Letters: Your say

Thomas Genon throws a tailwhip going to the hut at Crankworx Rotorua.

Turn bags into oil
If one thing gets up the noses of a lot of people it's the fact that since the advent of the new rubbish collection in bins, plastic bread bags and carry bags from supermarkets or other shops are now no longer recyclable and thrown out with the rubbish.

This, to my mind, is unacceptable when they can be recycled by turning them back into to the original product they are made from. There is proven technology available to convert them back into oil and small plants are available to do this.

My suggestion to the council would be to obtain one of these small plants to see if it is a viable and a cost effective alternative to disposing of them in a land fill. Plus the end product which is oil, can be sold.

I am sure that for less cost than a fancy statue that earns them nothing, one of these plants could turn out to be a winner.

Why not give it a go and see if it is worthwhile to save a valuable resource and stop filling the land with such stuff when it can be recycled?

Certainly a lot of residents would thank them for it as it goes against the grain having to throw them in the red bins.

(Abridged)

A.J. MacKenzie

Rotorua

Crankworx a winner

In reply to Harry Brasser (Letters, December 28), Crankworx generated an economic impact of $8m when it ran this year, with the average spectator spending $1082 while in town.

Myself, and no doubt a large-section of Rotorua residents are more than happy for the council to underwrite the costs of the event (at $75,000 per annum), when the economic impact generated is over one hundred times that.

Steve won the election and has a mandate to do (along with council) whatever commercial activity she deems fit to improve the region.

By all the metrics (quarterly tourism figures, economic growth, resource consents granted) the council has consistently performed above local expectations.

I'm more than happy for her and the rest of the council to continue doing that.

William Guy

Rotorua

Opposition is positive

I read with wry insight Jackie Evans' rebuttal attempt (Letters, December 28) about Paddy Hodgkins' contention that politicians' terms in power should be curtailed; most famously the US President's two-term; and wonder why public perception of long-term politicians being on the "gravy train" of rich salaries and perks has set in?

There is a reason why opposition to those in power over us, both local and nationally, is positive for the health of our communities body politic; all politicians in power or opposition are painted with the same "public" brush, and to my mind to do otherwise is to court potential corruption (as history demonstrates).

It is positive for our democracy that we have in our community's midst genuine ratepayer groupings as "opposition" to those incumbents in power over us; that those in opposition should come to power means that they too shall have to bear the opprobrium of being on the "gravy train" out of the ratepayer's purse; all the more reason for us to continue to scrutinise all of those on the train. and not desist in this quest of ensuring that the "gravy" is not wasted and efficiently used to stomach dry realities.

Jackie's point is only valid when those seeking power actually board the "train"; those waiting at the station to get on do not get any gravy.

Joseph Gielen

Rotorua