By far my biggest concern for Council is the lack of communication on issues to the public. When asking your average 'Joe' (neighbor, friend, family member) what they think Council does - people usually reply by grumbling something about collecting rubbish and taking rate money for upgrading the Square. Is that the perception that we have of our Council??? No wonder most people are disgruntled. The public are not aware of the services that Council provides....the first class library, the free family events, the management of parks and reserves, the growth of our economy, roading and infrastructure, support of Sport Manawatu, Vision Manawatu, Destination Manawatu, community groups, cemetaries, wastewater treatment plant...I could go on and on. But why would average 'Joe' know these things? We don't promote it enough to our own community.
I remember when they were doing construction work on the square and they kept emptying the duck pond. I couldn't understand why they were filling and emptying the pond several times? Was something broken, what was to happen to the ducks? Well I later found out from a council employee that they attempting to get rid of the lime within the new duck pond to make it safe for the ducks. If someone would have just put up a sign or something in the paper then this questioning wouldn't have even been necessary.
Why are people grumbling about the cost of rubbish bags? Becasue they haven't heard the full story, or perhaps don't understand about PNCC's recycling efforts. These are just two minor examples of how I feel the Council doesn't communicate very well with our city. Of course there are major examples; wind farms, bridge building, and land developments that also relate to this.
Let's hire someone in a Public Relations role within Council to activly promote the good works that are being done. We constantly hear the senstionalized negative stories from the press, and suprisingly a majority of Council's successes are put to the side. If we gain the support of the community and everyone is on the same page, perhaps we can stop some of this grumbling once and for all. PNCC is here to work for you - to create the biggest benefit for the largest amount of people. In fact there are hundreds of people all working together to activly make this a more vibrant and productive city - we just don't hear about them.
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5 comments:
James: Council already employs someone in this role- Malcolm Hopwood. Malcolm puts out the free Square Circular that goes into everyone's letterboxes. It's all in there! The new council web presence project is also working to improve e-communication with residents. At the end of the day, many people out there just don't care until it (major works) are in front of their house or favourite community asset.
Hi,
yes, I am aware of Malcolm. However, his job seems to be keeping the Council OUT of the newspapers (the negatives) as apposed to promoting the many possitive things Council achieves. The square circular is nice, but to be honest, I know one person who reads it (two including yourself) as unfortunatly, not everyone reads everything in their letterboxes. And I disagree, I think people ARE interested in what happens in the city, they just dont know how to access information in an easy way. Remember, many people dont make full use of the internet or free weekly newspapers, but gain information through other mediums such as TV and radio. I think its to easy just to say "people dont care unless its in front of their house". That seems to have been the council attitude/ excuse for to long. No reason we cant make people feel more engaged in this city is there?
Thanks
James: Think about this: many Massey students didn't know about the clocktower brouhaha even though it was front page news in the Standard for what seemed like weeks. Some people watch TV, read newspapers, read the Square Circular, or a combination of none or all of these! For example, I don't know anyone that listens to the radio anymore! Are you suggesting that the Council puts out TV adverts? Now that's a waste of rates. Your condescending style ("two including yourself") cost you my vote.
Hi,
Obviously you are entitled to vote for whoever you wish. I think though that you are looking to deeply into my last post. I was being literal, you and my partner are litterally the only people I PERSONNALY know that read the square circular. Obviously TV ads would be a waste of money, but I dont believe its to much of a chore for Councillors to make their best efforts to get in touch with their wards to pass on information. For example: Do you know how much was spent on the square upgrade? The news paper was throwing around figures of $20-30 Million, yet I heard from a Councillor last night that it was more like $22 million, would you agree that this might be information that could have avoided at least some of the uproar from the public? Also, my offer to meet up in person still stands if you wish to discuss these things. I always find it to be the best way to talk, as emailing can obviously get misconstrued.
Cheers
Correction to above post: it should read: the square upgrade allegedly cost $11m, not $22m.
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