Editorial: Wanganui success is sweet

Anyone who believes that nothing good ever happens in Wanganui needs to check out today's Chronicle.
During recent months - years it seems - it has been a rarity to publish stories of businesses expanding or extra jobs being created in our community. Today, we present further detail on two such developments.
Neither are exactly new develop ments, having previously been reported on in this paper, but both are significant for their own reasons.
Several months ago when KFC closed, many might have wondered if the business would open again. Today we are able to reveal the date the food outlet will re-open, along with details on the extra jobs created as a result. It says something of Restaurant Brands' belief in the future of the city that it opted to include us in its nationwide programme of redevelopment, spending $1.5million on the Wanganui site when it would have been so easy to cancel the development, blaming the recession and the increasing push away from traditional fast food towards healthier options. Where else would those 44 staff have found work?
Speaking of new jobs, yesterday was the official launch of the Ultra-Fast Broadband deployment in Wanganui, although physical work began late last month. It is an infrastructure project of immense scale and the $35million project has already resulted in 40 jobs, with more anticipated. This is a project that has potential to really change the way we live.
If you don't believe me, consider what your life was like a decade ago, maybe even 20 years - no mobile phone alerts for appointments, or telephone banking; no flashy music devices, or news alerts to whatever mobile device you use. Facebook and Twitter to stay in touch? Nope. As for doing business, educating people or dealing with health, technology has totally changed the way we operate.
So trying to predict to what extent the introduction of high-speed broadband into our city will have is nigh impossible.
In a world where so many things that once belonged in the realm of science fiction have now become reality, the potential is limited only by the imagination of our innovators. One thing working in our favour is that we are third in the country to get this latest technology so are in the box seat to capitalise on any opportunities. Hopefully that may mean it won't be too long until the next batch of Wanganui success stories appear in your Chronicle.
Feedback: editor@wanganuichronicle.co.nz