Editorial: We must focus on what we do well

Ray McVinnie. Photo / Stephen Parker

They say word of mouth is the best form of advertising. So why is it then that some of us locals are so quick to bag our city?

Ray McVinnie released his "report card" on Rotorua at the end of last week. He was asked by the Inner City Focus Group to take an in-depth look at our city and report back on what we do well and what we can do better.

It's all part of the Raising The Bar campaign that aims to improve the service standards in Rotorua.

In his report McVinnie wondered if some locals were over-emphasising negative hype about crime in the city when police figures don't back up their fears.

He said figures prove Rotorua is no more crime-ridden than anywhere else in New Zealand and, in fact, crime in the wider Bay of Plenty has decreased by 11.2 per cent during the past year.

It's not just locals living here who seem to get a kick out of bringing us down. On social media sites such as Facebook, you often see posts from expat Rotoruans saying how pleased they are they live wherever (usually Australia) because Rotorua is "getting worse". Says who, I say?

Even here at the Rotorua Daily Post we are making a greater effort to promote the positive. Just skimming our files for the past month alone shows there has only been one crime front page lead story since August 1 (that's out of 22 front pages).

We are certainly not ignoring crime when it happens and rest assured significant crime events will still get the appropriate treatment. But what's needed in our city is to stop focusing on the bad things and start shouting from the rooftops about what we do well.