Grey Power organised a mayoral candidates meeting yesterday (as we advised in an earlier post) and has this further one for the council seat candidates for the Waikanae Ward and District Wide council candidates (4 + 14, a total of 18).

Friday, 16 September, Waikanae Community Centre (previously Senior Citizens) 9.30am to 11.30am.

“At the meetings, candidates will be given 3 minutes (this may change depending on the number of candidates) to address the meeting. This will be followed by a question and answer session.”

The Saturday meeting (see earlier post) seems to conclude the round of these meetings, probably because voting papers will be in people’s hands in the next few days.

The STV Voting item in Wednesday 14 Sept 2016 issue of the Kapiti News is a tad misleading as it does not spell out all the options.

The key is that you don’t have to vote for all the candidates.

For example if there is only one budding mayor who pledges to keep rate increases at the rate of inflation, I will vote for that person and no others. If no budding mayors pledge to keep rates at no more than inflation I will very likely not vote for any of them.

How to vote using STV — voting is easy
Instead of ticking the candidates you want to vote for, with STV you number the candidates in order of preference. Put a “1” beside the candidate you like best, then a “2” beside your second choice, “3” by your third choice, and so on. You can vote for as many or as few candidates as you like.

So what does the numbering do?
By giving the number “1” to a candidate, you are saying that the candidate is your number one choice.

By ranking candidates in your preferred order – 1,2,3,4 and so on – you are also saying which other candidates you prefer: if your top choice doesn’t have enough support to get in or, if your top choice doesn’t need all the votes they received to be elected [this becomes relevant in a multi-member constituency like the Community Board].

What else do I need to know?
For your vote to be counted there just needs to be a single ‘1’. After that the numbers you use must be in sequence and there must be only one of each number. If you make a mistake, your vote will be valid up to when you made the error – for example, if you miss out a “4” and just rank 1, 2, 3 and 5, only your first three preferences will be valid.

Another questionable comment in that article was the assertion that “the winner in many cases is the person who attracted the most number 2 votes.”

This is only likely to be the decisive factor when there is a close result in first preferences between the two front runners.  In 2013, Quentin Poole in the Waikanae Ward got more first preferences than Tony Lloyd — 1530 to 1450.  In the final result, after counting others preferences, Tony Lloyd finished 4 votes ahead. [–Eds]

Sent to us by a reader, the location not stated.  You wonder if it is so crazy as to be deliberate, or is it a good illustration of the bureaucratic system?

Most people in the town will have received this leaflet by now.

We’re not sure why the three GWRC candidates for the Kapiti seat were omitted, but as we pointed out, there are over 30 candidates in the categories stated alone, of which most have said they are coming — if they all do, then 3 minutes of public speaking glory each plus maybe a follow up question from the audience will use up the total time pretty much.

an L.A. Metro CNG bus on West Temple in the Downtown.

Those who have looked at the list of questions given to candidates in the Politics in the Paekakariki-Raumati Ward Facebook page (see earlier) will have noticed this one :-

QUESTION 11: Do you have any ideas about how the Council can play its part in significantly reducing its emissions as per the Paris agreement. What targets should the Council set?

The answers given aren’t encouraging.  However, as we see it, there are three things that can be done:

1. The diesel bus fleet funded by the GWRC could be progressively replaced with CNG powered buses.  Los Angeles Metro has replaced all its diesel buses with them, the last conversions were made in 2008, and now has one of the biggest such fleets in North America. CNG is methane which burns to CO2 and water. CO2 is still a greenhouse gas, but it’s not as bad as pollutants from burning petrol and diesel.
2. Electric vehicle recharging posts could be provided throughout the region, whether by the GWRC or by the individual councils. “Charge anxiety” is a factor with these.
3. Both councils can switch their car fleets to electric cars when these become reasonably priced. At present they are about twice the price of petrol powered cars, but that will change.

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.

