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:
6th time lucky for upgrade of CBD?
Re: Waterfront Upgrade.
Oh no, not again! The city council are looking to re-do the Strand yet again.
I raise this issue because
in the 60 years I have lived here we have seen at least six such upgrades and none of them have worked. The TCC reason for the upgrades has been to revitalise the downtown and bring more people into the CBD.
Councillors, you are flogging a dead horse. The CBD has shifted and you need to refocus to the new area.
In my opinion Tauranga CBD is emerging around Eleventh Avenue. Just look at the new substantial buildings that are appearing there. A new bank is the latest.
These new buildings have better parking and better shopping than the tired old ex-CBD. You will also notice the lack of investment in the old CBD which is a sign that its days are numbered.
Also you see now that people are going elsewhere so they are not hounded by council meter police.
So councillors, wake up to the new reality and do not spend any more money on the Windy Railway Waterside Cafe Strip.
Ken Evans, Tauranga
Unenviable task
The council has an unenviable task ahead. It must face the fact of economic recession and downsize its staff in areas of service delivery where demand has dropped significantly.
It can not consider itself immune from commercial reality simply because it has a captive "customer" income base.
It cannot slash staffing without considering actual service demand and what workloads staff can reasonably bear.
Perhaps requiring all staff to complete daily time sheets in, say, 15 minute blocks may be a good start in the monitoring and analysis of required staffing levels.
D Jacobson, Tauranga
Policy applauded
I would like to congratulate the council on enforcing its policy of restricting advertising in public parks.
I for one don't want to see our parks festooned with advertising. I read someone comment that a rugby pitch doesn't look like a rugby pitch without the advertising. What a load of rubbish. Two goal posts, two teams and a crowd of supporters is what makes a rugby pitch look like a rugby pitch. Well done council.
Adam Hughes, Matua
Audit needed
Re BOP Times May 13 "Council urged to look at staff cuts".
I applaud Larry Baldock for stepping outside the Tauranga City Council (TCC) square on staff cuts.
Ratepayers' past suggestions/recommendations of reducing TCC staff to sensible levels have been considered sacrilege. The suggestion has met with fallacious arguments from councillors, eg "We only employ the CEO !". This is exactly the point. The CEO must be instructed by council to introduce regular staff audits (normally a three-year cycle). If they refuse, the appropriate measures must be taken by council.
I disagree with an arbitrary reduction of 5 to 10 per cent. A full staff audit must be carried out, with the results collated before a decision on reducing/increasing (and it could happen) staff numbers. An initial audit would cost approximately $10,000. If a full audit is warranted, total cost should be approximately $250,000: Money well spent if the overall result is the saving of tens of millions of salary dollars.
Larry's figure of 5 to 10 per cent is conservative. This is more likely to be 10 to 20 per cent.
The initial audit in any organisation is most traumatic for staff. It normally brings dramatic changes. Subsequent audits bring only minor adjustments.
Go Larry.
Roger Bailey, Papamoa
Text Views
* Trees in valley rd waste of money n time! Put them where they b used council, beach fronts, parks, schls, sport fields. Simple!
* 11th ave needs 2 b properly signposted & marked a lot clearer that it has changed. Some vehicles don't no what lane they r now suppose 2 b in . It is an accident waiting 2 happen ! If they already haven't ...
* Win some, lose some. Ratepayers gain from otumoetai swimming club owning pool, but local residents lose use of pool. Mount people seem to get everything new and lose nothing.
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