These visitors were looking for reasons to stop in Whangarei - they were sick of driving, had often just arrived in the country and wanted a good excuse to stay the night before heading further north.
Unfortunately, the only thing on their tourist radar was the Whangarei Falls. It was all we could do to try to divert some of them to the Town Basin rather than continue up the highway to call in at the falls for 10 mins and carry on to Paihia.
The Hundertwasser Arts Centre combined with the hugely successful Hatea Loop Walkway would convince many visitors that staying a night in the Whangarei town centre would be worth the bother and expense. They would be looking for accommodation, food and entertainment all in easy walking distance, therefore supporting the businesses in central Whangarei.
Paul Berks should do his research properly, as should the council, before making sweeping statements about the attraction of something like the Hundertwasser Arts Centre.
Visitors want a reason to stop and that needs to be a point of difference, something that is worthy of mention in the Lonely Planet Guide, something that they have heard of before they arrive at the i-Site and decide whether to just have a coffee and carry on, as most of the thousands of visitors do at present.
People may not like the thought of a crazy, colourful building in the town centre, but it will certainly make people stop. And when they stop, they spend money.
Rachel Thorn
Whangarei
Voting is skewed
I would like to express my opinion on the latest council referendum.
This referendum is totally unfair to the people in Whangarei who wish to vote "no" to Hundertwasser. The people need to be made aware of the fact that the way the referendum is, it is swayed towards those who wish to vote "yes" to Hundertwasser.
Those who are against the Hundertwasser option now have 2 options to decide between (A) or (C). (It is extremely unlikely that those who want the Hundertwasser to go ahead are going to vote for option C, demolition).
Therefore those that are against the Hundertwasser are now going to split their votes between (A) and (C), meaning the Hundertwasser option may win by a 34 per cent vote which is not a majority vote at all, as 33 per cent may vote for (A) and 33 per cent may vote for (C), meaning 66 per cent were against the Hundertwasser, yet the Hundertwasser won.
The referendum should have gone out as a two choice question - yes or no to Hundertwasser. Once that was decided, if the majority voted "no" to Hundertwasser then the next step would be to decide between building the Harbourside option or demolishing the building. The only way a no to Hundertwasser can win is for everyone in Whangarei who is against it to only vote (A) or only vote (C). How can we make this happen?
Jayne Strickland
Whangarei
Do the maths ...
Re Hundertwasser people hours, 150,000 paying people per year.
Divided by days per year = 150,000/ 365 = 410 people per day for every day of the year
If the Hundertwasser is open for eight hours per day that would equate to 410/8 = 51.25 people every hour in an eight-hour period of every day for the year. It is very easy to pluck figures out of the air and say it is a true estimate of the numbers of people who would want to view this so-called marvellous building.
Bruce Yorke
RD9, Whangarei
Let's be realistic
Having read Dave Murray's extensive concerns regarding traffic management should the Old Harbour Board building be re-purposed, I can't actually decide whether it's a positive or negative opinion.
On the one hand, the fact that he is deeply worried that particularly if the HWMAC proposal is chosen, the whole town will be overrun with so many visitors, locals won't be able to find a parking space - which sounds like a bad thing - but if he's so sure that will happen then it's a terrific positive and a problem that I'm sure the council would love to have.
Let's be realistic, up to two years for fundraising, approx three years for the renovations - I think even the WDC will come up with some solutions within that time frame.
Heather Carthew - Multi-media artist
Chairwoman for The Basin Arts & Crafts House (THE BACH)
What do you think? Comment below.
