Where was the diversity at summit?
More than 150 people attended a Nelson City Council summit on Tuesday, examining potential ways to revitalise the city centre.
But some community groups felt overlooked in the discussions.
The summit at Nelson’s Trafalgar Centre brought together panels of local people including property investors and members of the business, retail, arts, science, technology and education sectors, as well as regional development experts.
Also speaking were council staff and elected members, architects and representatives of the community-led What If initiative from Make/Shift Spaces – and spokespeople for Nelson Environment Centre and Nelson Cathedral.
But Marie Lindaya, co-founder of Nelson Ethnic Council, now Multicultural Nelson Tasman, said the summit was missing a “multicultural lens”. The community’s different ethnicities and nationalities should have been “intentionally invited”, said Lindaya, who registered as a guest.
Nelson was a refugee settlement with growing ethnic communities, she said. The city was recruiting migrant workers from countries such as the Philippines and India. “We're dotted everywhere, health sector, transport, boat building, construction, arts.”
The city’s recent multicultural festival spoke volumes, with entrepreneurs showing their “niche creativity”, she said.
“It’s not just the food, it’s not just the dancing,” she said. "We are actually within the weave of the whole city.“
Lindaya said a global village she suggested a “long time ago” had never come to fruition. “I'm really looking for a multicultural hub; turn an area into a global village.”
She envisaged a place where people could gather and stroll around – akin to Melbourne’s Queen Victoria Market – with “niche” activities like leather bag making, where different ethnic groups and faiths could go and feel safe.
The summit was a good start to the korero around revitalising the city, she said. “[But] this is just the face of the upper class Nelson.”
Whakatū Marae komiti chairperson Jane de Feu attended the summit on behalf of the council’s kaumātua (Māōri elders), who couldn’t be there. She agreed areas of the community weren’t there to have their say.
“The whole range of the socioeconomic landscape was not represented.
“So I think that’s still an area that has to be explored.”
There was also a theme missing from the discussion – the “paramount” issue of future proofing the city in terms of climate change, she said.
In closing remarks at the summit, Nelson deputy mayor Rohan O’Neill-Stevens said the event was “deliberately focused at those people with I guess the most direct stake”.
“But we also need to make sure that we’re partnering more widely with the community.” The was more engagement to come at different levels, he said.
“And as we signed the really significant partnership agreement with the iwi of Te Tauihu o Te Waka-a-Māui, there’s the significance of that direct engagement ... we need to all be moving in step.”
Mayor Nick Smith said the council was looking to get some new taskforces to pick up on the ideas of the summit, which could include non-elected member representation.
Closing the summit, councillor for Nelson Māori Ward, Kahu Paki Paki, reminded guests that Te Matatini - the nationwide biennial Māori performing arts festival and competition for kapa haka performers - was happening in Nelson in 2027; a major opportunity for Nelson to represent at a national level.