Letters to Editor: Time to fix gorge road for good

Time to fix gorge road for good

It is with dismay that once again I read of falling debris keeping the Manawatu Gorge closed. It has been happening for as long as I can remember.

It is not only rugby fans who need to travel to either Palmerston North, Wellington or the West Coast - it seems ridiculous to be constantly spending money on patching up this faulty piece of highway.

Surely it would make better economic sense to put the huge resources being thrown at the Gorge into upgrading the Saddle Road. This road and the Pahiatua Track are the ones used as alternative routes anyway when yet another slip comes down.

It seems very likely that the severe weather conditions we are beginning to experience will contribute to more closures in the future.

The Saddle Road is adequate as it is but would be a great deal better if even half the money that ends up in the Manawatu River was used sensibly to bring it up to speed (so to speak).

Brenda Haldane, Waipukurau

Park concerns

I have great concerns regarding the "Flaxmere Park Plan".

The recent proposed "Flaxmere Park Plan" will be more of an eyesore and excessively over-exploited. Submissions set for September 16 do not give Flaxmere and Hastings residents a fair voice on any decisions.

I do not want a skateboard rink, basketball court, bicycle pump track or a road into the park. Besides noisy implications, graffiti, unwanted abuse or vandalism, residents will have concerns about unwanted loitering and more litter.

There surely must be better alternative sites in Flaxmere, or at best none, rather than in such a beautiful park that is a focal point.

Unwanted vehicles are also in the park. It should only be for authorised vehicles as other "parks"in Hastings, so therefore a road into Flaxmere Park would be unnecessary and expensive and be used by unwanted skateboarders.

Ratepayers money would be better spent on existing features and more native trees - preserving existing landscapes and continuing to beautify our lovely Flaxmere Park for residents and to attract visitors from New Zealand and overseas. (abridged)

Brent Evans, Hastings

Potato threat

With the arrival of the pest "psyllid", growing crops of potatoes, tomatoes, capsicum and tamarillos has become so much more difficult for the past three years. Therefore it is with dismay that I read in your newspaper of Deputy Mayor Cynthia Bower's suggestion that the new street plantings of Hastings should be cabbage trees.

The Cabbage Tree is host to the adult psyllid moth, allowing it to layover during the winter months, waiting for the warmth of spring to enable it to start laying the new nymphs creating a new cycle for invasion.

Is that not comparable to leaving a cat to guard a canary while you go shopping?

We are currently having to buy potatoes, however we have yet to find any outlets free of this problem of psyllid.

As yet there is no known solution in sight.

Potato lovers be prepared!

B. Caccioppoli, Hastings.