I applaud the initiative of the Waikanae Beach Resident’s Association that yesterday brought together astute and passionate Waikanae beach community members – and aspirant candidates for the elected positions of Councillor for the Waikanae Ward and the Waikanae Community Board (WCB).

My experience yesterday strengthened still further my resolve to be an active advocate for Waikanae on the Waikanae Community Board.

I pledge to you my energy, experience and commitment to ethical, open communication and meaningful collaboration.

I left the meeting confident in the fact that Waikanae would be incredibly well served by the:

1. Measured, evidence based thinking of Geoffrey Churchman,
2. Dedicated passion and driven commitment that Jeremy Seamark offers a community that he knows so well
3. The integral technical acumen and integrity that David Roil brings to the table of consultative decision making

The presence of Councillor David Scott and [council and mayoral candidate] Angela Buswell at today’s meeting signalled to me (as both a WCB candidate and rate payer) their commitment to an understanding of and willingness to contribute to the resolution of issues seen as significant by the Waikanae Community.

Margaret Stevenson-Wright

Local election candidate Guy Burns (candidate for the Paekakariki-Raumati council seat) calls for greater transparency around rates bills, saying that ratepayers should know exactly where their money is being spent.

“Rates assessments should be more transparent,” Mr Burns said today.

“Current rates assessment notices give limited information to ratepayers about where their money is going, but too much is hidden in broad categories such as ‘Districtwide General rate’ and ‘Community Facilities’.

“We live in an age where customers expect transparency, and it is reasonable
for property owners to know exactly how much they are paying each year for
things like Councillor salaries, Council advertising, libraries, parks and
individual facilities like swimming pools.

“While some of this information is available at a cumulative level, it’s not
currently available on a property by property basis. People are telling me
they want to know exactly how much they are each paying for individual
Council services so that they can make an informed decision about whether
they are getting good value for money”.

Mr Burns says it should be easy for Council to provide more transparent
information to each property owner. “The Council already calculates
individual rates assessments based on the value of each property. Under my
transparency proposal, it would simply be a case of extending the
calculation to a greater level of detail.

“Rates bills are a significant cost for many people, and they are increasing
rapidly at a rate far beyond inflation. If I elected, I will work to rein in
excessive spending, as well as introduce more transparency around what
people are paying for”.

For further information, please contact:

Guy Burns

89 Leinster Avenue, Raumati South 5032

Facebook

021 2624645

04 9040789

Police have confirmed that the Waikanae community police base, located in Mahara Place, will be permanently closed, because the lease on the the building is expiring. The base had no constabulary staff and was staffed by volunteers.

Originally, the base was closed as a temporary measure in March this year.

The Police said this was to enable a comprehensive audit of safety features to be carried out, as part of the Police’s nationwide front-counter safety project.

“The expiry of the lease prompted the decision to make the closure of the base permanent, and to look for another suitable location to enable the continuation of the type of service that the base provided prior to its closure,” says Inspector Paul Basham, Kapiti Mana Area Commander.

“While there are no plans to open another community police base in Waikanae, Police are currently in discussions with the Kapiti District Council regarding a number of possibilities -– for example, establishing a drop-in facility at a council property such as the local library,” he says.

“I want to make it really clear to the Waikanae community that the closure of the base is not a cost-saving measure and we are not looking to reduce the police presence in Waikanae in any way. Police are absolutely committed to providing the same high level of service to the Waikanae community as we always have.”

“But rather than sitting behind desks in stations, our focus is on having our staff out in the community helping and engaging with people –- in keeping with our model of being a highly-mobile and modern police service.”

“I’d also like to take this opportunity to thank the volunteers that staffed the Waikanae community police base,” says Inspector Basham.

“We are looking to find other opportunities for those volunteers, as they provide valuable support to our constabulary staff.”

There is no change to how members of the Waikanae community should call Police:

In an emergency, or when a crime is in process, please call 111 immediately.
In a non-emergency situation, call the Kapiti Police Station in Paraparaumu on 296 6800.

(reproduced from the Kapiti Independent News website)