One of Kāpiti’s most socially involved citizens, Karl Webber, has entered the political realm with a bid for a seat on the Paraparaumu Community Board.
Karl has been in and around Kāpiti politics and business groups as well as many social service organisations for many years so why the move to politics now?
“I have a passion for the Kāpiti Coast and am always looking for ways to support and add value to our community. I have been heavily involved in community focused work for the past 30 years, whilst raising my two children. I am well known on the coast for weaving people together, I like to connect and strengthen networks for the greater good of all parties,” says Karl
He says his focus on innovation and creative solutions has served him well in the community projects he has worked on.
“My goal is to continue to be active in our community spaces and facilitate better connectivity and discussions between our community and elected members of council in regards to local issues and funding opportunities.”
Karl is from Kāpiti’s three local Iwi, and his whanau have resided at Paraparaumu Beach and Kāpiti Island for over six generations.
“I guess one of the privileges I have is having an excellent network of people in the community from all walks of life.
“I have good relationships with most if not all current elected members, many of our current community board members and also many of the new candidates for council,” says Karl.
I think it’s fantastic we have an opportunity to kick this next triennium off with a new mayor and new CE, I hope we see more of a team effort going on in council this next term, both elected members and community boards and also in council operations.
“I think there’s some big discussions coming up, Three Waters, representational review, building intensification, managed retreat, carbon emissions stuff, Iwi input to council and voting etc, housing and a host of other things. For me it’s really important there’s good connectivity to the wider community and they all have the opportunity to understand what’s going on in council and are able to have some input. Thats where I feel it’s important that community boards step up more in this space, we need to help make the elected members jobs easier or more efficient when it comes to connectivity to the community.”
