Mr Laycock rightly insisted on a public reply to his concerns. Council's culture of keeping information shrouded ‘behind closed doors' rather than in the public domain is very dangerous. The recent examples of hidden MP credit card bills illustrate this.
Cr Mike Baker obviously did not listen if he thinks the Council decisions listed in his letter are supported by the community. I found the LTCCP submission statistics at Tauranga Community Values website as I couldn't find them on TCC council web site – more hidden information I suppose.
This is how Council listened to the Community on LTCCP Submissions:
Dog licence fees, -> Council chose the option not supported by the community!
Boat Ramp charges, -> TCC chose the option not supported by the community!
Mount Hot pools redevelopment, -> Council chose the option not supported by the community!
The Willow Street Bus Centre, -> Council played with the figures then chose the option not supported by the community!
User pays for outdoor sports fields -> Council chose the option not supported by the community!
So in fact Cr. Mike Baker (Sun, 2 July) supplied examples which show Council rarely if ever listens to the community.
It is definitely time for a change of Mayor and Councillors.
S Paterson, Tauranga.