At 10 year plan discussions staff continue to highlight the plight of our city's finances over the next 10 years. This forward financial plan is one of the few good ideas foisted onto Local Government by the previous socialist Labour Government. It's... Read More

The news gets weirder this week and we have some strange examples of double standards. This story comes direct from the Gratuitous Sexual Exploitation Department: Taupo's A1 GP motor racing organisers are looking for '23 new Kiwi beauties” to... Read More

Yes it is all true, the word has finally got through, us chocolate Labradors are the movers and shakers in my world. People finally realised this when they saw me shaking my booty on the dance floor at No.1 The Strand on Sunday. Talk about getting... Read More

There has been a return to true democratic processes down at City Hall. That is, nothing is pre-determined, pre-arranged, no sure voting majority, no behind the scenes manipulation that I have observed periodically over my seven terms on Council.... Read More

Democracy was the winner on the day. Tuesday 25 November, 2008 was the day on which battlers on the Tauranga City Council magnificently bested the establishment. An attempt by Mayor Stuart Crosby, Deputy Mayor David Stewart and ex-mayor of Mt Maunganui,... Read More

A few readers have raised the question: If the Tauranga Art Gallery is a done deal and therefore history, why bother blogging on about it? Because, somehow or other, I and quite few other bill-paying ratepayers I know missed the how, why and when part.... Read More

This week we have some letters and questions from our readers. Mark asks: Now that the USA has its first black president, does that mean the PC brigade will now require the White House to be renamed the Black House? Dorothy phoned to say: What makes... Read More

There was much talk of mousse on the menu in the restaurant at 1 The Strand this week and it reminded of a picture that a mate emailed me this week. When they said mousse I thought they meant moose. I'd hate to think of the mayhem of a moose loose in... Read More

Council has been doing the hard yards as elected members consider the 10 year plan as well as the regular committee functions. There is a lot to be done in order that we can get the drafts for some 'light reading” over the Christmas break. Green... Read More

An agenda item for a council meeting I attended in August this year was about the proposed redevelopment of the Mount Hot Pools by Tauranga City Aquatics Ltd (TCAL). This included a presentation by first-term Cr Catherine Stewart in support of her second-attempt... Read More

Are cheque-writing ratepayers again going to have to underwrite a City Hall-sponsored commercial operation? Last time, just a year ago, City Hall, backed by a recommendation from the mayor, bulldozed councillors into voting for a resolution calling for... Read More

"It's an illusion, then?" asked Cr Rick Curach on the fourth day of a Monday to Thursday paper war and interminable talkfest to dispose of the first stage of a three-year review of the city's official ten-year plan. He was at the time seriously questioning... Read More