First Past the Post system

I think what stands out for me from this election is that we are still stuck in the First Past the Post system that Central Govt has moved on from and which is becoming more successful as people realise it begets a more representative system of government that cannot just rule regardless.  Those times of dictatorial power politics could be a thing of the past.  Wellington use the STV system, single transferable vote to good effect and it does mean that more communities of interest get represented.

In this way the huge number of votes for more socially oreintated candidates on Waiheke would have resulted in a more balanced representation on the board.

Water is not everywhere. Today is world action on water day.

The problem of scarce clean water:

Nearly 1 billion people lack access to clean water, which causes a litany of struggles, diseases and even death.

• 40 Billion Hours: African women walk over 40 billion hours each year carrying cisterns weighing up to 18 kilograms to gather water, which is usually still not safe to drink. More Info »
• 38,000 Children a Week: Every week, nearly 38,000 children under the age of 5 die from unsafe drinking water and unhygienic living conditions. More Info »
• Wars Over Water: Many scholars attribute the conflict in Darfur at least in part to lack of access to water. A report commissioned by the UN found that in the 21st century, water scarcity will become one of the leading causes of conflict in Africa. More Info »
• A Human Right: In July, to address the water crisis, the United Nations declared access to clean water and sanitation a human right over. But we are far from implementing solutions to secure basic access to safe drinking water. More Info »

Water over-consumption in industrialized countries:

While the developing world faces a water crisis, those in industrialized countries consume far more than their fair share.

• Food Footprint: It takes 24 liters of water to produce one hamburger. That means it would take over 19.9 billion liters of water to make just one hamburger for every person in Europe. More Info »
• Technology Footprint: The shiny new iPhone in your pocket requires half a liter of water to charge. That may not seem like much, but with over 80 million active iPhones in the world, that's 40 million liters to charge those alone. More Info »
• Fashion Footprint: That cotton t-shirt you're wearing right now took 1,514 liters of water to produce, and your jeans required an extra 6,813 liters. More Info »
• Bottled Water Footprint: The US, Mexico and China lead the world in bottled water consumption, with people in the US drinking an average of 200 bottles of water per person each year. Over 17 million barrels of oil are needed to manufacture those water bottles, 86 percent of which will never be recycled. More Info »

Water and the environment:

The disregard for water resources in industrialized countries impacts more than humans – it causes environmental devastation.

• Waste Overflow: Every day, 2 million tons of human waste are disposed of in water sources. This not only negatively impacts the environment but also harms the health of surrounding communities. More Info »
• Polluted Oceans: Death and disease caused by polluted coastal waters costs the global economy $12.8 billion a year. More Info »
• Uninhabitable Rivers: Today, 40% of America's rivers and 46% of America's lakes are too polluted for fishing, swimming, or aquatic life. More Info »

Water solutions:

The good news is that there are great organizations working on solutions and new tools that empower people to do their part to address the water crisis.

• Building Wells: Organizations like Water.org and charity: water are leading the charge in bringing fresh water to communities in the developing world.
• Technology for Good: Do you want to measure how much water it took to make your favorite foods? There's an app for that. More Info »
• Conservation Starts at Home: The average person uses 465 liters of water per day. Find out how much you use and challenge your readers to do that same. More Info »
• Keeping Rivers Clean: We can all take small steps to help keep pollution out of our rivers and streams, like correctly disposing of household wastes. More Info »
• Drop the Bottle: Communities around the world are taking steps to reduce water bottle waste by eliminating bottled water.More Info »

Redbridge Conversation 2010

Redbridge Conversation 2010

An interesting idea for bottom up democracy which could well work for us on Waiheke with the new local board decision making responsibilities

The election result

There is still a forlorn hope that the result of the election may change.  I am profoundly disappointed to miss by only 18 votes.  A right leaning board for Waiheke when the rest of Auckland has gone to the left is even more disappointing!  The left wing vote was too split with so many candidates of that persuasion standing.http://www.waihekeradio.org.nz/node/998

 Who will they vote for Chairman is the next big question.

And how will Jim Hannan, whilst still doing his day job for Fullers, manage to do justice to this new challenge!

