It’s been a year of steady change for Palmerston North

Eco design adviser Nelson Lebo achieved national media prominence for his magic piece of advice – turn the fan around

What a difference a year makes, sometimes.

A glance back through the files anticipating that nothing much changes from one February to the next proved that assumption wrong to some degree.

For example, last February, Palmerston North motorists were only allowed to spend two hours in a central city car park, even if they were happy to pay for more.

The time restriction was extended to three hours, and then it went away altogether in July, allowing people to park in the same spot all day should they choose to pay for the privilege.

Although we are sure there are still people who mess up and get parking tickets, there is no longer a queue of them waiting to complain to the media about it.

A year ago, the city council chamber was still a party-politicsfree janine.rankin@fairfaxmedia.co.nz

zone, or so they said.

Then the Labour Party announced it would be fielding candidates in the local body elections, and the Greens soon followed, and mayor Grant Smith predicted some sort of catastrophe if their bids were successful.

But the voters did not seem to be too bothered, in fact, some actually appreciated the party affiliations as a short-hand method of figuring out candidates’ values.

Labour endorsed four candidates, the Greens chose one, and they successfully launched the council careers of one candidate each. And the sky has not fallen.

Last February was hot. More than just summer warm, but actually hot.

The temperatures climbed so high that city council eco design adviser Nelson Lebo achieved national media prominence for his magic piece of advice – turn the fan around - and use it to blow the hot air out and pull cooler air into the house.

There has been no need for that this year.

In our house, the fan has been absent on unauthorised business and has not been missed.

It was last February that most of the Palmerston North public heard about plans to develop a high ropes course on the Railway Land.

The city council got all tied up in knots over that one, and it took most of the year to get untangled. But still, there is no course.

And this headline was a big one; ‘‘Manawatu wins bid for rural games’’.

While much of what goes on in our rural hinterland may be shrouded in mystery for many of us down here in the swamp, that could be about to change.

The Hilux Rural Games have developed a recipe for success in none other than the tourist mecca of Queenstown, and attracting the crowd pleaser to Palmerston North and Feilding is a vote of confidence, an opportunity, and an event with multiple spin-offs.

That was something that was not on the radar a year ago, and it actually happens next month.

Three options were revealed this time a year ago for the new cycle and pedestrian bridge across the Manawatu River. But the actual site chosen by the council was not one of them, rather to the consternation of people who live close by.

Its associated resource consent applications go before commissioners in a couple of weeks. And maybe, given another year, we will see it taking shape.

End notes:

And now it is time to go through the annual work cycle again.

The first peek at what the city council plans to do with our rates money is an exciting time of year.

This year’s proposed annual budgets might hold no huge surprises, and most of the changes are good ones.

At the top of the list, it is heartening to see that the proposed rates rise at 3.1 per cent is lower than what was earlier proposed at 4.5 per cent.

Better still, is the reality that the city has been growing. There are more of us (current estimate about 33,000 in total) to share the rates burden, so what we actually pay might be less.

It is encouraging to see some really cool projects in there, in black and white, with a real sense of anticipation that they really will happen this year – the library makeover, the Wildbase Recovery development at Victoria Esplanade and the still-to-beconsented cycle and pedestrian bridge across the Manawatu River.

But there are some things, like the development of a natural burial cemetery and replacement of Papaeoia community housing units still in the too-hard basket.

And there are some things people might want to know a bit more about, like proposals to stop accepting payments at the Ashhurst Service Centre, or closing the Bunnythorpe Refuse Transfer Station.

It is early days yet, with the final draft of the consultation document not available until March 17.

Ratepayers should get involved and make submissions, as they really do make a difference.

Participatory democracy, some call it. But more fun than that sounds.