R.J. Harsant has a good point "ratepayers unite - demolish".
The propaganda machine for the pro HWMAC has been extremely busy "educating" schoolchildren through art projects that they will take home these "exciting" concepts to their parents, and also with imitation Hundertwasser paintings in public places, bumper stickers, letterboxers etc etc.
Then we have also been bombarded with the projected huge number of sightseers that will pour off tourist ships docked at a mythical wharf facility and Whangarei will be prosperous again and all the shops will be filled. Don't get me wrong as a businessperson in Whangarei I would love to see our town prosper and grow.
And then we have those ratepayers who don't want the Hundertwasser smack in the middle of our South Pacific little Town Basin with its nice palm trees and yachts. But they do realise that the referendum puts the HAC, and I will include the WDC, at an advantage, as the NO vote will inevitably be split into one of the two other options - raising the HAC camp's chances. Hence a simple yes/no vote for the HAC was never going to be an option. What about 27 per cent for and 53 per cent against - do the councillors understand?
What the WDC really do not get is that the reason that the majority of the ratepayers don't want it is because they think it looks ridiculous, gaudy and totally out of place and the cost. So out of utter frustration, some will vote a demolition may be the best way to vote. The better option in my opinion would be the united vote for the Harbourside as it is relevant to our history and culture that would also be good for tourism and for Whangarei and Northland.
