Letters: New carpark name more than a mouthful

Concept plan for the Phoenix car park redevelopment. Image / Supplied

Mount Phoenix (car) Park's proposed new name Te Papa o Nga Manu Porotakataka (Local News, November 24) is more than a mouthful - it is, in my view, an incomprehensible, inappropriate, unpronounceable moniker dreamed up by Tauranga City Council staffers and cohorts.

Elected members after reaching a decision endorsing this tongue twister have come up with the novel idea of a quickfire public consultation after the event.

In my opinion, there has been a lack of openness, transparency and meaningful public consultation from the council as an organisation.

Furthermore, this project has converted an asphalt car park (essential to Mount CBD) into a concrete jungle.

This site has, to my knowledge, never had any cultural significance and the correct name would be Mount or Mauao Open Space because it is certainly not a "green urban space" as the photos clearly show – the whole project has been misrepresented, in my opinion.

As for "the place of the circling birds" over the past 50 years I have sighted very few birds and none circling other than seagulls and sparrows squabbling over discarded takeaway food.

Predictably the name looks to be promoted by people who don't live or work in the area.

S Paterson
Ohauiti

HEADING

In response to Sue McArthur's letter (Letters, November 28).

She writes: "Here's the thing, Waiting cars don't run over pedestrians and terrorise cyclists and Tauranga City Council is absolutely on the right track in taking measures to reduce the carnage on our roads."

As for, "Drivers stuck in lines of congestion get tired of it ...etc. " It causes frustration, and drivers take risks to get past the lines of traffic and cause more "carnage".

"Reducing speeds on all...streets makes them safer for everyone."

So why not return to the man with the red flag walking in front of all vehicles and reduce the carnage to zero?

The "improvements" in Greerton do give us all extra options, and learning how to negotiate the new bus routes and timetables gives us all a new game to play over Christmas.

Alan Reynolds
Pyes Pa

HEADING

Your contributor Bill Capamagian (Letters, November 28) worries that too much Māori language learning in schools adds to an already overburdened workload and he suggests that concentrating on English should be the number one priority. Hard to disagree with. Will te reo ever put food on the table?

Well, yes. Longitudinal research informs us that those students who choose to take Māori language at school tend to stay on longer at school and so achieve higher qualifications.

Furthermore those te reo students do better in subjects like mathematics. Bilingualism has definite cognitive benefits as it expands literacy functions in all subjects, especially with problem solving.

Got to be good for everyone as higher achieving Māori benefits the nation in all sorts of obvious ways.

If, as suggested, we promote te reo in merely a social sense (what I term Kapa Haka Māori) then we fail our students. The priority is literacy in all subjects, not just in English.

A G Stewart
Pyes Pa

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