The Bay of Plenty Times welcomes letters and comments from readers. Below you can read the letters we have published in your newspaper today.
TODAY'S LETTERS:
Mangrove removal the wrong idea
When they started mulching the mangroves, I assumed that the chippings were being blown into a trailer being removed. How dumb was I to assume that this would happen to save polluting the harbour even more than it was before.
The sea lettuce is a big enough problem without supplying the many tonnes of chippings, which rot down, and puts all that natural compost into the harbour. It beggars belief that the so-called experts have allowed this to happen.
Why is it that Fiji and the other islands are growing seedlings and planting their shallows to regenerate the mangroves to save their lagoons and fisheries while we are hell-bent on the opposite actions instead of solving the cause of both the lettuce and mangroves?
What about controlling the fertiliser, dairy run-off and section development correctly? I hope that the removal of the mangroves is halted instantly, until some method is worked out to stop the grossly inappropriate method of leaving the mulched plants to blanket the harbour floor, which does more damage than leaving the plants to grow.
RUSTY FRYETT Welcome Bay
Black Caps distracted
It is interesting to note that our national cricket team's dismal effort in the recent test against Pakistan coincided with the announcements of the amount of money top players would be paid for taking part in the lucrative Indian Premier League upcoming matches.
Ross Taylor secured the best contract for a New Zealand player of $1 million, with other fortunate players also securing excellent contracts.
Little wonder then that it appeared that some of the players' minds seemed to be elsewhere when they were called on to bat, but at least they left their cellphones in the dressing room.
ROLY HAMMOND Matua
'White guilt'
The National Party's Marine and Coastal Area bill seems to be a result of "white guilt", as it allows Maori to claim any part of the beach as wahi tapu and overrules the RMA and local government by allowing iwi the power of veto on any resource consent.
As Denis Shuker highlighted (Your View, January 11), this bill overcompensates for the loss of local iwi land and culture by ignoring the rest of the population's claims to enjoy this public space. By passing this bill it is opening the door to privatisation of public land on cultural grounds which will eventually lead to more disputes about access and equal rights.
As equal citizens we should not be able to say who can and cannot have access to public land on the basis of race or culture, as respecting different cultures and heritages can be done in other more inclusive ways then simply using the "fences and fines" method of old.
DAVID BATCHELOR Bethlehem
WOF rules
Full marks to Councillor Bill Grainger, supported by Councillor Murray Guy, in spearheading a relaxation of Tauranga City Council's attitude to WOFs and registration, and shame on your editorial (Your View, December 18).
My view is that council wardens should not be involved at all. The rationing of parking is an economic activity. Council should not allow its wardens to be diverted to hounding our citizens and visitors on other matters.
This applies particularly to registration, which is simply a debt-collection exercise. Not only is it a debt that cannot be avoided (unless the vehicle is scrapped) but the penalty is almost 100 per cent of the debt. What a rip-off.
Vehicle WOF standards are high. Fair enough ... but provided a vehicle has good brakes, steering and tyres, it is of little danger to others - in daylight hours.
Council is being opportunist in selectively policing restricted parking areas. This mostly harms poor people, who can ill afford the penalties.
On the other hand I would support council staff reporting to the police any vehicle which has unsafe tyres or appears to be dangerous. Whether or not the vehicle has a WOF is irrelevant in such situations.
BILL CAPAMAGIAN Tauranga
Business disruption
The report (News, January 10) regarding the closing of Fraser St at Fifteenth Ave to upgrade the intersection is a further demonstration of the woeful lack of forward planning by territorial local authorities in this country.
The Fraser Cove shopping centre was given planning permission to be developed about 10 years ago, and yet we are only now having roads feeding the centre being upgraded to cater for the traffic. When councils are considering such planning applications it must be conditional on the infrastructure, including roading access, being in place to cater for it - not wait until it is gridlocked and then cause chaos.
In this case there will be numerous businesses interrupted because of customers not being able to get to them, along with the associated drop in incomes those businesses will experience. There are many other examples like this in the Tauranga area.
Of course local authorities and government agencies do not have to take into consideration the loss of income by businesses caused by the disruption. After all, these agencies have the luxury that their income streams, in the form of rates and taxes, continues rain, hail, shine or road closure.
GLENN WILLIAMS Te Puke
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