John Cronin BOP Regional Council Chairman www.envbop.govt.nz

It's with a sense of pride that New Zealanders have adopted the spirit of the Rugby World Cup 2011.

Whether our national team wins or not, it has uncovered a great sense of pride in our country and we have opened our provinces, our cities and our homes in both adopting teams from other countries and making them feel ‘at home' at our place.

Soon it will be over and we will go back to our lives in the cities and towns that make up New Zealand.

It is time to be proud of our city. We have every reason to be proud of our city and we can and should develop and promote our city.

Yes, we have had growth and Tauranga has grown greater than any other area outside Auckland. That growth has now slowed and we have our own economic concerns with the Psa outbreak affecting our kiwifruit industry.

This is not a time for pessimism; it is a time for leadership. If a person who lived here 20-plus years ago was to return here now, the Tauranga of now is a far better, more vibrant place than it was then and the young people that left commenting that they would never come back are returning ‘for the lifestyle'.

It would be nice to have better cultural facilities now and not later, but frankly we all want the nice to haves, but this has to be balanced with the ability of you – our ratepayers – to pay and financial prudence at this time is necessary.

TECT Arena – what a marvelous new asset

We should be very thankful for the contribution of Tauranga Electricity Trust to the new sports and events stadium. Tauranga City Council should be justly proud.

As noted earlier, look back 20 years and now come back to the present. We should all be proud that Tauranga is making progress.

We, the regional council, have been charged by all the territorial councils in the Bay of Plenty with the task of facilitating economic development. It is through economic development that we can develop industries here that produce jobs and raise the level of individual incomes. And as we do this, the nice to haves will come. This is happening.

The regional council has played a key role in the positive results the region has seen in a number of sectors, including forestry, energy, marine and aquaculture. Education may be the catalyst for future economic progress, but more of that in a later article.

Global Financial Crisis

The Global Financial Crisis is every day in the media with countries like Greece, Spain and Italy in deep financial trouble by frankly living beyond their means – spending more than they earn.

We can all learn from that, as we fully review our own costs, but it is not a time to ‘shut up the shop'. It is time to adopt the spirit of the world cup, to feel a pride in our city, pride in our region and all work together. By working together it will only be a matter of time that the ‘nice to haves' will be affordable within a prudent rating policy.

If you have a view on this or any other local government issue, I would be pleased to receive your comments. I invite you to e-mail me johncronin@xtra.co.nz