Letters to the editor: Tauranga ferry service is a great idea

One reader thinks the ferry service between Ōmokoroa and the CBD is a great idea. Photo / Supplied

I read your article about plans to start a ferry service between Ōmokoroa and the CBD and the Mount daily (News, July 6). I think this is a great idea and if it goes ahead, I would like the ferry to be able to accommodate bicycles as it would be great to go one way by ferry and ride back along the cycle trail. This would be a wonderful tourist attraction for the region and the proposed ferry fares are very reasonable. Let's get it going for the benefit of everyone in the Bay area.

Gerardine Patterson
Mount Maunganui

Council leadership

I agree with the comments of Mary Hill in her recent opinion column (July 2). The commissioners are doing a great job and it would be good to see them stay on for another three-year term. So many positive things for Tauranga have happened since their appointment notably progressing with the demolition of the old council buildings in Willow St which have been empty since 2014 and plans for a new civic centre, library and museum well under way. Their leadership has given private developers the confidence to progress with major new developments at the old Westpac site on Devonport Rd, 45 The Strand and at the corner of Harrington St and Willow St (the old backpackers). For those that say "bring back democracy to Tauranga" I point out that the commissioners were appointed by a democratically elected government. If we are to return to an elected council, we need to find a way of getting 100 per cent of ratepayers to vote, (maybe financial incentives for those who vote or penalties for those who don't). We would need much more detailed and fact-checked CVs of candidates made available to voters rather than relying on street signs and Facebook promotions. I would prefer an equal number of appointed suitably qualified councillors and elected community members with an appointed chairperson. More than anything, we need to get away from the, in my view, factionalism that developed on the two previous councils.

John Douglas
Mount Maunganui

Rates increase

Whilst we were recently able to vote, in a byelection, to elect our parliamentary representative sadly the incumbent government has decided that we may not vote in a democratically elected Tauranga council in the forthcoming local body elections. In the 2021 financial year, the commissioners approved a 15 per cent residential rate rise (33 per cent for commercial properties) and a further average rate rise of 13.7 per cent in the 2022 financial year. I was once upon a time a Tauranga City Council councillor, of a council that wanted to increase rates by about 8.3 per cent (when the inflation rate was less than half that) and there was close to an uprising from the community and the central government became involved and said that increase above the CPI was extremely difficult to justify - how times have changed.

Mike Baker
Bethlehem

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