"Shaping Rotorua's future" is the focus of a new city advocacy group called Evolve Rotorua. Its founders range from lawyers to businesspeople and tourism venture managers. Evolve's main goal is to spread the word about local projects it thinks will make Rotorua a better place, and advocate for them with local organisations, central and local government and more. But how does Evolve think it will get on with the Rotorua District Residents and Ratepayers group? And what do the mayor and RDRR councillor Peter Bentley think about it? Sam Olley finds out.
The founders of a new city issues advocacy group do not want to create an ''us-versus-them'' mentality with the Rotorua Residents and Ratepayers Association but they know their views will often clash.
Evolve Rotorua treasurer Claire Mahon told the Rotorua Daily Post in her view a lot of the conversation in Rotorua media and online platforms was negative and conservative.
"There is a lot of comment focusing on what we don't like."
Evolve Rotorua: Shaping Rotorua's FutureEvolve Rotorua: Shaping Rotorua’s Future We are a new advocacy group whose aim is to champion progressive social and economic projects and policies for an inclusive and sustainable Rotorua. We hope to bring people together, to act as a focal point and as a connector for stakeholders who are involved in projects and plans that are designed to better Rotorua. We want to help showcase policies and ideas that will improve our town, and to facilitate engagement and discussion on the future of Rotorua. We will work with individuals, voluntary and professional groups, to address social and economic issues of importance to the future of Rotorua. We support building stronger communities, holistically, ensuring inclusivity across the board, in order to make Rotorua better. We believe that in order to contribute to Shaping Rotorua’s Future we need to develop and support positive progressive plans and policies that take into account the needs of all of our community members.
Posted by Evolve Rotorua on Wednesday, 27 February 2019