Greens co-leader James Shaw. Photo / Azaria Howell
It’s not easy being Green for Shaw
I couldn’t agree more with Fran O’Sullivan’s critique of the Green Party (Weekend Herald, Jan 20).
Many environmentalists have been concerned for some time about the path the party has taken.
It appears that initiatives towards saving our planet for all its inhabitants took third place, while selected groups of disadvantaged people became a priority.
We don’t have time to stand up for the few when even they will be affected by a changing climate.
James Shaw seems to be the last person standing for what the Greens originally stood for. He is just the diplomat we need and our planet wants.
He stands on behalf of us all with integrity, moving easily among people from all persuasions with the most important message of our times: How to save ourselves from a planet raging against us.
Emma Mackintosh, Birkenhead.
Nutsax civil limit
Taylor Crawshaw’s number plate NUTSAX offended one complainant (Weekend Herald, Jan 20).
This example of special pleading prompted the NZTA to issue a “please explain” or forfeit notice to Crawshaw.
Sense prevailed via support from Cabinet ministers David Seymour and Simeon Brown.
Here’s some advice for the NZTA: Grow a pair.
Marcel Thompson, Te Aroha.
Great result
Good on David Seymour and Simeon Brown for rising to the occasion and helping Taylor Crawshaw in his battle to keep his personalised licence plate.
Crawshaw’s victory is even sweeter as NZTA ruled that “Check ya”, originally a DIY job with stickers, is to be printed on the plate number above the complained-about “word”. A great result.
Lorraine Kidd, Warkworth.
Shaw should stay
Fran O’Sullivan wonders if it’s time James Shaw moves on from the Green Party (Weekend Herald, Jan 20). I disagree.
It’s time for the other “Green” members to move on to pursue their agendas which have no relationship with the Green ideals and manifesto.
Ian Doube, Rotorua.
Unprincipled bill
What David Seymour and his fellow travellers do not get is that the Treaty of Waitangi is a contract based on race.
Its visionary purpose was to protect and enshrine the rights of the indigenous Māori people against the corrosive and harmful impact of increasing European settlers. Unique, laudable and right.
Seymour’s Treaty Principles Bill is entirely unprincipled. It is a travesty, quite contrary to the Treaty’s intentions and why Māori signed it.
It was shameful that the current Prime Minister agreed to its inclusion in the coalition agreement. Politics is the art of compromise but this was high cynicism and dishonest.
Seymour is either devious or ignorant. If both, then that is a dangerous combination in any politician, as history has shown us, and he needs to be neutered.
Russell Armitage, Hamilton.
The last post
This month has seen the demise of the NZ Post office agency in Mairangi Bay.
This agency has done a sterling job over many years and, no matter the intricacy of the transaction, nothing was ever a trouble to the staff who always gave good old-fashioned personal service with a smile and no one was ever rushed.
I now understand that, for NZ Post to curtail costs, there will be no replacement postal agency in Mairangi Bay.
A post office for many residents near and far is often the “heart of the community” and all will feel a certain loss if there is no replacement.
Perhaps this is another sign of the times, but regardless it is a sad predicament and we are all the poorer for it.
Randal Lockie, Rothesay Bay.
Cheaper solution
Auckland Transport should be applauded for its efforts to keep people safe on pedestrian crossings.
I have watched in amazement as crossing edifices are constructed over many weeks and, we are now learning, for hundreds of thousands of dollars.
My instant reaction to these constructions is that they are in the wrong place. Surely you need vehicles to slow down before they reach the crossing.
To this end, a standard speed hump, let’s say about 60 metres before a crossing, would achieve the desired result at a fraction of the price.
Once an errant driver or hoon has hit the multi-thousand-dollar crossing, if there are pedestrians on it, it is too late.
Slow down before, not at or after, the crossing.
Brian Lough, Greenhithe.
Raising objections
In the justifications put forward by the current head of Auckland Transport, I failed to find the research, which I’m sure must have been done, in comparing the reduction in accidents by installing very expensive, well-drained and damn difficult to see at night raised crossings with the accident rate at crossings where a simple sign advising pedestrians to look in both directions before crossing was installed.
I recall back in the mist of time when traffic cops came to schools to speak to pupils about road safety.
One asked the class, “What is a pedestrian crossing?” After all the fancy answers‚ he said no, it’s just white lines on the road – look both ways before stepping onto it.
Trevor Stevens, Pukekohe.
Worker overload
I was not in the slightest bit surprised to read Mayor Wayne Brown’s comments on the ridiculous prices involved in installing or upgrading existing pedestrian crossings.
