A109 Light Utility Helicopter flight with mayor Gisborne City from the air in November 2023.
Opinion
Re: $8 million build at Waikanae Park a future-proofer, August 24 story.
The day before heavy rains created havoc on our East Coast and sent all that slash to our beaches, destroying farms in its way, I was having my hair trimmed at a salon on Awapuni Road. The building
rattled and the chair shook as timber trucks roared by. I thought about what it must be like to live on this road, with the house shaking every few minutes. What about toxic road particulate and diesel fumes floating over Awapuni School? And schools and homes affected on other timber truck routes?
A month earlier, I read in The Gisborne Herald that guests at our holiday park were complaining about timber truck noise.
Last week I noticed new construction there right next to Awapuni Road, part of the $8 million “future-proofing” upgrade. And the Herald reported Sam Neill lamenting that Captain Cook’s landing spot was now a timber yard.
Does the left hand that spends know what the right hand that generates dollars does? Might we begin to consider what is the best use of our potentially rich, environmentally-sensitive East Coast lands?
