This is another opportunity to view top-class sport at our top-class energy event centre.
Another boost for netball players, supporters and the volunteers who are an integral part of netball's success at all levels in Rotorua and the Bay of Plenty. (Abridged)
Cr Charles Sturt
Rotorua
School attendance
I wasn't surprised to learn that school attendance is low, but it was still a shock to read nearly half of Rotorua's students are not attending school regularly. Why am I not surprised?
Well, would I have played truant if I knew there would be no consequences (that is, I wouldn't be punished)?
You bet your life I would have. I hated school. My school days stretched from February 1950 to November 1960 (i.e. 11 long years).
One of the worst school days was the one when I was required to attend the dental clinic.
To do so, I had to walk to another school, with nobody accompanying me to make sure I got there. Now in those days teeth were drilled (and even extracted) without the aid of any painkiller.
What would a child of today do? Play truant of course!
I didn't do so (my mother worked so I could easily have gone home) simply because the consequences would be very unpleasant and I would still have to face that terrifying dental drill.
Today's parents are scared to smack their children for fear of being reported to the authorities, and school teachers aren't even allowed to resort to shouting or verbal abuse, of which I received more than my share at school. It wasn't nice (especially for a somewhat timid girl like myself) to be called a "bold, brazen hussy" just because I dared to speak up when I felt I wasn't fairly treated.
Laraine A Barker
Rotorua
Illegal rubbish dumping
Regarding Stavros Michael's letter about illegal dumping of rubbish (Letters, February 27), sometimes I see old mattresses and sofas dumped on council berms. Not items which could be squeezed into a wheelie bin as Mr Michael suggests.
Also, Mr Michael says the burden of inorganic collections would fall on ratepayers only. Don't renters pay rates via their rent? Using that calculation, every dwelling in Rotorua would be paying a share.
Perhaps the collection of inorganic waste doesn't have the same priority as spending on tourist attractions. I'm not against lakefront development and giant statues per se; I'm just asking as a ratepayer that the council get its priorities right.
Lesley Haddon
Rotorua
Not okay
Of all the twaddle about a proposed capital gains tax, the most absurd is the notion that things are okay as they are.
Things are not okay. Only a greedy little absentee landlord would think that things are okay.
At the moment the taxpayer is subsidising these landlords, forking out massive payments for the cashless tenants who rock up at Work and Income every couple of days asking for handouts to tide them over, to buy a freezer, a sofa, a fridge, a car, a TV or medicine for their sick child (who's allergic to mildew).
New Zealand doesn't need landlords.
GJ Philip
Taupō
No need to mow
The reserve on Devon St: parched and yellow grass yes, but up rolls the tractor mower on Tuesday.
Round and round it goes cutting nothing, yet in the winter with foot-high green grass it's nowhere to be seen.
Once again ratepayers' money being wasted.
Ross Allen
Hillcrest
Affordable rents
Tenants in rented property have had a rough deal for too long. It is high time that the greedy landlords were put in their place.
However, it is only half the battle; the law needs to change, to make multiple ownership of houses a thing of the past. We need a new law - If you own a house live in it or sell it! This will bring house prices tumbling down, and renters will be able to purchase a house. We still need state housing; this is a must - controlled, affordable rents.
Jim Adams
Rotorua
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