Meet the mayor forums to continue in Turangi

A small but enthusiastic group attended the inaugural Meet the Mayor forum in Turangi on Wednesday night.

Business and education representatives joined the Mayor and CEO in the first of a planned series of ‘Meet the Mayor’ public forums to be held in Turangi, to complement the regular Taupo forums.

Mayor Rick Cooper shared his optimism about the future of Turangi and encouraged those present to start planning now for a potential business opportunity that will be created for the area once the ETA is in place.

“We are looking forward to getting the trucks off our main streets, but the other side of the coin is that we may lose some of the through traffic. It is my hope that Turangi can turn this to their advantage by capturing this business. Turangi will be the ideal spot to stop and have a rest and a cuppa and something to eat,” he said.

Another proposal that was discussed was capturing the ever increasing number of travellers in campervans that are looking for somewhere to stop off overnight. The Mayor talked about the success that Paeroa have had in targeting this crowd.

“Paeroa block off a street every night and move people on at 8am every morning. I understand that they are averaging around 40 to 50 campervans per night. If they all have something to eat or do a bit of shopping while in town, that is a huge boost to the local economy and there’s a good debate to be had as to whether Turangi can do the same.”

Another topic covered was the lack of decent signage to and around Turangi. Clr Don Ormsby – Chair of Turangi-Tongariro Community Board said he had been fighting Transit to get appropriate signage and he and the Board would continue to lobby until they got a result.

The meeting ended on a positive note and an undertaking to look at holding the next forum in the early morning. There will be public notification of the date and venue of the next ‘Meet the Mayor’ forum in the next four to six weeks.