Too many trucks: Letters, 19 October 2011

The Bay of Plenty Times welcomes letters and comments from readers. Here you can read the letters we have published in your newspaper today.

Jumping to conclusions on Rena was poor form

I feel guilty that I was one of those writing to complain about the lack of action to salvage the oil on the Rena. It is so easy to jump to conclusions and I was not aware that the oil pipes on the Rena were fractured and the mending of the pipes was a difficult and time-consuming operation.

I am sure I speak for many when I say I am full of admiration for the people who are working day and night to remove the oil and to all those, including volunteers, who have worked so hard to restore beaches to their usual pristine condition.

Instead of brickbats they ought to be getting massive bouquets.

Mary Brooks,Tauranga

Too many trucks

Congratulations to those companies, firms, sports bodies who have recently opened new premises.

This will certainly enhance Tauranga city. But when will the Tauranga City Council put a necessary ban on heavy logging trucks and monolithic delivery vehicles using Cameron Rd?

Signs at the new diversion at Pyes Pa and at the entry to Route K from Tauriko would direct this traffic to the purpose-built Route K and lighten its revenue difficulties.

Just get on and do it, TCC.

P J Church, Tauranga

Don Brash's call to decriminalise cannabis is foolish.

We already have alcohol problems with many of our young people, due, I believe, largely to the lowered drinking age.

Do we now want to say it's okay to smoke cannabis?

Cannabis damages the brain, especially in under 25-year-olds, and is a gateway to other more harmful drugs.

We have a moral and social responsibility to make laws that ensure our young people reach adulthood intact.

Bob Clarkson's comment that when a law is broken by a large percentage of the population, there is something wrong with it, is nonsense.

The speed limit on the open road is 100km/h, a large percentage of the population break this law, does that mean there is something wrong with it?

Don Brash estimates $100 million of tax is spent on policing this law.

How much is spent on the fallout from drugs and alcohol in this country?

I shudder to think.

We need to get our priorities right and be educating our children of the dangers of drug use, as well as leaving it a criminal offence to take or deal them.

We don't need MPs or former MPs saying it's okay to smoke cannabis because it costs too much to police it. It's a cop out.

L Cooper, Te Puna

Lovely waterfront

Having recently holidayed in Portimao, Portugal, I couldn't help but compare Tauranga's Strand with Portimao's promenade along the river. As you can see from the photo above, a 50-metre-wide reclamation, cobbled with two sealed paths, for bikes, wheelchairs and pushchairs.

A small marina at one end, museum and dock for tourist excursion boats at the other. Stone sculptures, and nautical symbols along the lengths.

I could imagine a similar frontage to Tauranga from the Cargo Shed to the Harbourside Restaurant. Build a railway bridge near the Harbour Bridge.

Take the plunge Tauranga and do it right.

The harbour bridge is engineering to be proud of - let's extend that picture along The Strand.

Mrs Ainsley Dermody, East Sussex, UK

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