Straight Talk: We mustn't let red tape stifle sirens call

I haven't got the appreciative email yet, but I'm sure it's on the way.
Who from? Well Civil Defence of course.
In last week's column I pointed out they had a couple of bung links on their website that meant anyone trying to find out information on tsunami, or other natural hazards, went to error pages.
When checked on Sunday the links had been fixed. Hooray. Well done, thanks for reading Straight Talk.
Mind you, the Tauranga City Council website is still featuring ridiculous questionnaires instead of making it easy for ratepayers and residents of the city to find out how to escape in the event of a tsunami.
And, as you would expect from an organisation that reacts to issues with the speed of a herd of turtles, quick action on tsunami sirens, warnings and evacuation plans will probably not occur any time soon.
Already you can feel the suffocating effect of red tape and lack of political will strangling the people's demand for action on a siren warning system.
Our councillors are calling for more expert opinions, extra studies and show a desire for more navel gazing and little else. There's a lot of talk about revisiting the issue of sirens - which is political speak for deferring any decision until people have forgotten about it.
We need action. We need our leaders to get serious about providing safety and judging by the number of emails I'm getting there are a lot of concerned folk out there.
And there are a couple of examples they gave me about text warnings and officiousness that are worrying.
Fred had set up a tsunami warning alert via text from Telecom and at 9.23pm last Friday he got a message saying "Massive 8.9 earthquake in Japan. Tsunami warning issued for NZ being evaluated by CD. Please listen to the radio."
Excellent, so the system worked.
Well, sort of ...
Fred discovered that for nearly all of the next day, Telecom locked his phone for everything but emergency calls.
Whenever he tried to ring out he got a message to say that only emergency calls could be sent on his phone.
Message to Telecom: Um, aren't phones supposed to be two-way thingies? So you can either warn others, or let people know you are okay?
And how about this for bureaucratic stupidity. On the morning of the tsunami a lady and her hubby tried to walk up Mauao to be safe from the imminent wall of water.
Good, sensible plan you would have thought.
But no, an official stopped them because the area was still closed after the recent slips. Better to let them drown in a tidal surge then.
Sigh.
New Zealand Post you are a disgrace.
Your miserly policy, and the less than acceptable attitude of some of your staff, is shameful.
Those people who read the front page of Saturday's Times will know what I am talking about.
A visitor, escaping from the ravages of the Christchurch quake in which she lost her home, was reduced to tears at Palm Beach Post Shop when she was refused Sellotape for a parcel.
To make matters worse, customers abused the tearful woman, telling her "lots of people lost their homes - get over it" and another "just buy some Sellotape for goodness sake".
Well I have to ask those unpleasant people just what you were in such a rush for. A hair appointment? Getting your bunions dealt with? Certainly it was not a class for Manners 101. You are appalling and show the Bay of Plenty in a very bad light.
Now, I have had issues over the years with this cheapskate rubbish from NZ Post, which refuses to provide people sending packages a small amount of tape to seal their boxes. The litany from some staff is "It is NZ Post policy not to provide Sellotape".
I buy a lot of boxes at NZ Post to send off shop items and they do not fit together well. When you are posting valuable things you want them secure.
A 33m roll of Sellotape costs about $1.69, or about one cent for 19cm. Would that break the NZ Post bank to provide a little bit of extra service for customers?
As for the comments from NZ Post's regional chief Phil Barnett that "it really was a misunderstanding at the post office", that really takes the cake.
I have been refused Sellotape at not only Palm Beach, but also the Bayfair Post Shop, and the line used was the same as the one the Christchurch woman got. It is clearly a company policy and is one that needs to be changed.
richard@richardmoore.com