I will be working with others to create a referendum system for the public on Waiheke, hopefully the Board will take this up and make Waiheke a true democracy.  If you would like to help with this let me know

Well done Waiheke

Waiheke has the second highest voter turnout on 37.9% so far but on 47.1% Great Barrier is leading the field.  The last two real communities left in Auckland.

It shows that when people know their representatives they become involved.  NZ has the highest ratio of voters to candidates in the world.  We are the most poorly represented country and this last reorganisation has made it worse.

Waiheke has to lead the way in this new ball game.

Check out the Wombat! The message for the planet!

http://www.globalcommunity.org/flash/wombat.shtml

Voting

Don't forget. You have only one week now in which to vote! Don't lose our democracy. Vote for our freedom

What is your vision for waiheke?

What is your vision for waiheke?
Jan
Now that\'s a big question!
Development is now centred around sustainable local initiatives for renewable energy for houses and transport, food production, business and low impact tourism.  Public transport systems are greatly improved to the point where people are happy to leave their cars at home to save time and money.  On demand shuttles appear when you request them and take you where you want to go paid for by yearly passes.
Local businesses are performing to high standards and people are buying local as never before encouraging local employment.
Large scale developments have become a thing of the past because the world financial climate has moved away from an endless growth mentality towards a new view of sustainable living and world populaiton has started to stabliise.  Resources in general are becoming in short supply and people have become very aware of the need to recycle resources, \'not waste\'.

Far fewer people are needing to commute to Auckland because they are finding work on the island and the using the internet for work.
Septic systems have moved to composting and biological systems that require much less water and the local council has changed building regulation to make this a requirment for new buidlings.  Because of this effluent disposal systems have become smaller and more efficient and problems of run off are decreasing markedly.
Ferry services are now nationalised and fares are set by users to reflect the true cost of running the service.
The Super \"City\" is now called the Super Region and the Local Board has 10 members who are heavily involved with incorporating the expertise of the community and its projects into the budgetting and planning process.
I wont go on but you get the idea.

Draft resolutions re the library/service centre, this is how ACC treats democracy

WICPG Proposed Resolutions for WICB meeting Wednesday 22nd
September 2010.
Subject: Proposed ACC Oneroa Library and Service Centre development.
Date: 21st September 2010
Resolutions:
1. That the Board notes that the Council has arranged for and received a
Commissioner’s Report dated 16th September 2010, determining that the
Application for a Notice of Requirement for the above development need not be
publicly notified.
2. That the Board also notes that the underlying Consultant’s Report to the duty
Commissioner dated 31st August 2010 makes no reference to the Board’s
Resolution on this matter at its meeting on 23rd June 2010, item 12B set out
below:
“ That the Waiheke Community Board request that Waiheke Service Centre and
Library development be a notified consent as there are significant impacts on the
community concerning the environment and traffic and that the community
should be given the opportunity to submit on the Resource Management [ RMA ]
iisues”.
3. That the Board is of the view that the decision not to notify above will prevent
our community’s major concerns and issues with this development from being
appropriately aired and considered.
4. That accordingly the Board wants further work on this proposed development
to be placed in abeyance, until the project can be reviewed and approved by the
new Waiheke Local Board now in the process of being elected. In seeking this
the Board notes that decision making on a project of this kind is part of the
powers to vest in the new Waiheke Local Board.
5. That the Board also seek suspension of this project, for the reasons above, by
the Auckland Transition Agency in line with its powers under Section 31(4) (i) of
the Local Government Tamaki Makaurau Reorganisation Act.
6. That in the event that the responses from the Council and / or ATA are not
fully satisfactory, the Board will take such further action on this matter as it
deems appropriate.
7. That the above actions will include seeking support from our local Member of
Parliament and taking legal action to enforce the Board’s position. pr

This is an interesting way of working a bottom up democracy

How Can a Democracy Solve Tough Problems? - TIME

The kleroterion is a team led by Stanford professor James Fishkin. Each year, 175 people are scientifically selected to reflect the general population. They are polled once on the major decisions they'll be facing.

