Dave Pipe

Candidate Profile Statement

 

Positive, honest, a good listener, issues not personalities, committed to Napier. Dave has just completed his fourth term as Councillor. He has a solid history of service to our community and a reputation for action not just words. Dave’s involvement with the successful Napier Community House and Marae in Maraenui are both projects in the Nelson Park Ward where he has lived for over 13 years. His 35 years involvement in the Napier community includes presenting Pipeline on local radio and television, then on Council his roles as Chair of the Community Development, Community House Trust, Community Services Grants, Environmental Awards, member of the Pukemokimoki Marae Trust, Youth Transitional Service, and long time supporter of the voluntary sector. He also manages St Mary’s Parish in Taradale, works with youth, and has been married for 36 years to Lynda. They have three adult sons. Dave is truly dedicated to serving Napier.

Top 5 Issues

Personal Profile

Dave Pipe, current sitting Councillor and Chair of the Community Development Committee, has announced that he will be standing for another term on the Napier City Council in the Nelson Park Ward - an area that stretches from Pirimai and Maraenui through Te Awa and Marewa to Napier South and the CBD. A hugely diverse community but a Ward that Dave is very comfortable putting himself forward to represent.

 “It’s the Ward my wife and I live in. I know a lot of people in this community, am involved with a lot of organisations and it’s the Ward where I’ve worked hard to establish two very important community facilities – the Community House and Pukemokimoki Marae.”

The “one-stop-shop” for community organisations has now been operating for four years. There are 22 community groups based in the Raffles Street building. Dave is the Chair of the Trust that now secures funding to provide a manager and reception services for the Community House, and to cover the overheads of the groups who lease office space in the House.

The urban Marae was a long held dream, especially for the people of Maraenui, one that they had been working towards for more than 40 years. Three years ago Pukemokimoki Marae was blessed and officially opened. Dave has been closely involved in its development and is a founding member of the Marae Trust.

 On Council, Dave has had Chairmanship roles of a number of Committees including Community Development, Community Services Grants, the joint Councils HB Environmental Awards, and he is involved with the Youth Transition Service, Community Link Management and is a long time supporter of the voluntary sector.

“This last term of Council has been most satisfying because of the focused and positive way councillors have worked together. There are still challenges ahead and I feel, that with the knowledge I’ve gained over the past four terms, I still have a lot to contribute to making our city a better place for people to live and work in.”

Prior to serving the City on the Council Dave worked in radio then local television. For over 20 years he used his announcing and interviewing skills to highlight what was happening in Hawke's Bay and to promote community organisations and their activities. His top rating morning talkshow "Pipeline" was an iconic part of the HB radio scene, and indeed won a series of national and Australasian Awards. Restructuring of the industry in the mid 90's saw his popular programme networked from Auckland and Dave made redundant. However, his involvement with the community and voluntary organisations didn't stop and he saw standing for the Council as a natural progression of the work he was doing on radio. 

His other interests include travel - He once lived and worked for VSA in Tonga and now is especially interested in fostering better intercultural understanding. He recently returned from China and has been speaking of his experiences to service groups as reported below:

Councillor Dave Pipe gave an overview and showed a powerpoint of photos of a recent private citizens initiated trip to China which involved 11 Napier people who became volunteer ambassadors for our City. This three week cultural exchange was similar to one he was involved in about 5 years ago, however this year’s trip visited three different regions of China (Zengcheng, Mianyang and Shanghai) working in 9 schools. The main aim of the visit was to experience Chinese culture and food, and to share our New Zealand culture and language with the students mostly aged 15-17 and usually in their last year of Middle School (our Secondary School). However in Mianyang they worked in 3 Tertiary institutes -Vocational, Language and the Sichuan School of Traditional Chinese Medicine.

Other highlights of their trip were a visit to the now deserted memorial town of Beishuan, where 20,000 (half the population) were killed in a major earthquake two years ago. They were the first New Zealanders to enter the devastated city. A horrendous drive over a 4000m mountain pass to visit the most beautiful World Heritage National Park  and a 36hour train journey to Shanghai where they visited the World Expo.

Music and theatre are also strong interests. He has been in many shows and HB people may remember him as Javert in the 1995 Napier Operatic production of "Les Miserable".  

Dave’s current community involvement also extends to his other job as the coordinator/manager for St Mary’s Parish Greenmeadows. He and his wife Lynda have been married for 36 years and have 3 sons. You may see Dave walking his golden retriever "Charlie" around the streets of his Ward.

 

“It will be a privilege to continue to serve the city on the next Council.”