During the month of September I have 14 public speaking
engagements in my bid to become Mayor of Timaru with the first one being at the Doncaster Hotel Washdyke on Sunday 2nd Sept at 1.30 pm
One of our greatest assets and the area that holds the
most potential for Timaru is Washdyke.
This is the area that houses our major industries and yet it is an area that is most neglected by the Timaru District Council.
I have just spent a couple of days out at Washdyke talking to business people about their problems. The major problem in Washdyke seems to be the management of the roading.
The other complaint I am hearing is the length of time it takes to get anything done and the third issue is the doubling of the rates in one year. Most business people in Washdyke don’t believe they are getting fair value for their rates and this is discouraging other industries wanting to set up business in the area.
The delay in decision making by the council is described
as a joke out at Washdyke and I’m also hearing this echoed by business people in other areas of Timaru.
There is urgently needed 2 sets of lights at Washdyke.
The traffic congestion occurs at the corners of Meadows Road and at the junction from the Pleasant Point highway. So why dosen’t work start immediatly on putting these lights in.
I can think of a couple of reasons for this.
The first one is that the Chamber of Commerce was once the voice of industry but unfortunatly that no longer is the case. The Chamber of Commerce is now managed by an organisation called Aoraki Development Trust which is funded and owned by the Timaru District Council. This has left industry in Timaru without an independent voice.
The other reason for the delay is the very thing that could well prevent me from ever becoming the Mayor of Timaru.
Washdyke along with the rest of Timaru was originally designed and built by men. It was men with creative visions and logical ideas who sat on the council and made the major decisions while the women stayed home, cared for the children, darned their husbands socks and did the knitting.
Everywhere you look now women are doing men’s jobs.
shearing sheep, working in the freezing works driving trucks and forklifts while many of the better educated females are in politics running the towns and the country. Timaru is under the direct leadership of 3 women. A women Prime Minister, a women Member of Parliament and a women Mayor
While all this is happening many of our young men are being shut out of the workforce by females. It is sad but true that many of these young uneducated men are down at the court house waiting to be sentenced to another term in jail.
I want all women to know that the situation they find themselves in is not all their fault because it was the men who allowed them to take control in the first place. Fortunatly or unfortunatly for Timaru I am not one of those men. I respect all the women in my life and I could not survive without them. I am even a bit of a softy at times and I have been known to spoil them but when it comes to the final decision making they know which one of us is the leader of the team.
If you don’t agree with my values and principals then please don’t vote for me to be your Mayor keep the status quo and vote for a women.
