Letters to the editor: MSD queue concerns to be addressed

MSD regional commissioner Mike Bryant has addressed concerns about people waiting in queues at the Rotorua MSD office. Photo / Getty Images

We accept the concerns Merepeka Raukawa-Tait raised in a recent opinion piece regarding queues at our Rotorua service centre (Opinion, May 4).

I apologise to those who have been affected.

We are remedying this as a matter of urgency.

We should have done more to eliminate the need for whānau to wait outside. It doesn't reflect the service we are trying to provide to our whānau.

We are required to follow Covid-19 requirements and tried different approaches to managing our social distancing requirements. We accept that we didn't get this right.

We have reconfigured the service centre so that more whānau can safely be in the office at one time.

We will continue to encourage whānau to book appointments with our service centre staff and take advantage of the wide range of services we can provide online and via our call centres.

Mike Bryant, Regional Commissioner
Ministry of Social Development

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Reading the report (News, May 5) that Kāinga Ora has bought Tauranga's seven elder housing villages for $17.2m seems to me to be a great buy for Kāinga Ora - but not necessarily for Tauranga ratepayers.

These seven villages are in prime city areas and have a total of 197 one-bedroom units. Based on the amount they sold for, this equates to just $87,500 per dwelling, which includes both the land and the value of the buildings.

I would have thought that the land alone would have been worth in excess of $17.2m due to their location.

I am certain there would be many people who would be delighted to buy a one-bedroom unit for $87,500. It is this that makes me say it appears that Kāinga Ora seems to have got a great buy.

Tauranga has huge issues and if we sell an asset there should be an expectation that the city should receive the maximum value of what the asset is worth.

Mike Baker
Bethlehem

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Clever, clever, clever.

What a great performance of That Bloody Woman by Tauranga Musical Theatre.

This was a well-written show and showed that not much has changed since the late 19th century. The songs were spot on and the lyrics had the audience in stitches.

The two leads of Kate Sheppard and Richard Seddon were outstanding and I can see why all the shows were sold out.

Congratulations from a long-standing musical theatre patron.

Teresa Davies
Tauriko

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