Letters: Skatepark plan to do it once, do it right

Plans for proposed Rotorua skate park redevelopment.

I open my Rotorua Daily Post (May 11) to read a totally focused positive proactive letter to the editor from Ryan Gray re his views on the total upgrade of the inner city skatepark, which I'm passionate about promoting on a Ngati Whakaue gifted council reserve for all the reasons Mr Gray states.

As sport and recreation lead our advisory board stated it wanted outstanding places to play and the young people from Rotorua are delighted their submission is seeing the light of day and the final design and proposal is being worked on now for inclusion in the 2018-21 long term plan.

My intention is to have the park name sponsored, philanthropic founders are already vying to be included which is so supportive. I even had expert advice that concrete is out, timber is in and staff have had views made to them including other aspects we have seen work in Napier, Hastings and Christchurch.

Many have also phoned or emailed saying do it once do it right hence the time we have taken to include all parts of the skateboard, scooter, BMX and cycling community in the concept.

Look at the Puketawhero playground development again worked up through the Mokoia Community Association and the young people out eastside. This is a council who reflects the needs of all ratepayers with a family focus.

CHARLES STURT
Rotorua district councillor

Overpass best option

The traffic congestion around the Tarawera roundabout is abysmal and must be so frustrating to the ratepayers and visitors.

The traffic can back up almost to Lynmore School and it doesn't ever need to happen. It has to be fixed and not the usual "sticking plaster " repair.

Everyone knows it's the stopping of flowing traffic is what causes this problem ... roundabouts and traffic lights will only make this problem worse as the population grows.

The eastern arterial route is now no longer an option ... so we will have funding allocation that was meant for this left over in the kitty ?

The only way the council can fix the Tarawera and Ngongotaha roundabout congestion is to build an overpass. Look at what the Hewletts Rd overpass has done to improve traffic flow in Tauranga.

For Tarawera roundabout, it would enable outgoing traffic coming from town to pass up and to the right, going over top of incoming traffic and thus proceed up Tarawera Rd to Lake Okareka, Lynmore and Tarawera unimpeded.

The same principle can be applied to Ngongotaha roundabout. Just bite the bullet Rotorua council, do it once and do it right - eastern ratepayers and Ngongotaha ratepayers will actually really love you for this. It's got to be worth some votes!

MIKE PINFOLD
Rotorua

Language of business

I agree with Julie Calnan (Letters, May 9) on the importance of correct spelling, usage and pronunciation of English. Like it or not, despite its evolution, spelling, rules (and exceptions!) and pronunciation complexities English remains the language of business and communication throughout much of the world.

Lack of the necessary skills in its usage places a user at a serious disadvantage. I was fortunate: I learned young to spell korrectly and talk proper, eh?

RONALD MAYES
Rotorua

A gift worth giving

Julie Calnan is spot on (Letters, May 9). Regardless of ethnicity, the best gift we can give all our children is a good command of the English language.

Should they wish to travel or seek employment overseas, fluency in Maori is not going to cut it. Nor is the preponderance of the use of the F word as an adjective which peppers most conversations we overhear from the mouths of the young these days.

Lizzie Marvelly mentions the pronunciation of WH as F. I can remember years ago before the advent of television, a man named Kingi Ihaka used to have a radio programme about the Maori language.

On one occasion someone wrote to him and asked how the WH was pronounced and his reply was that it was a "blown" WH. Not F as a lot of young Maori were using it. He considered their pronunciation was just plain lazy and incorrect.

So that was his view and although not an expert on the subject I am inclined to agree with him. My reason is that in other Polynesian versions of the language there is a letter F and pronounced so.

Why then did the Maori who helped the English language professor at either Oxford or Cambridge Universities draw up a written language; speak in such a way that he decided to spell these words with a WH, but differed when he drew up the written languages for other Polynesian peoples?

A.J. MacKENZIE
Rotorua

Shameful attitude

The level of disdain shown towards language by Julie Calnan and A.N Christie in letters to the Rotorua Daily Post this week is in my opinion nothing short of shameful.

Julie Calnan effectively downgraded an official language of New Zealand by saying that "our anglicised versions of Maori names", or saying Maori names incorrectly, "is nowhere near as offensive as the "outright butchery" of the English language".

Listening to some political leaders or professional broadcasters on TV will show just how weak this argument is given the all but perfect English pronunciation and shocking Maori pronunciation nine times of out 10.

A.N Christie then backed her view by adding that it is "utterly ridiculous" to pronounce Taupo as it is meant to be pronounced.

Language can be an empowering tool, the ability to share ideas and express opinions is vital in any society. Language is very closely aligned with culture, and with culture comes a sense of pride.

When people such as Calnan, Christie and others denigrate a language as inferior to another, they are indirectly saying that one culture and its ideas are lesser than the other.

It's little wonder Maori are over-represented in negative statistics when many appear to treat and rank them as less deserving.

In my view, we should give equal respect to the Maori and English languages, as a country with many Maori and English place names, like Rotorua for example, it is the bare minimum to simply pronounce them properly, then perhaps we could address the other negative conscious bias expressed by some to allow us all to move forward together.

RYAN GRAY
Rotorua