Ian McLean Green Scene Spokesperson for the Green Party

Tauranga may want to be two fundamentally different cities.

First, is the retirement village that is gentle, genteel, safe, welcoming and supportive. It will likely have policies to deliver community services, easy enjoyment of an unspoilt environment, and the opportunity to live a simple life.

This is the city the council attempted to capture in its analysis of the aged-friendly city.

Second is the exciting business centre, competing aggressively for external investment and supporting economic opportunities.

This is the city promoted by SmartGrowth, recently supported by new Tauranga City Councillor John Robson in an analysis of economic development.

An aged-friendly city will focus on principles such as simplicity, convenience, comfort, mobility, predictable costs and security. Entertainment and events, such as a stadium or The Big Day Out, may be viewed more as costs than as benefits.

For a business centre, noise, development, energy, pollution, entertainment, tourism, traffic and busyness are both cause and effect. The focus will be on intensification, growth, investment, the Port, excitement, rapid transit and the GDP.

It is hardly surprising, then, the letters to the editor are filled with complaints about parking, sea lettuce, mangroves, debt, rates, water quality, and the stadium. The older members of our community (representing as many as 50 per cent of the people who actually vote in an election), want an aged-friendly city with an unspoilt environment, and take the time to say so.

Supporting both aggressive economic growth and a serene lifestyle in a beautiful place requires a careful balancing act. It may be the tension between Tauranga's two cities is driving a wedge into the very lifestyle we promote for living in the Bay.