Dear Editor
Sad to say Kāpiti is known as the ‘whinging’ district in New Zealand. I mentioned to group of people from around the country I lived in Kāpiti and they said all they knew about Kāpiti is that people here moan about everything.
It is not only members of the public but most of the mayoral candidates who have concentrated on negativity and criticism of the existing council, even though two of them Guru and Ross Church – are on the very council they condemn. They seem to forget they have had the power in the last three years to change things but have actually contributed very little.
The Mayor and Councillors ONLY HAVE ONE VOTE EACH they need the majority of the council behind any change they want to make and unless all the councillors standing for another term are not elected very little can change. The only extra power the Mayor has currently is the casting vote if there is no majority. The current Mayor has only used the casting vote once to agree on the airport development. I think this proves that all the issues being campaigned on by the Mayoral candidates such as water solutions and coastal hazard lines had the majority agreement of the Council – something no new Mayor can change unless they have super mind changing powers.
Guru, Ross Church and Jackie Elliott particularly have campaigned on the basis of slamming the existing Council without any evidence they could have done better. Indeed Guru and Ross Church are merely highlighting their lack of positive action in their terms as councillors. None of them have extensive local government experience or have led multi-million dollar business which Kāpiti is.
The majority of the mayoral candidates concentrate on negativity and simply make promises they cannot keep. Guru says Kāpiti needs to be ‘fixed’ but has been on the council he says needs fixing for the last three years. Why didn’t Guru do anything? How can Ross or Jackie build a dam and at the same time promise lower rates? That is simply not possible. Personally knocking someone else is not my idea of a good role model or leader for our society. Lead by example like the Dalai Lama, and be a good person first without resorting to insults and condemnation of others.
Jennie Gutry
Paraparaumu
