Dedicated to democracy, enjoying and restoring the Mahurangi, meaningful climate action, and curiosity—
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That sublime feeling: My work here is done
I just had to call Shane Hartley. Fortunately for Shane he was on the phone, so I had to contain my excitement and write an email. Others hadn’t been quite so lucky that afternoon and quite a lot of phone time was spent reporting an historic breakthrough: The...
Getting handle on potential conflicts
As one who encouraged you to stand for Rodney District Council, it seemed to me that the best reason for having you elected was to have a committed advocate for the harbour and its catchment in that body. As a councillor, I believed you could…
Heading off a conflict of interest
My first action was to seek advice. I was considering standing for Rodney District Council, and sought the counsel of Graham Nielson who was my supervisor when I was employed by the council to computer-model Helensville’s water reticulation—the good old days when the...
stv-voters spared the horrors of how
Five friends meet up to see a movie. Screening is a romance, a horror, a comedy and an arthouse film. The friends hold a verbal ballot, agreeing to go with the highest-polling choice. Horror of horrors, the horror gets two votes, the rest one…
Preference preferable to dual-candidacy confusion
Safety in numbers. Unlike Wellington City and seven other local bodies, Rodney District Council and the rest of the herd have clung to first-past-the-post. The council, when rejecting preference voting prior to the 2004 election, denied the…
Award-winning presenters warm up at strategy and policy meeting
The students’ Stream Rescue Team can be seen in action at Rodney District Council’s strategy and policy meeting this Thursday at 9 am. Representatives of the Stream Rescue Team, made up of 10–13-year-old students from the Warkworth Homeschool Group and Warkworth...
After decades of inaction, action plan for clean up
New Mahurangi Action Plan project leader, Kim Morresey, has helped set up a meeting of stakeholders determined to end the impasse over derelict oyster farms. Responsibility for governance of marine farming now rests with Auckland Regional Council. The transfer of...
Possibly no witch to hunt
I can only imagine that friends of the Mahurangi will be feeling a range of emotions regarding the large quantity of diesel entering the river. The diesel was noticed downstream by Warkworth residents on Wednesday morning and reported to the Auckland Regional Council....