Easter Rearview Mirror – Brands & Scooters

Here we are heading for Easter with another peek-a-boo at some of the goings on in and around Invers over the past wee while.

There was a yarn in the paper the other day about Invers gearing up to face the challenges of retail in the years ahead, and there are some pretty big and important challenges.

The article mentioned that Invers needed a new brand to reflect these challenges. A new brand! How many “brands” have we had and what have they achieved?

First Retail are the 3rd Consultants to advise Invercargill City Council on how to fix the dying CBD, remember Mark Blumsky and his “InverGiggle” branding plan? or the now forgotten about CBD upgrade designed by Craig Pocock Design which was launched with much fanfare and not much else.

Its time we asked just how many hundreds of thousands of dollars has ICC spent on these consultants?

Did someone say mono rail?

There are in our view a lot more pressing challenges for Invers than coming up with a new brand.

Speaking of brands, the new traffic lights at the Herbert – Kelvin St cnr were (un)officially opened this week. Mayor Tim turned up in full mayoral regalia and on a carbon emission friendly parking efficient scooter to cut the ribbon.

My immediate brain wave for a brand is “invers, the city on scooters”. OK, it’s a work in progress but so was The Beatles song “Scrambled Eggs” until Paul McCartney re-worked to become “Yesterday”

Speaking of challenges HW Richardson Group director Scott O’Donnell made it crystal clear to the City Council that “it faces civil war” if it over plays it’s role as city regulatory policeman instead of assisting and promoting development.

This was further backed up during the annual plan submissions by HWR property manager Sue Hill this week when she stated..

“I’ve worked with many councils in New Zealand, and I would say hands down, this is the most difficult council to deal with in terms of building projects.”

Cr Allan Arnold asked Hill if the difficulties would push her to want to move somewhere else.

Hill said the thought crossed her mind daily.

“It’s just too hard.”

The Richardson Group have done wonders for this city by developing Transport World, Classic Motorcycle Mecca at no small expense.

They don’t plan to stop there with talk of turning Invers into a centre for aviation and rail nostalgia. There’s a lot of train and plane spotters around the country, plus read below about their latest attraction..Dig This to open in spring.

As we mentioned we are heading towards the Easter break so that means many will be taking the opportunity to head away for a breather. That means more nutcases on our roads. We’ve had a bad trot over recent weeks with fatal crashes around the wider southern region. Please be careful on the roads, don’t take unnecessary risks and keep the speed down.

The weather may not be flash so drive to the conditions. We want and need everyone back all present and correct next week.

Speaking of Easter, how many of you are taking Southland Anniversary day off on the Tuesday?

It’s ball season coming up, have you all got your gladrags and penguin suits sorted?

What a tragedy to lose John Clarke this week and why was he not utilised to deliver his razor sharp commentary on life this side of the Great Divide (Tasman Sea). And so soon after we lost Murray Ball.

We should also acknowledge the recent passing of Dr Heather Thomson. While Dr Thomson passed away in Dunedin where she was close to family, she set her mark on the city and Southland as a medical practitioner for many years and also a City Councillor for 9 years.

We also lost Alan Swallow recently. Alan played a role of city watch-dog, keeping tabs on what the current and previous councils were up to. Alan’s passing marked the last of that generation of gate-keeper for Invers.

To wrap up, we have to feel for the good folk of Edgecombe in the Bay of Plenty. The small town has been close to decimated after a stop bank failed due to the sheer amount of water flowing down the the Rangitaiki River after Cyclone Debbie.

And remnants of another cyclone are making straight for the already saturated wider Bay of Plenty

We know only to well the importance of having good flood protection don’t we, or we jolly well should!

Have a great Easter break team, rest up and recharge and catch you all back as we head towards the second half of April.

Mal