Councillor Connop

  Who uses mPark? I do if I need to park within town. One good thing is it is not as expensive as Auckland! One little bug that I've heard many find (it bugged me a little too) is that it's not easy enough to see the parking zone numbers. Rather than complain about it, It's easy enough to do... so I did it! I laser printed Large numbers onto label sticker sheets. I went out with my ladder and labels and made it easier for you in the larger carpark around town. If we must have paid parking, communicating which area you are parked in makes it easier to use mPark and minimizing wasteful plastic tickets too(makes it easier to see when it's raining too) Yes there are bigger issues but sometimes getting the little ones out of the way can make life a little easier. Apparently there is also live parking space info on the WDC website. http://www.wdc.govt.nz/TrafficandTransport/Parking/Pages/Find-Parking.aspx

It's been acknowledged that it is an issue, it needs to be dealt with with urgency. A "statement of concern and intention, but a demand for the Government to take more leadership on climate change". You won't be here in 100 years and may not care what happens to your children, or children's children, but trying to cover costs then to try to fix things won't help. The costs will be much greater, and then who gets looked after? Think of the costs then, trying to salvage what we have left. It's not about making money, it's about trying to give us and our way of life now a fighting chance. Yes, the Climate changes anyway, so what's the harm in trying to stop as much of our impact on our living environment as possible? When we die, all we take with us is what we leave behind. Whangārei District declares climate change emergency

  Thank you to all those who appreciated the sign. Unfortunately my Pride market sign from the bank street roundabout has been removed. Good to see they got around to replacing it. Murphy's Law. Big kudos to  Sonny Shelford  and Liam Henderson from  Downer NZ  for giving me a call and being respectful to the removal of the sign. Thank you! Sonny gave me a call to let me know as soon as it was complete, and that he was going to deliver the sign back to me. Thank you!

What if we made better choices to ensure our future generations will be in a cleaner space than what it could be? "On July 25th WDC will consider the following Climate Emergency Declaration. Whangarei District Council Declaration of a Climate Change Emergency Whangarei District Council: a) declares a climate change emergency. b) acknowledges that climate change represents one of the greatest threats to our community, our biodiversity, our economy and the life supporting capacity of our planet. c) advocates that this emergency requires urgent action by all levels of government to prevent the most harmful impacts of ongoing climate change. d) acknowledges that Whangarei District Council has important role to play and commits to developing and implementing an action plan to support this declaration e) collaborates with central government, local councils, iwi, hapu, business sector and communities to support collective action for climate change mitigation f) continue to implement the ...

It's a huge number... but what does it mean though? How many staff will this benefit, who also are awesome people who Live IN this community?! 350 Staff! (you likely know someone whom this will help.) In 38 years the Civic Center will essentially be paid off with the savings of the rent they currently spend. $1 million a year rent! (Where do you think that rent comes from?) They currently have staff spread out and have to walk almost half kilometer to WDC and from Walton Plaza. Parts of the council building are not up to earthquake code and trying to fix an older building would likely be a waste of money to even TRY to strengthen it. The rest of Forum North has issues with the fact the roof is flat in profile and occasionally leaks, requiring ongoing maintenance. The library build, which was around $8 million for the building... then ended up costing $15 million in the end after setting it up fully. The new civic centre is getting everyone in the same efficient building, which make...

We need to address this situation BEFORE there is a fatality! Do you feel safe riding or walking along the side of a road? How about trying to cross Port Road Bridge? This bridge was built in 1956, 63 years ago. How many Near Misses have happened? How many accidents have happened? Most other bridges in town have footpaths attached, either once side or both. For some reason... this doesn't have one! With a huge amount of people working out towards the Port, why hasn't this happened sooner. NZTA says that if you are to walk on a road, walk towards the traffic, but that would also mean crossing the road, which is tricky enough having to cross 2 sets of double lanes, and merging ones at that. (We all know how good some are at merging) I have heard that there is some plans to put a bridge across here when the shared path goes in... but how far away is that? A couple of years away at the earliest, if it doesn't get pushed back. I currently drive across this bridge daily and see...

Unlike some other Councillors, if Voted into the Whangārei District Council, I will be a Full Time Councillor! I'd love to be able to be there for You as often as I can be! This will mean I will be able to attend all of the council meetings and be able to listen to what you need and be there for you on the Council. I will do what I Can do for you.

Each household gets a wheelie bin, but rather than having to pay a weekly fee, they attach a tag when they need it emptied! This would be a brilliant way to get rid of the rubbish bags, make it easier on the garbage runners, keep rubbish contained and make it so much cheaper for those who didn't actually fill up a full bin each week! It would be something to work with, w ith those programs that are already set up.