The longest-serving mayor in Greymouth's history and a keen amateur photographer has designs on a new career.
Grey District Mayor Tony Kokshoorn Photo: RNZ / Tracy Neal
Tony Kokshoorn said he has discovered an unexpected benefit from replying to the ranters on social media - using it as a platform for his growing hobby as a photographer, which is now shaping up to be a serious new interest.
He was busy responding to a critic on Facebook when RNZ dropped by this week. He reckons the sure-fire way of damping them down is the opposite of silence - he prefers to let them know he has seen their comments with a polite interjection on the thread.
"They stop right away," he said.
Along with posting comments, Mr Kokshoorn has also been busy posting shots of the highly scenic West Coast. It is a place to which he has devoted his life, and where he intends to remain, even though he has announced he will be quitting local politics after 21 years on the council - 15 of those as mayor.
"I've always used my energy in this community and I've always had ants in my pants - they were pleased when I left school.
"But after 21 years of my family totally supporting me, it's time to give something back."
Mr Kokshoorn is the longest-serving mayor in Greymouth's history and while he is keen for a break, he was not sure it was time yet to put up his feet entirely.
He is also the co-owner of the town's newspaper, and the newly acquired Kaikoura Star.
It was announced last month that the Greymouth Evening Star company had added the Kaikōura community newspaper to its portfolio, which includes the Hokitika Guardian and West Coast Messenger.
Mr Kokshoorn said he was keen to develop his amateur photography skills to become a contributing newspaper photographer.
"Definitely. I've already told the newspaper that I'll be competing against the newspaper journalists for the photo slot.
"I just love taking a good photo and seeing if I can get that into the paper - it's a little buzz, it's a competition and it's a great feeling when you get a really top, point-of-difference photo."
He said there were plans to develop the Kaikoura Star, in line with opportunities around tourism growth, and development of community news.
"We will keep one reporter and we'll build it up. We see some opportunities, even though the paper industry's in turmoil there are some opportunities around small papers.
"We all know the only point of difference we have at community newspapers is we have reporters who gather local news and no one else is prepared to do that, and provided we can always give good local content there's going to be some sort of demand."
But Mr Kokshoorn said the demand would not be like it was in the past, because of the dent social media had made on people's discretionary time, and on the advertising dollar.
"I still want to do plenty of things and I'll always find things to do, even if that's being a volunteer, or I might even try to get national chair jobs, but at the end of the day, the only people standing around your grave will be your family.
"I feel I've had a great run, and I'm going to put some real quality time back into the family."
