LOCAL BODY ELECTIONS NEED GOOD CANDIDATES

July 27, 2010 admin Uncategorised 0

The Kāpiti Chamber of Commerce is calling for good Kāpiti people to stand for this year’s local body elections.
“If you could go forward 100 years and look back, you would likely say that this time was a pivotal
time in Kāpiti’s history” says Chamber Chairman Mark Ternent “and so we are raising the profile of
this year’s local body elections and specifically calling for good candidates to stand, and for
responsible people to do what they can to encourage a greater voter turnout in October.”
The Chamber is not making any comment whatsoever on current or past elected representatives,
except to thank them for taking the time and effort to participate in our community.
“All we are doing” says Mr Ternent “is making a call on behalf of democracy and the future of our community Kāpiti needs good people to stand in this year’s local body elections; and we need to improve our woefully low voter turnout. The decisions made in Council over he next few years are crucial to the future of Kāpiti.”

  • The Kāpiti population is growing rapidly and will soon be larger than Porirua’s
  • The growing community has brought with it a significant number of infrastructure issues; some of which are already being addressed and some of which still need to be
  • Transport links into Kāpiti road, rail and air – are all being upgraded and will need local connections and interconnections to the different parts of our community
  • We need to think about civic amenities, a town centre and nurturing the essence of what it means to us to live here
  • A large percentage of our population continues to commute for work while this is good we need to encourage local employment and improved incentives for our young people to remain here
  • Our local economy is relatively small, subject to employment shocks and needs to be stronger.
    “We ask the people of Kāpiti to think on this could you put ourself forward and be a part of a Council that governs us well, making wise decisions? Could you tap someone you know on the shoulder and tell them they would make a great elected representative? What can you do to encourage more people to vote in October? People need to understand that every person in our community is important, and while as individuals our voices are small, it is all together that we can powerfully shape our own future.”