Click to view large

Download this gallery (ZIP, undefined KB)

Download full size (26 KB)

Then they are given a briefing on those issues, prepared by experts with conflicting views. Then they meet in small groups and come up with questions for the experts — issues they want further clarified. Then they meet together in plenary session to listen to the experts' response and have a more general discussion. The process of small meetings and plenary is repeated once more. A final poll is taken, and the budget priorities of the assembly are made known and adopted by the local government. It takes three days to do this.
The process has grown over five years, from a deliberation over public works (new sewage-treatment plants were favored over road-building) to the whole budget shebang. By most accounts it has succeeded brilliantly, even though the participants are not very sophisticated: 60% are farmers. The Chinese government is moving toward expanding it into other districts.
The public is very smart if you give it a chance," says Fishkin, 62, who has been conducting experiments in what he calls "deliberative democracy" for nearly 20 years now. "If people think their voice actually matters, they'll do the hard work, really study their briefing books, ask the experts smart questions and then make tough decisions. When they hear the experts disagreeing, they're forced to think for themselves.

An interesting new take on bottom up democracy

Answers to some questions

Hi Andy, some curly questions as requested:
1. How will you approach the new Transport CCO to stop them covering our island in concrete, and make them listen to our pleas for eco-friendly roading? (e.g. swales instead of kerbing and channeling, reasonable-sizes signage, modest street lighting) 2. What will you do when they don't listen?
3. TPI were recently boasting they are collecting more recyclables since the introduction of wheelie bins - but where is it going? is it still being dumped on Mt. Visy? (There was a group monitoring this, but haven't heard from them - maybe Millie would know) 4. What is your view on the proposed marina at Matiatia?

1. Mark Ford, current chairman of the Auckland Transition Agency, will
head the transport CCO and the Labour Party says he will have more power than the mayor despite holding an unelected position. That may make it rather hard to meet. I suggest that the boards en masse form a posse to go after things they need from the CCO. A united council of local boards has much more chance of being heard.

2. I couldn't suggest public protests or acts of civil disobedience,
but this is usually what happens when local wishes are consistently ignored.
Will the new CCO want to spend money where the local board makes it quite clear it's not wanted in the way they are offering it. Will be be willling to say, well here's half what we would have spent and do it your way? That would definitely be saving rate payers money. After having built Whakanewha up from scratch with vitually no budget for the first ten years I know how to do much with very little.

3. Yes, this is something that would be interesting to do a
journalist's investigation on. I think I would talk with the local papers in the first place and see if they would be willing to pursue this one a bit.

4. A marina at Matiatia. The first people to ask are the Waiheke
boaties, what do you think guys, is this what this island needs? Will it improve anything for the island life. What problems will it create. Who will benefit? This would no doubt be the subject of a substantial planning application and it is my understanding that the local board would have to be responsible for approval of the resource consent for it so it does put some power in the hands of the island.

Roadside Spraying on Waiheke Island

RE roadside spraying on Waiheke - just to clarify things a little from yesterday's meet the candidates session at the War Memorial Hall.

A little bit about my background.

My wife and I set up a small permacultural farm in Wanganui before coming to the Island. At home we mostly eat organic food and have been part of an organic food coop for many years. As the ranger at Whakanewha I had to use chemical weed control where manual control was impossible. This prompted me to make it my business to research chemical weed control to minimise ill effects on the environment and I have used them in the park with the utmost care to safeguard people's health.

Re the question re blanket ban on the use of glyphosate (Roundup) on roadsides. I support the use of Coconut Fatty Acid as a roadside spray on all urban roads, despite the fact that it really stinks! My reservation concerns where the roadside is not within residential areas and forms part of a weed eradication effort. Coconut oil will not eradicate weed species, it only serves to brown them off as an inhibitor. At Whakanewha Glyphosate has been use for the last 15 years with not one complaint of ill effects from the public. We need to be aware of the difference between Roundup and the active ingredient Glyphosate and also the difference between wholesale spraying on roadside and targetted use in a rural environment. I have no wish to place anyone at risk. My extensive research over the years indicates that glyphosate is the lowest toxity chemical available as a herbicide and most allergic reactions are due to the deteregent added as a surfactant.

