Bay of Plenty Times
  • Bay of Plenty Times home
  • Latest news
  • Business
  • Opinion
  • Lifestyle
  • Property
  • Sport
  • Video
  • Death notices
  • Classifieds

Subscriptions

  • Herald Premium
  • Viva Premium
  • The Listener
  • BusinessDesk

Sections

  • Latest news
  • On The Up
  • Business
  • Opinion
  • Lifestyle
  • Property
    • All Property
    • Residential property listings
  • Rural
    • All Rural
    • Dairy farming
    • Sheep & beef farming
    • Horticulture
    • Animal health
    • Rural business
    • Rural life
    • Rural technology
  • Sport

Locations

  • Coromandel & Hauraki
  • Katikati
  • Tauranga
  • Mount Maunganui
  • Pāpāmoa
  • Te Puke
  • Whakatāne
  • Rotorua

Media

  • Video
  • Photo galleries
  • Today's Paper - E-Editions
  • Photo sales
  • Classifieds

Weather

  • Thames
  • Tauranga
  • Whakatāne
  • Rotorua

NZME Network

  • Advertise with NZME
  • OneRoof
  • Driven Car Guide
  • BusinessDesk
  • Newstalk ZB
  • Sunlive
  • ZM
  • The Hits
  • Coast
  • Radio Hauraki
  • The Alternative Commentary Collective
  • Gold
  • Flava
  • iHeart Radio
  • Hokonui
  • Radio Wanaka
  • iHeartCountry New Zealand
  • Restaurant Hub
  • NZME Events

SubscribeSign In
Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.
Home / Bay of Plenty Times

Mayoral candidates attract hundreds to forum

Sonya Bateson
By Sonya Bateson
Regional content leader, Bay of Plenty Times and Rotorua Daily Post·Bay of Plenty Times·
20 Sep, 2016 04:00 AM3 mins to read

Subscribe to listen

Access to Herald Premium articles require a Premium subscription. Subscribe now to listen.
Already a subscriber?  Sign in here

Listening to articles is free for open-access content—explore other articles or learn more about text-to-speech.
‌
Save

    Share this article

Bob Owens Retirement Village hosted the largest Meet the Candidates events so far, with 200 people hearing the mayoral candidates speak. Photo/John Borren

Bob Owens Retirement Village hosted the largest Meet the Candidates events so far, with 200 people hearing the mayoral candidates speak. Photo/John Borren

More than 200 people gathered at Bob Owens Retirement Village yesterday in what has been the largest Meet the Candidates event yet.

The 11 contenders for the Tauranga mayoralty were given three minutes each to promote themselves, then the candidates were asked questions.

One that stirred a variety of responses was whether the civic heart process had been robust and innovative enough.

First up was Graeme Purches, who said the public should have known about the problem far earlier than they did.

During consultation, he said he had asked the council what the vision for the city was and was told there was not one.

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.
Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

Next was Greg Brownless, who said instead of "throwing a whole lot of money" at the project and including facilities like a library and museum, the city should work towards different components as it could afford them.

Max Mason brought up the Panuku Auckland development, the Auckland Council organisation involved in developing the Viaduct Basin and Wynyard Quarter, and said he had invited the man behind this project to talk about how Tauranga could "develop a city centre we can get behind".

Hori Leaming said Tauranga should be a "trailblazer" and have a city centre no other city in the country had, like how Kawakawa had Hundertwasser's toilets as a tourist attraction.

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

Noel Paterson said even if external funders came to the party and built the civic block, ratepayers would still have to pay for the fit out.

Doug Owens said he could not understand why the council was so "hell-bent" on getting a proposal for the civic block together before the election, which was a risky thing to do.

Murray Guy said the first news that came out about the leaky building was of an employee who had become sick, and he was yet to see any report that confirmed the sickness was caused by the mould, which made him believe there was a hidden agenda.

Larry Baldock, who was not at the meeting due to sickness but prepared a response read out by Tony Christiansen, said there had been unnecessary delays and costs in solving the leaky building problem.

"It has been nearly two years since mould was discovered. It should be gone by now. A new library should have been nearly under construction on the site."

Steve Morris, who was late because he was at a council meeting, said in his view, the council had "consulted some people to death" about the civic heart and the council should focus on replacing the civic building first as a necessity, then worry about the other projects as the city could afford them.

Kelvin Clout, who was also late due to a council meeting, said he valued the council staff and believed they deserved to be housed in a reasonable work environment.

John Robson, who was at the same council meeting, arrived too late to respond to the questions, but told the assembled voters he was made chairman of the council's Finance and Risk Committee as the mayor recognised he was the councillor with the strongest finance background, and said the mayor picked the right man for the job.

Save

    Share this article

Latest from Bay of Plenty Times

Bay of Plenty Times

Māori fighter stars in Netflix boxing event

07 Jul 01:24 AM
Bay of Plenty Times

Police search for suspect after man shot in leg

06 Jul 10:51 PM
Bay of Plenty Times

Teen's sudden cancer diagnosis puts close-knit family on 'rollercoaster ride'

06 Jul 06:00 PM

From early mornings to easy living

sponsored
Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

Latest from Bay of Plenty Times

Māori fighter stars in Netflix boxing event

Māori fighter stars in Netflix boxing event

07 Jul 01:24 AM

Cherneka Johnson's fight will stream live on Netflix, a first for a Kiwi boxer.

Police search for suspect after man shot in leg

Police search for suspect after man shot in leg

06 Jul 10:51 PM
Teen's sudden cancer diagnosis puts close-knit family on 'rollercoaster ride'

Teen's sudden cancer diagnosis puts close-knit family on 'rollercoaster ride'

06 Jul 06:00 PM
Premium
Balancing power: What the employment law changes mean for you

Balancing power: What the employment law changes mean for you

06 Jul 05:00 PM
Solar bat monitors uncover secrets of Auckland’s night sky
sponsored

Solar bat monitors uncover secrets of Auckland’s night sky

NZ Herald
  • About NZ Herald
  • Meet the journalists
  • Newsletters
  • Classifieds
  • Help & support
  • Contact us
  • House rules
  • Privacy Policy
  • Terms of use
  • Competition terms & conditions
  • Our use of AI
Subscriber Services
  • Bay of Plenty Times e-edition
  • Manage your print subscription
  • Manage your digital subscription
  • Subscribe to Herald Premium
  • Subscribe to the Bay of Plenty Times
  • Gift a subscription
  • Subscriber FAQs
  • Subscription terms & conditions
  • Promotions and subscriber benefits
NZME Network
  • Bay of Plenty Times
  • The New Zealand Herald
  • The Northland Age
  • The Northern Advocate
  • Waikato Herald
  • Rotorua Daily Post
  • Hawke's Bay Today
  • Whanganui Chronicle
  • Viva
  • NZ Listener
  • Newstalk ZB
  • BusinessDesk
  • OneRoof
  • Driven Car Guide
  • iHeart Radio
  • Restaurant Hub
NZME
  • About NZME
  • NZME careers
  • Advertise with NZME
  • Digital self-service advertising
  • Book your classified ad
  • Photo sales
  • NZME Events
  • © Copyright 2025 NZME Publishing Limited
TOP