However, the largest amount shown in the breakdown of costs is for “traffic management” and this seems now to be well out of hand in any work that may be on or near roads.
We have recently seen trees overhanging the road in our area being worked on by what appear to be two or three workers but there have been traffic “safety” lorries at either end of the work with what appears to be a further two or three people operating them as well as stop/go signs either end of the work.
To have anything up to eight or 10 people concerned with traffic management when the actual work involves only two or three is totally out of proportion.
Graeme Leary, Clevedon.
State of housing
Perhaps Housing Minister Chris Bishop should ask himself why so many state-built houses are empty, particularly newly built ones.
I know of one couple who had the choice of a new state house or a reputable company’s group house next door. Inexperienced as they were, they could distinguish the inferior quality of the finishing in the state house from the more professionally built one and bought accordingly.
Another buyer of a newly built state house had to take the builder, in this case the Government, to court for a leaky roof.
So before Bishop press-gangs whomever into these newly built state houses he should attain the opinion of qualified builders and randomly spray a few LIM reports about the Government’s housing stock.
He might then be in a better position to give an intelligent and well-educated statement on why so many state houses are empty.
Gary Hollis, Mellons Bay.
Phone perspective
I understand cellphones are a massive part of life these days, especially for the younger generation.
However, we are so very fortunate in New Zealand that we don’t live in a war zone, homeless, without a regular supply of food, limbs having been blown off, in pain with little medical treatment and often having lost family members.
The above is an extreme situation, I realise, but when one considers there are young people living that life, banning cellphones at schools seems a minor trial to go through.
Janet Boyle, Ōrewa.
I read the article about Jim Wetere (Weekend Herald, Jan 20). If some 350 people are going to the emergency department each day, is there any record of why? Do many not really need ED treatment, thus holding up those who do?
Alan Milton, Cambridge.
$400,000 for a crossing, while you can buy a completed, new 3-bedroom house (excluding land) for less than that. How is that even possible?
Susan Grimsdell, Auckland Central.
I find it bizarre that Auckland Transport spends hundreds of thousands of dollars on a single raised pedestrian crossing, then pleads poverty as an excuse to raise the cost of public transport.
PK Ellwood, Beach Haven.
Auckland: It used to be the City of Sails. Now it’s the City of Speed Bumps.
Lucas Bonné, Unsworth Heights.
“I don’t mind the provocation,” claims Christopher Luxon – presumably directed at tangata whenua concerned about his coalition’s signals around the Treaty. Odd that – when the initial provocation has come from his cringe-worthy coalition partners.
Peter Beyer, Sandringham.
There is no need to redefine the principles of the Treaty of Waitangi. What is required is a written constitution that clearly defines the principles of egalitarianism and liberal democracy that is enshrined as precedence in law.
Lloyd McIntosh, West Harbour.
So Chris Hipkins says he feels guilt for not doing enough for Māori. Or is it guilt for not doing enough by stealth?
Andrew Fleming, Epsom.
Good advice from King Tūheitia to just be yourself, be Māori. While on the sideline, the jester Jones entertains himself by inventing words and magpieing irrelevant references. Helter skelter, in the summer swelter.
Stephen Symes, Eastern Beach.
I thought James Shaw was joint leader of the Green Party. So why does he stand there like a stuffed dummy with Marama Davidson always doing the talking? What is this telling us?
Colin Nicholls, Mt Eden.
I can find no recent report on the Baby Ru death investigation, just another Kiwi child who is killed and nothing is done. What a very sad comment on our country.
Jeni Peterson, Onehunga.
Hopefully, the Warriors management team will be better at running pubs than managing an NRL team. Stick to the knitting.
Graham Fleetwood, Botany Downs.
South African cricket’s excuses for sending a second or third XI here for a test match series are unconvincing. Money talks and their top players have walked. To suggest otherwise is an insult to our collective intelligence.
Larry Mitchell, Rothesay Bay.
Bruce Cotterill (Weekend Herald, Jan 20) wrote of the large number of road deaths every holiday season. Perhaps the Government would consider placing some of the innovative road signs I saw on a recent visit to Canberra across this country: “Text it. Cop it”, “Alcohol and Speed DEAD ahead”, “If you drive hammered, you will get nailed”, “Driving on drugs is driving drunk”.
Sarah Beck, Devonport.
So Prince is the most frequently declined baby name. I guess being a single masculine noun makes it too easy.
John Aplin, Paparoa.
General practice representatives are in the final stages of negotiations with Health NZ.