Letters: Homeless situation in Rotorua must be fixed urgently

A homeless camp in Kuirau Park earlier this year. Photo / File

Congratulations to Councillor Merepeka Raukawa-Tait for speaking out over the Rotorua Lakes Council using its powers to remove homeless people from Kuirau Park as a response to a complaint from the public.

Had these people been consuming drugs or alcohol, this would have been acceptable.

However, Ms Raukawa-Tait states that they were "doing nothing wrong".

One of the worst aspects of this incident is that these people could have their belongings confiscated if left there.

This is totally unacceptable, and I am heartened to note that Ms Raukawa-Tait is investigating the incident.

Winter, the flu season, and coronavirus are all on the horizon.

This situation must be fixed urgently. People are more important than vanity projects.

(Abridged)

Jackie Evans
Rotorua

Time to improvise

I am bemused by the great toilet paper panic.

Growing up in the 1940s, England toilet paper consisted of a torn up newspaper hanging on a rusty nail in an outside privy.

An advantage over today's products was being able to read it before using it.

The only product on the market then was sold in sheets and had the texture of grease-proof baking paper and was neither absorbent nor gentle.

It is still in use in the military and until recently, hospitals also.

They really should get back to teaching history in schools so the young may learn to improvise.

Dave Phillips
Rotorua