Viewpoint – Matthew Hunt memorial

I’m absolutely rapt to inform you that a plaque is being attached to a bench in Remembrance Reserve, Ōrewa, in memory of our recently fallen police officer Matthew Hunt this weekend, on Saturday, June 19.

It is such a wonderful gesture to show how our community cares for those who care for us. I know Council deals with numerous requests for plaques and they are rarely approved because of the number of requests they receive. This one is indeed special!

Since being elected to the local board, I have to say I have enjoyed it far more than I expected. Being able to assist people and groups way beyond what I have previously been able to do has been a truly rewarding experience.

I have met so many awesome people doing amazing work, and on behalf of the board, I want to thank each and every one of you. Your work so often goes unnoticed but is very much appreciated. What an amazing community we live in.

Being a creative person by nature, on the local board I personally have a reputation for thinking outside the box. While this may be considered controversial to some, it has helped us achieve attention to issues that could easily have been left unresolved. My personal attitude is “doing nothing is never a solution”.

It is amazing just how many people in our community are in need of support and how many groups are out there, operating with little or no assistance. If you have time to spare, I’m sure your help would be appreciated by any number of them. If everybody helps even a little, what a difference we can all make.

On another note we are currently working on a project with our local police force to improve public safety in a very significant way. Stay tuned! I’m sure many of you are aware of some of the serious offences that they have had to deal with recently.

Being a community patroller, as well as being on the local board, I see and hear first hand how our community is suffering from increased petty and major crimes. We plan to provide our awesome boys in blue with all the help we can.

Possibly most important of all is, if members of the public wish to communicate with us it is important to remind you that we have now opened up a significant number of our meetings to the public. We also have public forums where you can come and talk to us about concerns and projects.