Coconut oil as a herbicide is several times more expensive to use that Glyphosate and less effective as a control for Kikuyu grass, the main reason for roadside spraying. If we consider the cost to rate payers and the use of vehicles and emissions it is important to consider whether we need to use coconut oil on areas away from houses.

I would not support the spraying of any urban situation with Glyphosate. However, I would wish to be able to continue the use of this hercide in weed control areas with the utmost care and consideration and with whatever public notification is agreed.

Ideas for our local community and businesses

Ideas for business.

Buy local, shop local, employ local and think local must be the biggest single message to put out re businesses on the island. We must support our local businesses or we will lose our community.

In return, local businesses need to set up a Waiheke standards approval. It is the responsibility of businesses to ensure they offer services equal to Auckland and prices to match so that they deserve to be chosen by locals. Locals should demand equal service and ask them to provide it.

Businesses need to develop a stronger customer service ethic to make sure that they are providing the level of service that locals need. Successful businesses know what their market is and play to it. Cafes need to be open to provide services when people need them. Service businesses need to make sure that they turn up on time and do the job agreed. Some kind of watchdog might be appropriate.

Oneroa is the gateway to Waiheke, not Matiatia. Matiatia is where we park our cars to go to Auckland. Let's get people to come to Matiatia. A free bus to the top of the hill running more often.

Arrange public meetings for local businesses to talk with the Board. Ask local businesses to suggest ways in which the Board can assist.

The Board needs to advocate strongly to ensure that the council employs local people to carry out council contract services on the island for the sake of our community sustainability. Also that the council uses consultants from the island for advice rather than the familiar large companies from Auckland. The results of using off island consultants that impose Auckland conditions and expectations on Waiheke results in innappropriate advice and outcomes.

There is no doubt that international tourists spend the most per head of any visitor. Waiheke must market itself for these visitors.

There is no doubt that Fullers has profitted greatly from the influx of Gold Card Seniors. They need to pass on this benefit to other users rather than simply sending larger profits off shore to shareholders.

Waiheke needs to find ways of attracting Aucklanders to come to the island in winter. Small targetted events and conferences would be ideal. Ideas such as toy fairs, literary festivals, cooking shows etc. using local halls as venue giving needed revenue to these locations. A festival committee could be set up by businesses to facilitate these.

WAICOS as an organisations representing social services and benefits could be asked to recommend groups deserving of funding from the Board. This would avoid the Board merely responding to the loudest voices that request assistance.

There is no doubt that the island can provide much more of it's own needs for food. Eugene Kitto is doing some amazing things with growing produce and has some very interesting ideas to put to the new Board. There are many reserves that can be planted in fruit trees or used for allotments. People on sickness or unemployment benefit would benefit greatly from the opportunity to grow their own food with advice and assistance. Our farmers market has the potential to change the way in which we shop. Meat grown on the island should be readily available. Why don't we have locally produced lamb, chicken, pheasant, peacock, milk, cheese, peppers, and all manner of produce. This is how we can start to employ ourselves.

Do we really need a bigger supermarket? What will this mean for our local businesses? Are we just selling out to big business interests at the expense of our own people just so we can have more varieties of pasta or toothpaste and is this worth it.

If we want our community to prosper we must support our community.

If our community prospers then we can afford to support our environment and take care or our own.

Speech to Grey Power Candidates meeting at Ostend War Memorial Hall 19 Set

You know me as the ranger at Whakanewha Regional Park and you will probably have enjoyed what has been achieved there. I am first and foremost an environmentalist but I am not an extremist, and today I want to talk about community.

It is community that I have worked for and love and it is community I am standing for.

community means.....
being accountable to each other and standing together to support one another
it means caring for our world for without a healthy environment we cannot survive
it means taking each other views into account, valuing differences to find the middle way
it means working with our tourist industry that supports us and brings money to the island
it means supporting local businesses, encouraging them to develop, buying locally even if sometimes this might mean some inconvenience or paying a little more
it means acting locally, becoming more self reliant in this rapidly changing world, supporting local produce, energy, and public transport initiatives,
it means looking after the young, the old, the infirm and community members in need



This next few months or more will be chaotic for the new Auckland Council.

