Laying the groundwork: Introductions

Hi everyone,

Ben here - I'm part of the Loomio team in Wellington, and I'll be here to support the group however I can. Feel free to ask me any questions you might have, technical or otherwise.

A little about me - I moved to Wellington four years ago, mainly for the amazing music scene and really nice sense of community. Living right in the centre of town for the first 3 years led me to see some pretty interesting alcohol-related behaviour. I'm in quiet Roseneath now, but still walk through town fairly often at weekends and things don't seem to have quietened down much :)

The first two public discussion groups are going amazingly well, with productive discussion and brilliant ideas popping up all over the place - I'm really excited to see where this one goes!

Hi all,

As you can see from this post title, my name is Jaime and I'm the project manager for the Alcohol Management Strategy.

I've worked in the local government sector for the last 20 years, mainly in strategy and policy roles. I love working for the Council because we get the chance to work directly with the communities we serve through forums like this.

I'm very much looking forward to seeing how these discussions unfold.

Hi all. My name is Curtis Nixon. I am a sometimes letter to the editor writer, Wellington.scoop commenter, government submission writer type. It saddens me that my favourite local paper, Capital Times, is going under. Maybe Loomio can fill that space for me? My avatar thingee is a picture I painted about the evolution of humanity called 'Echelon'. I suggest Loomio adds a 'go to top of page' button at the end of discussions.

Hi everyone! I'm Alanna from the Loomio team. I'm here to help! I am really excited to see this public collaboration happening and keen to hear everyone's good ideas for alcohol management in our community. Feel free to ask me for any help you might need, including technical questions about using Loomio.

It would be great to get introductions from some more group members. I'm sure we have a diverse and interesting group coming together here, so let's get to know each other a bit!

Once you've introduced yourself here, please feel free to head over to the group homepage and jump into any of the seed discussions and/or click "start a discussion" to kick off your own topic.

@gisellebareta @nicolegeluk @chelsearobinson @megan1 @davidclearwater1

Great to see so many new faces in here! It's likely to be pretty quiet in here over Easter weekend, but we're looking forward to some lively discussion when people are back in town.

It's an interesting time of year regarding alcohol, with the additional regulation around the sale of liquor on Good Friday and Easter Sunday - will be great to hear peoples' thoughts about whether more or less (or different) regulation might be a positive thing.

Hi everyone. I'm an tech business co-founder based in Wellington and involved in leadership roles within the ICT and community. I'm interested in civic affairs and have been a moderator with online discussions involving technology and in particular bioethics in the past. I'm a single Dad with a 12 year old son.

Hi, I'm a 39yo IT consultant. Home and work look out over Courtenay so great views of alcohol management (or lack of it) are available every night. I love the social scene here and am out at bars/restaurants most nights of the week. I hope all this will reduce the amount of booze fueled crazies on the streets, reduce the harm they to do themselves, other peoples property, and make town safer, more comfortable and accessible for others to enjoy the nightlife.

Hi, I'm a business adviser, entrepreneur and startup company enthusiast. But more importantly, I'm a father of 2 teenage girls (one at Vic and the other at Wellington Girls) and an 11yr old boy. We live in Johnsonville, but the girls are frequently in town with friends over the weekend. I'm also active with the Salvation Army church in J'ville and while not directly involved in the SA alcohol programmes are closely connected with the people who are.
I see alcohol excess as a cultural problem. Cultural problems are hard to tackle and take time, but a lot was achieved with the anti-litter campaigns of the 80s and the more recent smoking campaigns. I worries me that my daughters feel pressured to drink (whether they want to or not), that its accepted and even a right-of-passage becoming 18. Interestingly, neither (to my knowledge) have had any pressure or interest in smoking, which indicates effectiveness of that sustained campaign.
So, I wonder how we as a responsible society can take better care of our young and put in place measures to discourage excessive consumption and encourage responsible behaviour.

Hi Everyone,
Great to be contributing here after the break.
I'm a 21 y/o with a degree in Envi Science. I live in Newtown and bike everywhere. My family lives in Auckland.
I have always found drunk people quite intimidating, but through my student years have become more comfortable with drunken friends, but I'll never really be a courtenay placer as i don't really drink very often.
I'm interested in this conversation because I think it's incredible to connect with you all whom I wouldn't otherwise hear from. I'm interested to explore what aims we can have as a city which could allow people to both exercise personal choice, and be generally more enabling of alternatives so that social spaces are not constructed around alcohol.