Still waiting for answers
I was delighted to receive a letter from our regional council the other day.
Ah ha, I thought, at last a reply to my submissions to that council and our local councillors about bus services, particularly changes (not for the better) to our No 8 Westbrook service, which lost two popular stops with an unnecessary rerouting of the loop at the suburban end, and timetabling which means the buses can rarely keep to schedule.
But no, it was just a circular letter to the 317 who submitted opinions on (1) climate change, (2) regional safety and rescue services, (3) transport - commuter and tertiary trial, and (4) fare-free transport for Tauranga school students.
All of these we had read in the paper some time ago.
I am still waiting to see the answers to my questions...
Ronald Mayes
Rotorua
Boundaries needed
It would seem that there is a lot of head-scratching going on in the hallways of power in Wellington these days.
Ihumātao is potentially a thorn in the flesh that could shake Treaty settlements, past and future for some time to come.
Then Oranga Tamariki is being vilified for its handling of the severely at-risk children whom they are charged with protecting and David Seymour is tenaciously pursuing his "right to die" bill in the face of the stern opposition that it deserves, and that's just three of the weighty tasks our elected servants are faced with.
What really saddens me is that the answer to so many of these pivotal dilemmas seems to be to throw money at then.
We could buy out Fletchers or do a land swap deal, we will, no doubt restructure Oranga Tamariki in some form all over again rather than address the root causes of so much of our social disorder, poor parenting, absent fathers etc and probably continue to debate euthanasia when the two sides of this debate are implacably opposed.
We need to be brave and take hold of the historical basis of our laws that can be traced back through the Magna Carta to the 10 Commandments, given by a just God with the view that to live in a healthy society we need boundaries that promote justice and mercy.
John Williams
Ngongotahā
Housing headache
The Rotorua Daily Post article regarding elderly and homeless (
News, July 26
) shows how the council needs to be more agile in responding to the needs of our community.
During the 2018-2028 Council long-term plan consultations, its preferred option was to sell our 152 pensioner housing units to a community housing provider.
However, after submissions from the public, including mine, council decided to hold on to the pensioner housing units to work on "alternative models which may include the partial sale of the assets to a community housing provider or other partnership options."
In my submission, I encouraged the council to consider transferring ownership into a council-owned housing trust and partnering with a community housing provider.
This would allow the council to retain ownership of the units, increase quality, free up funds for building more units along with being able to access the Government's Income-Related Rent Subsidies which NGOs have access to, not the council's.
Unfortunately since the Long Term Plan was adopted more than a year ago, it seems little has been done to either increase housing stock or ensure that all available funding options are being looked at to reduce burden on ratepayers while increasing quality.
(Abridged)
Ryan Gray
Rotorua
Is it English?
For several years I had believed that only our American cousins could not properly use the English language, now, however, I find that even my fellow Kiwis are slipping into the rut.
Since when did "gonna", "wanna", "gotta", constitute English?
And I will not accept the excuse that it is the accepted American way of spelling - rubbish.
We should not accept the American way, we are - (well some of us) educated in proper schools where bad spelling would mean 200 lines as well as your homework.
It is sloppy, unnecessary and horrid to see the wonderful, flexible and ancient language such as English deteriorate into "Yanky garbage".
Jim Adams
Rotorua
Have they been there?
Regarding Ihumātao, how many of the "protectioners" have been anywhere near the Otuataua Stonefields Historic Reserve before now?
How many will be back after the hoo-haa is gone to pull a weed and lend a hand with maintenance?
Marie Booth
Rotorua
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