Also, the present library is right next door to the Alexander Library, which houses our archives, and where would the library bus be kept?
Seems to me that the proposed shift wasn't properly thought through and I, for one, hope it doesn't happen.
On an entirely different note, congratulations to the punctuation fixers of public signs. I've been doing it "in my head" for years but never had the courage to actually do it.
VALERIE BING
Aramoho
Graffiti ugliness
Today (May 8) was a very sad day driving down Somme Parade observing the huge amount of graffiti sprayed all over shops, people's fences, the bus shelters, Aramoho School walls and even some on Caroline's Restaurant!
How awful for our residents going out to find their properties defaced in this way by mindless vandals! Somme Parade is also a main route for tourists travelling to the Top 10 Holiday Park and to our beautiful cemetery for those having funerals and visiting the graves of their loved ones -- not a pleasant sight for any of them either.
With the amount of damage and the cost to remove it, I feel anyone buying these spray cans should have to give their name, address and other identification before they are allowed to buy them.
The city's image suffers every time this happens, and I am sure most ratepayers do not want to see their money being spent repairing all this damage done by a minority of uncaring individuals. I would hope, if and when they get caught, they are the ones who have to do the clean-up.
FIONA DONNE
Aramoho
Fairies sitting pretty
Talk about making it up as you go along!
The MidWest Ferry promoters/advocates fronted Tasman District Council with their begging bowl on May 11.
When challenged about their environmentally destructive plan to cut a channel through the internationally recognised bird haven, Motueka Spit, feasibility study author Warwick Walbran was reported in the Marlborough Express (http://bit.ly/2r6TCZT) thus: '� the team recognised it was "weak on environmental assessment, it's one of the first two cabs off the rank for the next stage".'
Yet the summary of the feasibility study that he is credited with authoring, and which MidWest gave to Whanganui District Council less than a week earlier, says:
1.9 Summary This report completes the second stage of the five stage process to implementation. The remaining stages are Detailed Business Case, Information Memorandum and Implementation.
In other words, the 130-page report contains not a single mention of any plan for any environmental assessment to come. At any rate, we could expect any resource consent application to spend years tied up in the courts as any individual or organisation with a skerrick of respect and concern for our environment fought it tooth and nail ... or till the MidWest donors' and funders' money ran out.
Incidentally, the Tasman councillors also learned that Whanganui District Council's commercial arm, Holdings Ltd, "had given indicative support for $70,000 and a 'subsequent support package' into the next financial year of $100,000."
That sort of wager is certainly news to me and, I suspect, to all ratepayers of this city.
It seems those fairies are still sitting pretty at the bottom of both Whanganui and Tasman districts' gardens.
CAROL WEBB
Whanganui
Slip repairs
I was distressed to read in the Wanganui Chronicle about the delayed repairs to the major slip next to the City Bridge that are frustrating our mayor, Hamish McDouall. His concerns for the public danger posed to pedestrians are well founded, as is his contention that the slip could potentially block SH4.
It is reassuring that he has been "hammering away at this for a year" and expressed his frustration to the NZ Transport Agency over their delays in dealing with this public menace because, as he said, the longer it is left, the more it will cost the taxpayer.
However, the NZTA is on the job, has allocated resources for the work, and has promised to start repairs by October.
The same, unfortunately, cannot be said for the equally large slip scarp on the Whanganui District Council's road reserve opposite 49 Ikitara Rd, Whanganui East, which has slipped repeatedly since August 2010.
Locals, in particular, will remember the catastrophic landslide in June 2015 that blocked Ikitara Rd for some days.
Like Hamish McDouall with the NZTA, as a concerned ratepayer, I have been hammering away at this issue with the WDC, but for seven years, not just one.
Unlike the NZTA, the WDC has not presented any timeline for remediating and stabilising its bank, which could very well collapse on top of passing motorists, cyclists, or pedestrians.
Sadly, the WDC is not on the job, has not allocated resources to stabilise its bank, and has no commitment to doing so.
For several weeks now, debris from this slippery slope has been slumping into Ikitara Rd once again.
It would be a great relief if Hamish McDouall could follow the NZTA's example, and make a commitment to fix this public menace by October.
W MCCALLUM
Whanganui East