We need to elect a team that will be accountable, that can stand firm and resolute in our negotiations to gain greater decision making responsibilities and make major advances in consolodating our local identity.

Then, when big issues face us, and at the moment we are faced with public transport, signage, matiatia, roading, affordable housing, tourism, struggling local businesses....... then we will be able to decide amongst ourselves.............. as a community.

An issue focussed approach tends to create division amongst us. We need a visionary approach which incorporates all these aspects of community.

This election is not about my views …...........it is about community needs. As a local board member I will facilitate decision making for our needs.

Elect a board that can work together, that will reach out and establish advisory groups and coopt to gain greater expertise because, the real power is not in money it is people, people, people.





A real community is capable of bottom up democracy where the needs of the people and their environment drive the planning process.

I would like to see major decisions taken by referendum particularly where there is dissent.

We still have community - Much of the world has lost it and do not understand it's value. It is absolutely precious, we must safeguard it.

When the board has negotiated reasonable local funding then we the community can be responsible for make the best use of it. We can achieve far more with similar levels of funding by being more creative.

We want to sustain our community's quality of life and our island's character and diversity into the future.

This is why we live here, why we love it, and why thousands visit us.

Vote for Andy, someone who has proven that they can work with and for community.

Cinema One Minute Video link

Andy Spence Prom SD from Linds Redding on Vimeo.

Cinema One Minute Video

I just had Lindsay and Jo Redding round at home this morning to film my one minute video spot for the cinema. Lindsay brought a camera from work and after some problems getting the sound to work properly managed to do some really good takes with Jo holding the script for me. It was a great idea to do the video at home in a nice relaxed setting. It will be really interesting to see how it turns out on the big screen.

It is wonderful how many people have offered help and come through. Thank you everyone.
Vote for Andy Spence. Spence makes Sense.

Unesco Biosphere Reserve and self Determination

I am supporting the UNESCO Biosphere proposal because my friend Chris Wragge asserts that this will be a very useful way to galvanise public vision for the future protection of Waiheke and will support and add to the existing protection. I get that if the Biosphere idea can serve as a flag and a direction which is more easily communicated to and followed by the general public to make sense of the plethora of planning jargon then it will be very useful

The election issue of the desire for greater Waiheke self determination and the need for greater public understanding of the how this can be developed are of course completely interdependent.

Greed and hatred are the cause of human suffering according to the Buddha and from my own meditation experience, so, the fact that we are looking at this issue as a race of humanity is not surprising. Our greed will lead to the demise of our race if we do not learn self control, again exactly the message of the historical Buddha. We can best serve as wise caretakers of our world.

These are the messages that I teach in my meditation group and on retreats and they are relevant to the current political debate because they are universal.

Interference with natural systems will effect them to some degree and we human are very good at interfering. The more complexity we bring into our deliberations of natural systems the less we really understand them. I have spent many years observing and working with natural systems and it is always the degree of interference that is the issue. Natural systems adapt to new conditions and become something different. We constantly decide which systems are to be kept mostly pristine and which are to be modified, which are to be restored and the degree to which we modify the natural process of restoration.

It becomes a simpler process when we jointly and openly decide on these matters. Perhaps again the biosphere will enable this discussion to be publicly transparent and reasonably free from legal jargon. People can more easily relate to visuals and maps than words which as concepts therefore lack essential reality.

Dear Rodney

Thank you for telling us that the Board's powers will depend on who gets on the Boards. Well actually the Gulf News reported that you said, it depends on "Your (the community's)ability to choose the right candidates. I could read between the lines a little here and read. Your ability to choose the kind of candidates that are going to agree with the New Super City Council agendas. I will however in good faith that it that you mean we need to elect a really good team of capable people who can be trusted to do a good job of representing the democratic wishes of our community.

