of ‘race’ should be distinguished. For all practical social purposes ‘race’ is not so much a biological phenomenon as a social myth. The myth ‘race’ has created an enormous amount of human and social damage. In recent years it has taken a heavy toll in human lives and caused untold suffering. It still prevents the normal development of millions of human beings and deprives civilization of the effective co-operation of productive minds. The biological differences between ethnic groups should be disregarded from the standpoint of social acceptance and social action. The unity of mankind from both

the biological and social viewpoints is the main thing. To recognize this and to act accordingly is the first requirement of modern man.”

Now organisations (such as the United Nations and the NZ Government) promote separate racial identity as an ideal.

Mankind’s future hinges upon ascending from tribalism to unity, but instead we are following a retrograde path leading only to divisiveness and inequality.

The current crusade of politically correct leftists is to destroy democracy, with our successive governments weakly tagging along because of a paranoid dread of being labelled ‘racist’.

Notice the terror that afflicts our leaders at the mere mention of binding referenda. They are well aware that racially slanted policies would have been quashed had the government dared to seek majority opinion.

Activists clamour for racial division, compensation for events in which no one alive today took part, and distort a document of unity into one of apartheid.

Until we unearth a leader with the guts to say ‘enough!’ we are destined to witness the disintegration of a nation that once led the world in inter-racial harmony.

Mitch Morgan
Kaipara



Change not always progress
Open letter to Kaipara District Council:

If downsizing residential lots to under 600sqm for single dwellings (as proposed subdivision of 20 Robert St, Mangawhai) with two water tanks is KDC town planners’ vision of Mangawhai’s future growth, we may as well endorse multi-story waterfront apartment buildings as the norm, introducing stage 1 ‘slum’ development.

Are we allowing the aforesaid subdivision activity in the face of out-of-control urban sprawl in the form of lifestyle blocks carving up export earning farmland – the backbone of our economy – and at the expense of upgrading CBD infrastructure (stormwater drainage, footpaths, cycle lanes, kerb and channeling) be it at the Village or the Heads? Such has been, over the past 38 years, the tunnel vision mentality of Council and also defiant ratepayers failing to recognise, fund and accept the inevitable transition from small towm Mangawhai to developing city suburbia.

To the Mangawhai Town Planning Advisory panel, the solutions are obvious: rezone the land bounded by Molesworth Dr, Wood St, Margaret St , Holiday Cres and North St for future Heads retail shopping centre. Council should enter into a PPP in building a multi-story retirement village to replace the existing Fagan Place units. Plan a multi-story car park building. Sewerage, stormwater, drainage connections should be compulsory to a community reticulated system whether managed by Council or a community board.

We all use the same services so why should some ratepayers pay less than others?

Anyone who believes it’s practical to marry the Village and the Heads infrastructure growth jointly is in fantasy land – the same mentality that triggered the existing fractured community. Both have their own challenges to meet for future development and environmental protection. Unwritten legislated laws exist imposing responsibility to respect neighbours values and the environment. Failure to deliver again will result in the cost, socially and financially, being greater than the already fractured community.

God help us if we can’t stop these hungry, greedy subdividers.

Noel Paget
Mangawhai