The latest BayBuzz magazine is now on the street … and it’s full of vision!
Over three dozen visions for Hawke’s Bay to be precise, offered by wide range of community leaders.
So, to start, here are those visions, with my introduction that looks at their themes … and some potential conflicts.
We gave our Guest Advocate, as well as some of our regular columnists, a bit more space to develop their visions.
Here are their articles …
Guest Advocate Graeme Avery says Let go of the past! We need much more innovative thinking in the Bay to prepare ourselves for a highly competitive, fast-changing global environment.
David Trubridge, in Thriving locally, proposes that we’ll be better off if we choose to consume what we can grow and make sustainably here in our region.
Claire Hague, in Let’s leave our gang colours at the gate, says we need to break down barriers between our schools and the workplace.
Phyllis Tichinin says in Let’s grow stellar foods! that we can grow food in ways that are better for our soil, our health and taste buds, and our export prospects.
Paul Paynter, in Contra-vision, cautions that the visions that really matter and get achieved start with committed individuals, not studies, planners and councils.
And on the lighter side, in Dim Vision, Brendan Webb chronicles the trials of Lawrencus Yulus, as he attempts to elicit any vision at all from his political colleagues.
Enjoy these articles … and send BayBuzz your own vision for Hawke’s Bay. We’ll be happy to publish it online.
We’ll have more BayBuzz mag articles later this week. Or you can just skip ahead to our website, or use our flash online reader to view the magazine exactly as it appears in print.
Tom Belford
Received my latest copy of the Jan issue (number 4) of Bay Buzz and after reading through it I consider it well worth the annual subscription price I paid.
I think Graeme Avery (Sileni) in his article " Letting go of the Past "is right on the money when he says the old way of doing things died when the " money snake ate it's tail " back in the GFC in 2008 and now the smart man is one who can find new ways of doing old things….esp. in Hawkes Bay !
Bill Gross, the head of the largest investment fund in America, Pimco, said this week that it's not the " new normal" anymore..that's gone already… it's now the " new paranormal" which means there are no previous precedents to base commercial and lifestyle assumptions on anymore and the time has come to adapt to a new global order more profound than anything in the history of civilisation, let alone the laidback ole Bay….couldn't agree more, Graeme…yep,it's life , Jim, but just not as we know it ?!
Paul Paynter's article " Contravision " followed on the same theme when he says Hawkes Bay doesn't actually exist and that it's time to stop blathering on about abstract constructs and consider a new politically unattractive reality to take the Bay forward !
Fond hope there, Paul..
Unfortunately, some of the contributors in the Visions for the Bay section of the mag.still seem myopic to this fact and trotted out the usual jargon but that's par for course…don't want to rock the boat too much now, do we?
Ka kite
A great magazine with some interesting articles in it. Some "visions" that were expressed definitely show a myopic, tribal viewpoint. But there is hope… I believe that a vision for the future needs to preserve our treasures (e.g. land, environment, items of special heritage), but it also needs to look to the future and met the challenges that are there.
We have an economy based on large numbers of people working on minimum wages. That is one of the major reasons why we have more people than would be statistically expected who are high on the social deprivation index.
Increasing the value of our economy by leveraging our "foodie" culture is one thing that would seem logical.
so breaking that all down, andrew, what exactly are you trying to say?
Hopefully this will clarify my thoughts a little:
A vision for the future in the Hawkes bay needs to:
– preserve the things that are so valuable that if we lose them our long term future will be compromised. For example, once land has been converted from horticulture to residential use it will not revert back .
– be based on more than just a "bigger economy" driven by an increased number of people who each earn the minimum wage. Instead, the net average wealth and income per person needs to increase. This means higher skilled and valued work which is focussed on increased returns for everyone.