House full of blokes

I am pleased to announce that I am standing for a third term on the Cromwell Community Board. There is just too much unfinished business to walk away now. I am thrilled that the big ticket items from the Master Plan have made it into the Long Term Plan to secure funding and lots of work is being done in the background to get these projects up and running. I really want the opportunity to keep the momentum going and to see the Hall and Mall projects progressed in a visible way for our community. I am an honest and hardworking representative for Cromwell a vote for me will be a vote for positive community leadership.

Here we are on our second day of NZ wide lockdown - it is amazing how fast our world has changed and I am pleased to say that so far people seem to be adapting ok. We were thrilled in the Harry house that Lummox no.1 was able to work remotely and made it home to join our bubble on Wednesday afternoon. We already had no.2 and no.3 here, so his return made us feel complete. I feel very lucky to have a house that allows us a wee bit of space and outside areas that we can access. I am aware that five adults in the same house and three brothers all under the same roof may be peaceful currently but has potential for emotions to run high and for frustration to come to the fore. Fingers crossed it stays mostly peaceful. Lockdown bubbles - this is what I think of. Not what it actually looks like however! Our new pup Rosco has joined me on my daily fresh air break through the greenways and round to the school grounds - just to keep a remote eye on security. We've seen other dog o

I haven't been much of a blogger of any kind since the local body elections. I have been a wee bit busy - but that doesn't mean I haven't been continually reflecting on the roles I have chosen to take and the responsibility that I feel to the communities that I represent. I feel like this is a time that writing my reflections might help me to make sense of the complex feelings I have and the pressure I am trying to manage keeping my school community safe while also supporting the wider Cromwell community and making sure that the messages I am communicating are accurate, timely and don't add to panic or anxiety. My preparation for this was to make Pho Ga for dinner last night - Vietnamese chicken noodle soup. Quite a healing process and a delicious meal - I think it helped. Click the link to the recipe if you are looking for fragrant, delicious comfort food. But I digress - the point of today's blog is to think about the impacts of Covid-19 Corona virus.

Well the campaign is pretty much done and dusted and lots of people have said lots of things about what they want to see for the future of Cromwell and the Central Otago district.  There have been some grand promises made by candidates, particularly those standing for the first time, and there has been lots of debate on social media. It looks like there is a high level of engagement - but current voter percentages would suggest otherwise. We just need to turn the talk into action and encourage everyone in our community to vote. I have really enjoyed being part of the community board over the last three years.  I have learnt loads and think that I have represented our community with integrity.  I think I have provided some balance on our board in debate and in decision making. One of the things that is a huge challenge for any governance board is being sure that we are actually representing the views of our community. Trying to get the community to engage in consultation is reall

The Cromwell Mall - or town centre is the cause of much concern and debate.  Most of the criticism is about the design and layout of the space that seems to have had its heyday in the past and people would like to see it revitalised, rejuvenated and brought into the modern era.  How will we do that and what are the barriers to making this happen? My little video clip will give you a little bit of insight into my thinking or if like me you prefer to read stuff - keep reading.  I wish I had some fabulous answers to a vibrant busy town centre - but I think it is going to be much more important for us to work together with the Cromwell community to find ways to add life and vibrancy to this space. We currently see the mall/town centre as primarily a retail space and there are some successful and loyal retailers who are current mall tenants.  Retail is a globally tricky issue with the prevalence of online shopping options and the proximity of major shopping areas like Remarkables Park

I have written quite a lot about the Cromwell Memorial Hall over the last three years and it has been a political football kicked backwards and forwards for many years now. The previous CCB really thought that they had got the renovation project across the line.  It has then been a truly contentious issue over this current term of the board with the overturning of the decision to renovate, earthquake safety reports causing concern and ongoing debate about what will happen next. The Cromwell Memorial Hall Let's be really clear that the plans to renovate are well and truly behind us - the board voted not to proceed and there is very unlikely to be any appetite for returning to the table to discuss the benefits of upgrading the existing facility.  So what is happening instead?  The hall certainly is still very much in the minds of our community and the issue was again highlighted in the annual residents survey. The decision to shelve upgrade plans was made around the time of t