Letters To Editor: Council has head in the sand

Council has head in the sand
After years of will-we won't-we discussion and proposals I find it very difficult to comprehend that for the overall benefit of the entire Hawke's Bay region the Napier council have pig-headily put their collective heads in the sand.
It has to be detrimental to the region to have six councils, if you include Taurarua, managing our resources etc. That's six CEOs, six of everything.
I guess once they pull their heads out of the sand and even look at it some small minority in Napier will gather a group of six and take the issue to the courts.
I can see parallels in the future with a repeat of the Napier hospital saga. I guess then if Napier want to become derelict, abandoned and left behind to rot away then leave them on their own and let all the other councils combine and benefit from all the resources etc.
Of course once the heads are out of the sand it will be far too late for Napier to recover.
Phil Price, Hastings
No amalgamation
That was a strong message going out to the people in the Bay and foremost to Lawrence Yule.
And it was the right message at the right time. Standing ovations for our Napier councillors for rejecting any proposal for amalgamation.
Do we really need more information? Do we need to spend money on an 'independent' report? No, because the elected councillors of Napier have spoken - unanimously.
They have my vote and the vote of thousands of other Napierites. And by the way, while Chris Tremain supports amalgamation Stuart Nash doesn't.
We have the choice in November.
Gernot Goex, Napier
Single community
This report of the Napier council's attitude clearly demonstrates the lack of leadership on regional issues emanating from Napier. This is a tragedy not just for Napier but for all of Hawke's Bay.
We are too small and isolated to be divided on the key issues that affect us all. In 1998 the local government commission ruled that Napier and Hastings District constitutes a "Single Community of Interest and should be amalgamated".
The failure to achieve this amounts to petty selfishness and self serving behaviour by a smug and privileged elite who have failed to recognise that the true source of their good fortune lies in the hinterland on which our entire economy and community depends.
Meanwhile gross levels of wasteful duplication of services and investment in staff and facilities continues unabated.
We can and must do better than this.
Mark Annand, Havelock North
Cyclists and drivers
I do not normally support Bruce Bisset's (HBT, June 4) opinion, but I am right behind his sentiments in this column.
Cyclists do have the right to be on the road and it is the responsibility of the drivers to give then the room.
That is to say that cyclists also have the responsibility to behave in a responsible manner.
Noel Thomson, Hastings