Invest in the future

Dave Scott, Kristin middle school principal, has been living in Long Bay for two years after moving up from Wellington

Describe your neighbourhood.We live in the new Long Bay development very close to the regional park. Despite being a new development where we live feels very established with lots of native bush, and the birdlife is amazing and being a five minute walk to the beach is fantastic.

What is your earliest memory of the Shore? Back in 2008 our family took a campervan trip, we finished in Takapuna and stayed at the campground right on the beachfront, an amazing venue with a great outlook. I think sometimes we do not realise how lucky we are to live in such a great place.

What are the greatest advantages to living here? Access to great beaches is what we love the most, especially after living in Wellington and Christchurch where you can count the swimming days on one hand. We love the variation in the east and west coast beaches and how close they are.

Who is the person you admire the most and why? I would have to say Nelson Mandela. I use him a lot as an example of inspirational leadership. To spend 27 years locked up for your beliefs and to come out and forgive the people who locked you up is something we can all learn from. Dignity is something that is a birthright of all of us and I believe that Mandela taught a whole generation about the importance of dignity.

What do you like least about the Shore and how can we fix it? The thing I like least is the seeming inability of government, council, planners and developers to see that the infrastructure needs major investment before we

‘‘I think sometimes we do not realise how lucky we are to live in such a great place’’

start building thousands more houses. To fix it infrastructure needs to be prioritised, water, sewerage, roading, future proofing parking capacity at the Park and Rides and provision for bikes.

What are you doing this weekend? I’ll be paddle-boarding and running along the cliff top paths, as I’m training for the Great Wall Marathon in China in May.