Waiheke Radio two minute for Local Board

I’m Andy Spence.
I came to Waiheke because I fell in love with this island community.
Most of you know me as the Whakanewha Park ranger but I'm also involved with environmental groups, sports, the arts, the choral society and the theatre. I have an honours degree in Zoology and taught science for several years and spent 5 years on conservation planning with DoC.
So I've got a practical and scientific approach to planning, and I understand how to work with our environment to make it sustainable.
I stand for putting decision making back in your hands after all you're the ones who will be affected. This is genuine democracy. Our island has been pushed and pulled in directions we don’t like by those who don’t live here and we'd begun to believe that this situation was all we could expect.
Well I want to change that - and most of my fellow candidates feel the same way. By voting for those of us who from day one will establish a strong voice for this island; you’ll be taking the first step to a strong and self reliant community.
Imagine how it will feel to be in charge of our own destinies. Imagine how secure we’ll feel when we know that the future is firmly in our own hands, to resolve our issues in our own way, in our own time.
We have already shown how well our ideas and initiatives can work. Waiheke is becoming famous for it's determination to avoid the pitfalls of quick fix solutions and bad policies imposed from afar. I see a time when communities all over the world look to us for inspiration in sustainable development as they too struggle to remain viable in a changing world.
This island is blessed with a vast range of brilliant people offering brilliant ideas and the board will be calling on them for expert advice rather than off island consultants. Let's secure a future in which our ideas get a chance to be properly heard, and better still, implemented.
I'm a good listener and I encourage participation. I have patience and an appreciation of diversity - working with nature requires great patience and forward planning. This Board needs someone that invites interaction and understands possibilities. I have demonstrated these qualities over many years. I want to be on this Board.

Statistics on Waiheke Voting

Waiheke Community Board

This table(s) below describe the election of community board members for the last three local elections.

2001 2004 2007
Number of community board positions 5 5 5
Average number of electors per community board position 1,041 1,105 1,175
Number of candidates in the election 17 9 9
Percentage of community board members re-elected 0% 20% 80%
Number of enrolled electors 5,204 5,523 5,876
Number of actual voters 3,349 3,486 3,367
Percentage of turnout for the election 64% 63% 57%

Appreciation for Andy Spence from the Horse Riders

On behalf of the Waiheke Island Riding Club I would like to wish you farewell as Head Ranger of Whakanewha Regional Park.

Thank you for the wonderful work you have done at the park over the past years.
We appreciate the good working relationship you have established with the local riding community, your willingness to listen to and accommodate the needs of riders within the park.

We are very happy to be continuing this relationship with Dan.

We wish you well in your future endeavours.


Warmest Regards


Katrina Powell
Secretary

Bottom up Democracy

I stand for bottom up democracy. I see elected representatives as facilitators of the community process. I will promote the building of social fabric and community by encouraging and eliciting open communication, not concentrated on issues but about building a strong empowered community and neighbourhoods where we feel included. This is a way in which communities develop caring for each other. The issues become much less important when we feel we are empowered and can then be much more easily resolved.

As a representative an important part of my job is to know what we need to focus on, to have the big picture of where we could proceed. The local board needs to be partners with the island in a democratic process. I do not want to be captured by interest groups or specific issues but I will be someone that works to take the needs of the community and present them to the council in order for council to understand the need for it to develop more appropriate policy and plans.

This requires someone with the ability to listen who can encourage participation. Someone with patience and tolerance for difference. Someone who can invite interaction and understand possibilities. I have demonstrated these qualities over the years.

