Both Jeremy Seamark and Margaret Stevenson-Wright separately told us today that they were surprised by the little alliance evident by the election hoardings stating “we’re on the same wavelength” showing photos of WCB candidates Louise Aitken and Tonchi Begovich with incumbent members James Westbury and Jocelyn Prvanov, particularly considering Louise Aitken had been telling Jeremy for two years that she wanted to see a complete change in the WCB membership.
Not only that, at least one of them must have told the council to find out if Jeremy and Margaret had permission from the property owner for their signs (they did).
At least this dispels the belief that all the incumbent members, including Eric Gregory, Jill Lloyd and Michael Scott, are a cozy little club.
Still, is this a public association one which will really benefit that foursome? At the beach residents meeting yesterday, Angela Buswell asked Eric Gregory (the present chairman) why they decided to cancel the scheduled August meeting; are there not important matters that the board needs to discuss, regardless of whether, the excuse given, there were only three grants applications, of which only one met criteria? Are the WCB members not paid to have eight public meetings a year?
Like us, WCB candidate David Roil feels that the incumbent WCB members are jaded, lack commitment and are cynical about their positions — that meeting cancellation is just the latest reason for complaint.
In your article a paragraph suggests one of the four candidates that are working together as being the complainants re the election hoardings on the fence at Waikanae Tyre and lube,
This statement is not factual. I went in to see Tony this morning and bumped into Jocyln Prvanof – we had both gone there to see if Tony would give us written consent to have our hoardings there which is what all candidates who had signs there had been asked to do by Peter Ropata at KCDC, as all four of the alleged complainants had their hoardings up in the same place as you can see by the photo accompanying your article they would not likely of complained about their own hoardings.
After further discussion with Tony he explained that he had personally received three separate complaints about the hoardings from the public so it was agreed that all hoardings would be removed I must note that Joclyns’ hoarding along with the three others had already been removed complying with the kcdc ruling.
On a personal note I do not want to be drawn in to a place where people think that I am not willing to work with any of the other candidates if I am lucky enough to be elected to the Waikanae Community Board! I have no wish to marr what could possibly become a working relationship with underhand politics before the election! I wish all candidates well, each one of them brings different talents to the table as I do, the voters will make their choice and four people will make the board! That is democracy and we must abide by it!!
Kind Regards Jeremy Seamark
I did not write the comment above anticipating voter apathy. Vote for the ethical behaviour, skills and experience that I will bring to the Waikanae Community Board. Margaret Stevenson-Wright.
The WordPress template we use automatically suggests three further posts that seem to be on a related theme. The post about apathy is from May last year about the by-election at that time and was written by us.
Yes, you have to accept that the successful candidates could have different ideas and priorities and are not “on the same wavelength” to quote that hoarding. That is democracy.
Being able to work with people who have conflicting personalities is the art of diplomacy. That has been a big problem with the council for the past few years, but hasn’t been evident with the WCB.
It’s good to know that members of the public are concerned about visual pollution from a proliferation of billboards, particularly near traffic junctions.