Thursday 25 August 2010 
It is 21 days until the ballot papers start arriving in the letter boxes and 44 days until ‘D’ day decision day on 09th October.
Another big day meeting the locals. The Owairaka team: Cameron Morris, Sarah Turner and Councillor Chris Fletcher we all spent over an hour with the folk at the Sandringham Community Centre Markets. We were also joined by some of our colleagues from over the hill Puketapapa, Feleti
Key and Ram Rai. Its great having these two men with us they’re both Rangatira within their communities and you can feel the mana they have when we walk amongst their iwi. I met a Ngati Porou whanaunga Rob and Helena Crown sister of good mate Armund. I also met up with Mrs Pryor, I went to Mt Roskill Grammar with her son Jeff – he was a ballroom dancer, he was nice.From there we went back up to the Mt Albert shopping centre. The freakiest thing happened. One of our Maori tuahine/sister and her pepi/baby were thrown out of a car by the boyfriend. Feleti and Chris picked her up off the rori/road and a member of the public took her for a cuppa tea. I’m mentioning this because it’s not an everyday occurrence - really it’s not and because when we caught up with the Sister again, we offered her a ride, help, money but she declined all. I looked at her and you know what whanau…..I thought….ahh the Sister’s going back there! I looked at her pepi she must be about 3 years old, gave Mama and pepi a cuddle, my phone number and I walked away. I pray I won’t regret not calling the police.
We had really interesting korero/chat with a couple of locals. One local wanted to know if there was a law against full signage in a language other than English. She doesn’t know what the vendors are peddling because she doesn’t understand the signage. Being tangatahwhenua of course I champion any language/reo. I have no issue with people speaking in their mother-tongue in front of me. I have never considered signage-not-in-English a hindrance to me shopping at particular stores. If I want to know what’s in a shop I go in and have a look. If I want to know what a product is I ask. I’ve never prescribed to the adage ‘…when in Rome…’ So when people talk about non-English signage and laws against it…you know where they’re heading. Citizens and Ratepayers is about diversity – unity in diversity. It’s about embracing the multicultural makeup that is this great City of Auckland. It’s this rich tapestry of ethnicity that also gives communities their identity. It’s not to say we forget our heritage and what it is built on. But Maori know more than anyone that time passes and new communities evolve. Futures are built on the new and ever changing landscapes of peoples. Strong local boards must support Business Associations to form healthy robust memberships amongst store owners. The Boards need to get in behind and assist networking initiatives so that owners are aware of the concerns of customers, even assisting with marketing to multi-ethnic clients if required. Most of all Local Boards have a responsibility to stay with the Associations through the tough times and find tangible solutions to weather storms.The other interesting encounter we had was with a gentleman who didn’t want to engage but what he did say was ‘talk is cheap…I don’t care about what’s written on paper, it’s what you do that counts’. Which of course is all very true. It’s typical on hustings for campaigners to trot out the rhetoric. It sounds all very lofty and nice when you trot out the ‘messages’ but at the end of the day what does it mean for everyday people at home. Citizens and Ratepayers are pragmatic and practical. We are solution and outcomes oriented. We listen to the concerns of the community and act accordingly.
For a first timer like myself, I come to the Local Board with a can do attitude because I do not know what can’t be done. I will look at policy and find the solutions to achieve results because I won’t be bogged down in bureaucratic dogma. I don’t think that’s being idealistic or naïve, it’s just commonsense.
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