RSA facilities gone in club amalgamation
Interesting to see a front page "Cry for Help" (Chronicle, September 26) as I had visited the premises of the Club Metro earlier this year to renew my expired RSA
membership but was unable to locate any vestige of the RSA being in residence on the site.
I made inquiries of a staff member who after consulting the database of memberships said there was no record of my RSA membership but offered to take my EFTPOS card and create a current membership. Before agreeing to a payment, I asked where the RSA activities or rooms were and was told there were none.
This I found puzzling as the impression I had was that the RSA had combined with the Cosmopolitan Club in the formation of the Club Metro.
However, I agreed but first asked for confirmation that it would be a renewal of my RSA membership and at that point, my puzzlement became annoyance when I was told that if I wished an RSA membership it would be substantially more costly.
I sought an explanation as to why I should pay more for membership of a club which didn't appear to exist and as none was forthcoming, accordingly left the premises as a member of neither club.
Accordingly, I was not surprised to see the "Cry for Help" and I think the cause for this lies in a statement within the Chronicle's article which said that following the much vaunted amalgamation of the RSA and the Cosmopolitan Clubs, "... the debts of both the RSA and Cosmopolitan Club exceeded that which was originally thought".
Can it be that nobody at all was thinking when all the PR spin on the club's amalgamation was fed to us last year?
V W BALLANCE
Westmere
Fix the bridge
I do not know if others in our community wonder (as I do) what is happening re our new bridge, lying forlornly on the river bank in Papaiti, whilst locals and no doubt many tourists wait to see if it ever gets connected to the opposite bank.
This bridge was at one stage going to be ready at the start of the year, but problems of some sort called a halt to its completion.
I am sure there must be many who will be very disappointed if we miss out on the summer season, when one would expect this new link to bring more tourists here to enjoy all that our wonderful city has to offer.
I can only hope that whatever is causing the hold-up, it gets sorted out for the benefit of all pretty quickly.
FIONA DONNE
Aramoho
SEE ALSO: Contractors build float to move Whanganui bridge over two days
Pitiful return
Now that our two Horizons representatives have been re-elected unopposed, it's time to ask them what has been achieved and exactly what do they intend to achieve for Whanganui ratepayers this term.
We Whanganui ratepayers in our rates pay huge sums (many millions) annually to Horizons, for pitifully little in return. They maintain an office in the city, but when any of us want an answer on almost any matter it goes to Manawatu.
From personal experience answers can be very hard to get. Why keep an office here I ask, we are short of space for businesses that produce real value and it must have a cost?
Then there is the bus services, or rather lack of any service. In a time when our Horizons representatives claim to be a lot more green thinking, we have a scattering of large virtually empty diesel dinosaur buses touring the city with almost no customers.
There must be a better way.
Do we need a bus service when the existing services are so poor that most of us never think of using them?
For instance, I know of no bus service to Heads Rd, where thousands of jobs are and people need to get to and from work daily.
Assuming we do need some sort of public transport and also assuming that we want to reduce pollution, why not give every ratepayer 50 prepaid taxi coupons to use?
Those of us that never use a bus could donate them to the City Mission to allocate to those that do need a bus.
Just some thinking to promote something from our Horizons representatives.
DAVID BENNETT (outgoing Whanganui district councillor)
Whanganui
GUIDELINES ¦The Chronicle welcomes letters from readers. Please note the following: ¦Letters should be kept to 350 words and must not be abusive. ¦Include your name, address and daytime phone number - for verification purposes, not for publication. Noms de plume are not accepted. ¦The editor reserves the right to edit, amend or reject any letter. ¦The views expressed are not those of the Chronicle or its staff. ¦Letters may be published in other NZME publications. Send your letters by email to; letters@whanganui chronicle.co.nz Or mail them to: Editor, Whanganui Chronicle, 100 Guyton St, Whanganui 4500.
