With Tropical Cyclone Bune cruising by, perhaps it’s timely to stick with coastal issues another day. Awhile back, I spent the morning on a ‘site visit’ with Larry Dallimore, a […]
Profiting from pollution
That appears to be the business strategy of meat processor and marketer AFFCO … certainly its Wairoa operation. According to NZ Farmers Weekly, AFFCO just announced a group profit of […]
Update on Cape Coast
For two years, citizens living in Haumoana/Te Awanga – the Cape Coast – have been fighting for Councils to intervene to protect the coastline. Readers might recall an impressive display […]
Let your creative juices flow
Note these two great opportunities to get your creative juices flowing next weekend. If you are into words, don’t miss the 2011 Hastings Festival of Writers, April 1-3. A terrific […]
Election use of Internet
Pew Internet Research is the most serious student of US online habits related to politics and issue advocacy. Pew has released new survey data on Internet usage by American onliners […]
“A bottomless pit”
That’s how a Wellington Councillor described the new $17 million interactive centre at the Karori Wildlife Sanctuary, otherwise known as Zealandia. Any lessons here for Napier City Council and any […]
HBRC battles Hastings
What’s going on here?! Why does the HB Regional Council seem to be at war with the Hastings Council … or more precisely, with HDC’s management of various infrastructure assets? […]
Havelock North disaster?!
In a world of earthquakes, tsunamis, nuclear meltdowns and civil wars, Havelock North faces what many in the village regard as the ultimate disaster … the arrival of McDonald’s. Last […]
Transparency … meet ‘workshops’
Reading the agenda materials for last Wednesday’s meeting of the HB Regional Council, you would have discovered — and I suspect, been surprised — that HBRC had agreed to pay […]
Cranford nurses vindicated
If you read HB Today, you might have noticed this rather modest advert in Monday’s edition (14 March), placed by Presbyterian Support: Grievances Raised By Former Cranford Nurses Resolved Cranford […]
Build it and let it rot
Hastings Council has a strategic vision: Build it and let it rot. The same issue comes up over and over in Hastings. Notice the pattern … Build Nelson Park … […]
Instead of a velodrome …
By now the news has spread that Hastings has not made the short list as a potential site for an indoor North Island velodrome. The finalists are Auckland, Hamilton and […]
Sparc says no velodrome for Hawke’s Bay
This report is just in from Manawatu Standard, via online Stuff: BREAKING NEWS: Palmerston North has been short-listed as one of three possible locations for the New Zealand Cycling Centre […]
Man About Town
Gone. Gone. Going! By Andrew Frame I had to giggle the other day walking up Emerson Street at this bit of ‘redecorating’ someone had done to the directory board of […]
Banking at the Regional Council
The Regional Council has become Hawke’s Bay’s funder of first and last resort. Local bodies come to it for grants for museums, velodromes, town halls, and sewage systems. The Regional […]
Wanted: Regional Sport Strategy
Is sport over-funded or under-funded in Hawke’s Bay? Who knows?! Recent episodes during the Hastings Council budget process highlight the need for a truly regional sport strategy. Not the one […]
Richie McCaw to consult for Hastings Council
Who says the Hastings Council isn’t fast off the mark?! Only yesterday, rugby player (and closet economist) Ritchie McCaw was quoted in the media that the rebuild in Christchurch “won’t […]
Plan C for velodrome
As the budget season approaches, of course the Hastings Council will present a Plan A funding scheme if Hastings gets the nod for the North Island velodrome. And presumably a […]
Top Shelf Hawke’s Bay
A few articles ago, I casually raised the question of what a tourist package aimed at attracting Chinese travelers to Hawke’s Bay might look like. Below is a somewhat over […]
“Bollux” said the Councillor
Last week, the Hastings, Napier and Regional Councils (plus some other neighbors) formally adopted their so-called ‘Triennial Agreement.” This Agreement, in which our Councils commit to cooperate and consult with […]