Stephen Ward op ed: `Change inside to change the outside'(mention)

RIFF RAFF: Hamilton's tribute to a former son, composer Richard O'Brien.

Source: Waikato Times print edition 

12 July 2005
By STEPHEN WARD

BEFORE coming here just over two years ago from Wellington, I had mainly hurried through Hamilton on the way to or from Auckland.

[snip]

But we also need strong "proof points" that demonstrate irrefutably our strengths to the different audiences we're trying to convince. We need to do a bit less telling people how great we are and more showing them. Erecting Riff Raff's statue, a small practical way of celebrating creativity, probably does more for the city's reputation than simply telling people that Richard O'Brien once lived here.

[snip]