It began when Geoffrey stood in the Waikanae Ward council by-election of February 2015 as a means of conveying policy stances and was continued as a general on-line magazine for Waikanae people.

The profligate waste of Ratepayers’ money on extravagances and useless projects by the KCDC accompanied by constant big Rates increases was the main concern; what property developers get up to was another. The main worrying subdivision development, because of its enormous size, was and still is that of the Maypole company; the other, to a lesser extent, was and is Waikanae North.

We’ve participated in a few successful campaigns in this 5 years — among them the dropping of the Wellington Super City notion in 2015, persuading council C.E. Dougherty to go elsewhere in 2017, the dropping of the council’s Borrow to Gamble in the Stock Market notion in 2018 and a makeover of Mahara Place in 2019 (even if the result wasn’t all it could have been.)

But there have also been frustrations, among them: the reservoir for long term water supply assurance hasn’t happened, neither has an underpass for Elizabeth Street and the rejection of planned changes to the Main Road was only partially successful. You can’t win ’em all.

We’ve posted hundreds of pretty pictures of Waikanae and its adjoining areas as well as lots of articles on lifestyle, sport, art, health, crime prevention and civil rights/liberties, particularly freedom of speech.

A fair bit of unpaid time has gone in the 4,037 posts — a mix of activism, community service and hobby by your editors and several contributors.  We believe we provide a valuable alternative source of news and views independent of what the Mainstream Media serve up, and plan to continue for a while yet.