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:
Roundabout 'nonsense' leaves me speechless
As a seasoned and sardonic observer of human nature, I am not usually lost for words. However, the plans for the
Welcome Bay Roundabout revealed in your newspaper leave me speechless.
That this plan will not work is obvious enough. The real horror of this situation is that we, as Tax Payers and Rate Payers, are funding someone to come up with this nonsense. The proposed $9 million cost just adds insult to injury.
The Hairini interchange was started in the 1960s with the upramp from Turret Rd being completed in 1971. For 40 years residents of Welcome Bay, Maungatapu and Ohauiti have waited for its completion. Instead of a curable solution, we have endured a succession of increasingly ridiculous stop-gap approaches. Only two years ago Barbara Chard's fantastical array of 16 different traffic lights were supposed to be the answer.
This latest plan should not have seen the light of day and those responsible for it need to be re-deployed, and the $9 million put in a bank account until it is possible to complete the interchange as originally designed.
ROSS W OGLE, Tauranga
Mount speeds
Your correspondent, Stacey Hikairo (Your View, June 23) makes some very good points on the over-development of Mount Maunganui peninsula. Just look at the likes of Mount Greens, Blake Park Redevelopment, Hockey/Cricket, Baypark Speedway, Bay Rugby and Tauranga Sports & Exhibition Centre, Baywave (non-Olympic pool) and all the downtown Mount high-rise buildings. Why is all this rubbish dumped on the Mount, causing traffic and parking issues plus high-rise developments invariably obtain the council consents with a shortage of car parking for tenants.
Now, we have the crazy 30km/h speed limit - 24 hours a day, 7 days a week (ridiculous) - imposed by TCC in the northern part of the Mount, apparently to accommodate pedestrians. Well, there is usually only one pedestrian issue and that is where people are crossing Marine Parade from the Towers to the Mount Surf Club as they straggle across this huge diagonal crossing like Brown's cows.
Move this crossing back along Marine Parade, in the process getting rid of the other one, as this is the favoured option. In peak times, the Mount is almost inaccessible to local residents. It is generally accepted 40km/h is a reasonable speed and that is what will be adopted by motorists as fair.
While on the 30km/h limit, TCC had better ensure that the everyday cyclists and more particularly those competing in triathlons and ironman events adhere to this speed limit.
S PATERSON, Arataki
One enough
The residents near the proposed crematorium and mortuary in Pyes Pa are against this proposal because three families will be between them and subject to the accompanying emissions from the two sources. The whole proposal is extremely distasteful to our area.
We moved here aware of the TCC one and accepted that one and see no need for two.
In 1999 the then Tauranga Park under Greg Brownless' direction applied and received consent to build a funeral home near the existing cemetery/crematorium and the condition was that no other business would be done on the site other than "place of assembly".
Mr Brownless personally assured us on a number of occasions about this and we had no reason to disbelieve him at the time.
Tauranga Park has now evolved into Legacy Trust and want to change the resource consent conditions so as to build a crematorium and mortuary.
We see no reason to build another crematorium so close to the existing underutilised one just for business reasons particularly as the affected families will have children's bedrooms in close proximity.
RONA MURDOCH, Pyes Pa
What you said
The Bay of Plenty Times had an overwhelming response to the news that Boobs on Bikes was coming to Tauranga. Here is some of the feedback from text views and Facebook:
* Shameless", "disgraceful" and "sad". Quote from BOP Times. But, how do we stop it? Seems the mayor and Tauranga MP are against it, but how can it be stopped. It's going to small towns. Paeroa Matamata, etc. It has got to be stopped ...
* Not good for kids to see, and unnecessary for adults; if you want to see boobs there are plenty of other places adults can go to do that. In my mind not many people respect women who publicly bare that part of their bodies. It's cheap and nasty and I hope no-one goes to watch as a sign of protest.
* Sydney gladly embraces cultural and sexual diversity with the Mardi gras every year. As a married heterosexual I have attended these events in support. They are tasteful and a lot of fun. My children will attend when they are old enough to not get cranky after 7pm. It's all about education ... and that starts at home. Tauranga is a race track where all the horses have blinkers on ...
* people need to keep an open minds, we are all entitled to our opinions and we must face the reality that if approved it will happen so we have 2 choices to stay away or to go and see what all the fuss is about and if porn did not exist in the Bay what would the staff of stores like wild things and erox do for a living, all those opposed who say these things are evil will only secede in putting people out of work.
* Whilst not wanting to sound like a prude there is a time and a place for most things but boobs on bikes doesn't and shouldn't have a place anywhere. It certainly doesn't send out any positive messages to anyone especially our children.
* I think nothing is wrong with that it would be good for fund raising events towards charities for children sports and education and our communities in tauranga. This is a mans world God
* get over it you reall must hate looking at yourselves naked in the mirror. Its the way god made us whats the big deal
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