New centre? Not yet - Who is paying? Event Centre (Pat
Slater)
– Northern Advocate - 16 May
2008
Who is Paying?
Articles and letters of late have covered various projects
that Whangarei District Council are considering as well as a survey, undertaken
by an interested councillor, on which projects the people of Whangarei
prefer. The athletics complex at
Kensington Park was the forerunner (I believe facilities there get plenty of
use). The news this week that certain
facilities at Kensington will now be lost to Okara Park has hopefully concerned
enough people to ask some questions as to why.
There could be a valid reason that benefits both venues. There must be a reason, what is it? A multi events centre in Okara was a close
runner-up in the survey. Interesting
stuff which I hope is polled again once the real cost to ratepayers is
known.
Personally I have no problem of an events centre being
built. I do hope though everyone in
Whangarei who will be financially burdened gets to vote on it. On voting they should know the total cost to
themselves, even if they do not use the centre. Perhaps it would be better for the
organizations that will profit from the events held there, pay for it.
Why? Well, in the
best interest of many ratepayers, there are those boring old essential services
that need fixing. There is no need to go
on too much about these as they have been well covered before but many not yet
fixed. Let’s get these done, have a good
foundation to build on and then progress with developments to attract
tourists. Let’s have this be a better
place, than it already is, to live in as well as visit. My second reason is that both my husband and
I have been to several shows at Forum North, the most recent was
"Beatlemania". A great show
but I came away thinking that with only a quarter of the hall filled we do not
yet need a multi events centre.
Unfortunately all shows we have attended have not been packed
houses. Maybe parts of the facility
could be improved, in minor ways, but generally it’s a lovely place for these
events. In fact I doubt if the facility
is the problem. To get people to these
events requires better promotion of Forum North as a recent article which
compares it to other local districts amenities suggested. All that aside one must be interested in the
artist or theme of the event to want to attend and one must also be able to
afford it. Even if you can afford it,
are you available for it? There are many
reasons why our small population can not attend these events.
I do not want to spend my money, as a ratepayer, on an
events centre until I see the facilities including rugby stadiums, already
available, being used to the maximum.
Major rugby organizations are running at a loss, so what does that tell
us? First, prove to me that you can make
a profit from the facility you intend to build with my money and then promise
to pay me back my proportion from your profits.
After all on other occasions we get told ‘it’s a user pays society’.
At the present time many in our district have to put their
hands in their pockets to pay for upgrades in their area. Whangarei Head’s residents for their new
sewage scheme for instance. Many of
those residents are on a tight, fixed, income.
Although development is a great thing the developments within the Bream
Bay area are of concern to many because of the probable costs? They are not the only areas affected! And with the overall economic climate as it
is there are many suffering increased costs with little, if any, increase in
income.
There are those that quote they are concerned for our
population, hopefully, this sentiment is sincere. Yes, lots of us probably want
the events centre but do we actually need it and have we truly considered
others and whether they can afford it.
If you know many others can not afford it at this stage, do you really
care? Businesses, organizations and
councils I challenge you to put money forward for the centre without asking
ratepayers for more. I challenge you to
make a profit from the centre and I will be more than happy to be one of the
users that pay.
Pat Slater - Maunu