Whakanewha over the years and bits of life

blog slideshow - slide show

Len Brown on local boards

Len Brown says we will retain local identity in the local boards

July 2010

One of the biggest issues I hear from people around the region is whether their local community will retain its local identity in the supercity. People are worried all the money and power will shift to another part of town. We cannot let that happen and if I am elected mayor it won’t.
I have committed to rotating the Council meeting around each of the current council areas. It is important to me that the new Auckland Council stays in touch with local communities around the region.
Unfortunately many Aucklanders are still in the dark about what their local boards will be involved in. I have released this policy to give assurance that under my leadership, local boards will retain the grunt they need to deliver for their communities.
Local boards should be involved in planning and policy related to their communities. They should develop long term community plans and annual plans, as well as contributing to regional policy-making and giving effect to regional plans. They should then develop local policy within the regional framework in areas like, for example, dog control, gambling and gaming machines, licensing of cafes, bars and liquor outlets, brothels, and the development of town centres.
Local boards should be responsible for local decisions on local roads, footpaths, pedestrian zones and bus stops, speed limits for local roads, public transport, crime prevention (where CCTV cameras should be sited, for example), community engagement, beautification schemes, building consents, local economic development, animal control, environmental protection, local parks, recreation and sports facilities, libraries and pools, community houses and advisory services, town centre promotion, galleries and museums, beaches, camping grounds, liquor licensing, and more. I also want local boards to be involved in resource management hearings for their areas.
I will ensure Local boards have adequate support to get on with their business. I don’t want them to waste time arguing with the Council over budgets and plans. I will be sending a very clear message to the CEO and management of the Auckland Council, Auckland Transport and the other CCOs, and councillors that local boards are the heart of democracy in Auckland and should not be fighting for scraps from the Council’s table.
The first Auckland Council will set the values and direction of our region for many years to come. We’ve got to get it right. I want to make sure that local communities are valued and protected in the new structure.

Waiheke Wind Power Wise Site

This is the site for Waiheke Wind an upcoming initiative to provide wind power to Waiheke Island. Have a look at the site and there you can register your interest in becoming a customer. Registering as a customer is an important step in supporting this initiative.

The Official Government Election Site - My profile

You can use this link to visit my profile on the official government web site

Growing a community is like growing trees. It takes time.

Sustainable development is like gardening, continual growth is like a cancer; no tree grows forever. We must always be ready to abandon old methods, plant new ideas, take out the dead wood for compost, pull out the weeds, fertilise with new ideas and prepare for winter.

Waiheke's future has to be placed in the hands of those who will live in that future. The vague and contradictory plans that issue from those with no understanding of this community and the way it works have to be set aside as valueless.

While other parts of the world are facing increasing environmental chaos, Waiheke is managing to move away from such folly. We have made a brilliant start. Now we have to develop our ideas further.

No intelligent person would deny that globally our current situation is unsustainable. The world's population is growing exponentially. We have been living on the stored oil energy wealth of billions of years and this will become in progressively shorter supply. Our lifestyles are wasteful and polluting. But, on Waiheke we have the chance to change this and become a world leader in sustainable development. This island is blessed with a vast range of brilliant people offering brilliant ideas. Let's secure a future in which those ideas get a chance to be properly heard, and better still, implemented.

We in this community have already shown how well our ideas and initiatives can work. Waiheke is becoming famous for it's determination to avoid the pitfalls of quick fix solutions and bad policies imposed from afar. I want to see a time when communities all over the world look to us for inspiration as they too try to remain viable and sustainable in a changing world.

Finished work at Whakanewha Regional Park

Yesterday Friday 13th I finished work at Whakanewha after 15 years. A poignant day for me. Dan was so kind and organised a leaving party for me at the Lazy Lounge. Old friends from many years were there. Dan said that I would be sorely missed, except by the rats and gave me a framed picture of the park which is now hanging in the entrance at home. Mike Lee the ARC chairman found the time to come and present me with a beautiful book on the Waitakere Ranges.
'
A lovely send off, thank you everyone who spoke and who came to celebrate the achievements at Whakanewha.

I hope to be able to capture something of these achievements and apply them to the whole island. Our island deserves the prestige that is accorded to other great heritage areas. And we need to care for it so that it's beauty is not spoilt in the future. Those that live here are its custodians and its guardians.

My 150 Words for the Election Paper

As Whakanewha Park Ranger and Waiheke resident for 16 years, I know and love this community and am committed to see it develop in ways that equally benefit the community and the world we live in. I bring a practical approach to planning, and understand how we must work with our environment to become truly sustainable.

I can maximise opportunities for Waiheke after many years experience working within the public sector (including extensive planning in environmental management with DoC). I have a science degree, worked eight years as a science teacher and developed a successful business. I am involved with many community groups - music, sporting, cultural and environmental.

The board team must listen to the community’s ideas and needs and ensure our voice is heard so that Super-City plans support community aspirations. To this end I will call on the knowledge and experience of this island’s many talented people.

