Like many in the Whangarei district, I am in receipt of the consultation document published by the Whangarei District Council (WDC).
All credit to WDC for a well composed, informative report.
Further to T Hill's letter to the editor, what concerns me far more than thecosts of producing a document - that I am certain will fulfill its purposes by effectively informing ratepayers and aiding wise decision making - is the costs of $500,000 per annum to clean up and fix graffiti and vandalism as mentioned on page 6 of the document; especially when the expenditure on this activity amounts to 65 per cent of the total parks budget.
WDC does need to ensure any damage, wilful or otherwise, is repaired quickly. However, I could think of far better use of $500,000 per year.
If my wilful destruction, neglect or disregard for my organisation, clients and colleagues incurred expenditure of $500,000, then I would have some serious explaining to do in front of them all.
Would it, therefore, be unreasonable for me as a ratepayer to demand that louts wilfully damaging public property and causing unnecessary expenditure of our ratepayer money be brought before a public meeting with residents and ratepayers and made to explain their actions to us?
Is it unreasonable, as a ratepayer, to know personally who is doing the damage and demand an explanation from the perpetrators?
