Introducing Mark Roberts
I am Mark Roberts and I am seeking to be elected to the Local Board.
On our third day in New Zealand, my wife and I drove through Titirangi on our way to Piha. We instantly fell in love with the Waitakere Ranges and the villages and townships that surround them, the Kauri, Rimu, Nikau Palms and the Tree Ferns.
Not surprisingly, we bought a house amongst the Kauri on the South Titirangi Peninsula overlooking Manukau Harbour, and there we have lived for the last 42 years. In that house we raised two lovely Children and now four Grandchildren come to stay and play.
We have all enjoyed days playing cricket on the beaches, walking the Hillary Trail and other tracks, exploring the artistic communities and eating at the growing number of cafes.
In those 42 years, I built a career as a Chartered Accountant, Financial Controller, CEO and Company Director, with a stint as a Commercial Pilot, flying in the Pacific Islands and ferrying aircraft around the world. I am told that my flying stories are more interesting than my accounting stories. Buy me a beer and I will tell you about ditching an aircraft 150 miles North of Honolulu, or three weeks stranded on a small Pacific Island, not how I finally reconciled that Bank Statement. Meanwhile my wife spent 40 years as a High School Deputy Principal.
Nowadays, when not adding numbers for an NZ based airline, you will find me walking trap lines, setting bait to catch Possums, Rats and the occasional Mustelid, or joining a local Weeding Bee or Native Planting Day. It is extremely gratifying to see the increasing number of native birds in our garden and elsewhere and know that our efforts are being rewarded. I sit on the committees of several environmental and social groups and serve as a Trustee for Titirangi Urban Sanctuary Charitable Trust.
During the last 42 years, particularly more recently, we have borne witness to the trials and tribulations of the Waitakere Ranges: Kauri Dieback, Covid isolation, the Anniversary Weekend deluge and cyclone Gabrielle. It has imprinted upon me the importance of developing Resilience in the Ranges, for people, property, tracks, roads and services.
I very much want to see the Waitakere Ranges fully and safely open again for business and leisure, both for those of us that live here and those that visit, while at the same time preserving this unique Heritage Area, so important it even has its own Act, while my Financial Hat drives me to see this all done in a Fiscally Responsible manner.
