Letters: Put people's needs before business acumen

A reader says empathy is a more important quality in a council than business acumen. Photo / File

Lesley Haddon writes (Letters, September 4) that our council needs "a large portion of business acumen and a dash of empathy" to balance the needs of our citizens.

In my opinion, most will disagree.

It is the duty of the council to first and foremost respond to the needs of its citizens, and that requires empathy, not business acumen.

For example, the council should not need a business case to respond to our demands of, say, a new footpath, more pensioner housing, a new playing field somewhere and the maintenance of our gardens, and clean water.

Any council candidate who thinks that a "dash" of empathy will do, should be sent to political oblivion via the polls.

John Pakes
Ngongotaha

Impossible to follow

While we all make an effort in our pronunciation of te reo, I was horrified while in a visitor's car and they turned on the GPS to find a street.

The instructions to find any street with a Māori name were impossible to understand.

Surely the people who sell these implements in New Zealand through all the major stores could respect one of our languages and pronounce correctly.

(Abridged)

Alf Hoyle
Lynmore

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