Gulf News Article of 5 August 2010

Ranger moving on from dotterels, bellbirds and happy campers

After more than a decade managing and developing Whakanewha’s Regional Park into a well-used and successful island institution, Andy Spence is leaving his post as one of the park’s two rangers and standing for election to Waiheke’s first Local Board. He says he almost stood at the last election and, three years on, he feels he has finished what he wanted to do at Whakanewha. It’s a track record that has included making it possible for the endangered wading dotterels to successfully breed on the sands at Whakanewha and a predator eradication programme which enabled bellbirds to be released into the wild in the park earlier this year. Five birds are known to be still feeding there regularly. “The vision I had has come to fruition and it has taken a lot of skills,” says the park ranger whose science background includes an honour’s degree in zoology and an early career in secondary school teaching. Before coming to Whakanewha, he worked with the Department of Conservation in Wanganui for seven years, including time developing the first conservation management strategy there, and he says he has had “a lot to do with paperwork” in his career. On the island, he developed the park’s first management plan, which included the popular camp site, and worked with the community to get the park acknowledged and used. Dozens of people have worked on the community task force contributing to the park and the camp site is now recognised as one of the top camp sites in the country. “It is certainly a triumph,” he says. Over the years the park has been developed – with a lot of weed management – from a downgraded piece of ‘potential’ into what is now acknowledged as one of the loveliest parks in the region, he says. As a local board member, he says he would want to see the city council have respect and ‘a listening’ for the Waiheke local board and that the board would have the ear of a council “that knows that the local board has the people of the community behind it”. “The Auckland election will be the most important one most of us will ever see,” he says. “All across the Auckland region, communities will be facing changes and upheavals. I think those of us on Waiheke know the challenges we face pretty well and already have a fair idea of what needs doing.” While many people have expressed justifiable concerns about the restructuring of Auckland, especially in view of the many issues still left unresolved, or at least unexplained, he takes a more optimistic view. “I know the Super City restructuring is unsettling for many of us and we may well find ourselves having to work with things that are not perfect for us, but here at community level we are stuck with it and have to give it our best efforts to make it work. “Besides, when was the last time you met someone who thinks Auckland is fantastically well run under the present system? I believe that Waiheke has a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to show just how well we can run our own affairs and how loud and clear our voices can be. This little island has shown, time and time again through voter turn out, that we are the most politically engaged part of Auckland. The inevitable confusion that will follow the upcoming election will leave large amounts of political power up for the taking. If Waiheke can bring a big enough bucket to the party then I think we’d be amazed how much of it we can bring home. “We have an extraordinary range of experts on the island. I know we want something out of this that is sustainable for the future. So far, the process towards the Super City has been developed on a basis of economics and it would be up to the board working as a team to add to that agenda,” he says. “We want this community, which is just so vibrant; which has so many world leaders and groups, to move forward in a sustainable way.” He said it would be important that current regional council chairman and Rocky Bay resident Mike Lee had the support of the community in his bid for a seat on the new Auckland Council to represent the Gulf and central city, which makes up the Waitemata Ward. “That would help for our voice to be heard in the deliberations,” he says. Despite the concerns over the Super City, he says he believes there is a genuine desire for communities to take more responsibility for their own direction. “That is what I am going to work on; that is the avowed intent and that is what we want to take with us. It is a positive opportunity. “If we can demonstrate that we are able to present and promote local democracy, we will be worthy of receiving further delegations.” He describes himself as one who likes the practical results and says the board will be a test of the elected group’s ability to take useful note of all of the opinions of the island’s groups. “I wouldn’t want to pretend I know all the answers,” he says. The long-time park ranger also has a lengthy and memorable involvement in local performing arts. “For me, the arts in all their many forms are what the human side of Waiheke is all about. You see the sun come up on this place each morning and what can you do but paint, sculpt, play, or in my own case, dance and sing. “We are at a moment in time with huge and life changing resource and economic challenges worldwide. Waiheke has the opportunity to demonstrate to the world or at least New Zealand how to develop new ways of living sustainably with respect for our environment. “And the beach is only a five minute walk away.” • Liz Waters