Letters to the editor: New Rotorua MTB carpark a sorry sight

The Forest Hub 2 carpark. Photo / Supplied

I and hundreds of others like to spend Sunday mornings mountain biking and today was no exception.

The Waipa carpark was buzzing, bikes were being unloaded or loaded and children were zipping round on their balance bikes.

Eager anticipation and smiles all round.

By 11am, I had pedalled my way to the recently opened Forest Hub 2 out on the road to the Blue Lake.

What a sorry sight. Eight cars in the 400-car carpark, weeds growing between the concrete slabs and deep gouging up to 200mm deep in sections of the path caused by
heavy rain.

No vitality, no families and nothing to savour, just a scene reminiscent of a disused industrial site.

Yes, there are awesome tracks nearby but they are easily accessible from other places and not young-family-friendly, as many are close to Waipa.

And yet ratepayers are being forced to throw good money after bad.

Paddi Hodgkiss
Rotorua

Changes needed for rentals

Stephanie Worsop got it spot-on in her editorial (Opinion, November 11) on rentals.

As I have said many times, landlords in New Zealand have been getting away with murder in their attitude towards tenants.

The very fact that they are allowed to treat houses as commodities is in itself an indictment of the whole system.

This is the single cause of the shortage of houses and nothing will alter that fact until a new law comes into effect that states if you own a house, then live in it - or sell it.

This will put an end to the awful practice of Airbnbs and the glut of empty homes owned by overseas investors.

It cannot come soon enough.

Jim Adams
Rotorua

Men were brave explorers

I was sad to read that Rotorua Boys' High school is dropping the names of the four houses because the famous men after whom they were named were linked to slavery.

Two generations of my family went to Boys' High, and it was customary for family members to be placed in the same houses.

It should not be forgotten that Raleigh, Frobisher, Raleigh and Drake were brave explorers and had many skills and attributes.

Of course, the school is entitled to change matters, but it should be remembered that we should not be too critical, and place today's values on earlier times. Just a thought.

A N Christie
Rotorua

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