Today's Letters to the Editor from readers cover topics including praise for the ORC and support for criticism of new pavers in George St.
A happy ratepayer pens a thank-you to the ORC
Re Councillor Michael Laws’ outrage at some Otago Regional Council rates errors (ODT 4.11.24): come on, get real.
I have run my own businesses in Dunedin for 40 years, and of course you sometimes make mistakes. They’re not intentional or desirable, but they do occasionally happen. You find out about them, sort them out, apologise and move on.
On a much more positive note, may I give a huge thank-you to the ORC engineers, workers and decision-makers who implemented the indirect Leith flood protection scheme - paid for by one of the rates Cr Laws has his knickers in a twist about.
I live down by the Woodhaugh Gardens, and if the Leith Stream ever bursts its banks at the riskiest spot, it will head down the old channel, through our living room and on towards the old Logan Lake as was.
On floods 30 years ago, it would rise to only a metre below the spillover point just downstream from the Malvern St road bridge. Scary stuff. The flood protection work upstream went in a decade or so ago, to head off the obvious risk.
In our recent flood, apparently the biggest in 100 years, the level stayed at least three metres below the crux, in spite of much more water in the stream.
So, intelligent forward-thinking mitigation of extreme climate events actually works - who knew? Thank you very much indeed, guys. And I’m completely happy to pay my increased rates to fund it.
Steve August
Dunedin
Bewilderment
I am bewildered as to how someone, who I understand has neither a degree in economics or political science, becomes Minister of Finance yet she can criticise the experienced former Labour minister of finance’s decisions?
I am also very interested to know how she would handle the financial complexities of the next pandemic, given that Grant Robertson and Labour did such a brilliant job under duress, receiving international accolades for their day by day handling of the crisis.
Kay Hannan
Oamaru
A great beginning
Emeritus professor Peter Matheson in his latest article, (Opinion ODT 28.10.24) urges us to put on the ‘‘hard hat of reason’’ to solve all the problems he recounts.
War, ideologies, terrorism, disease, sophisticated weaponry, innocent victims, degradation of the environment to name a few.
He asks ‘‘how did we get to this parlous state, then quotes some strange verses from a Polish poet and summarises that ‘‘when we cross a certain line we cease to be human’’.
Quite odd thinking from a person who has spent many years studying the Bible in his time as a theology professor.
The Bible has a great opening verse and it gets better as you read more: ‘‘In the beginning God created the Heavens and the Earth.’’
He is the author. Not us.
M. W. Cowan
Concord
Unwarranted step
The recent intervention by the government into the proposed freshwater plan by the Otago Regional Council is unwarranted and an overstep. The ORC has worked through a democratic process over the past few years with all stakeholders to establish a freshwater plan. This had been at significant cost to local ratepayers.
Now this democratic process has been stalled so Wellington can amend laws to pander to the interests of a lobby group. It is a sad day for local democracy and the government needs to remove itself from this process.
G. Nicol
Mosgiel
Greyness abounds on the former golden mile
Your report regarding Cr Vandervis taking his leave from the chamber (ODT 15.10.24) in response to the usual barrage of snide remarks was interesting, to say the least.
It appears the composition, colour, and general quality of the paving used in George St was at issue. What I found astounding, was that by some aberration of rational thought, the colour, texture, and other characteristics of the paving were claimed to assist those of poor eyesight.
Despite advancing years, my eyesight is remarkably good, but only thanks to two cataract operations, fortunately spaced some years apart. But I have experienced - I could not say enjoyed - the drabness of a grey world, low on detail.
Like faded ink-based prints under ultra-violet light, most age-induced eye afflictions march resolutely towards a drab grey as colours lose their impact and detail appears hazy, as in moderate to thick fog.
My spouse suffers from such a one-way progression and her user perspective is most emphatically against even venturing into George St, as she describes it as ‘‘difficult to see where she is going’’, and where she can see (insofar as she is able), fraught with obstructions strategically placed, it seems, to be tripped over.
Moreover, paving stones of poor quality seem to be those most prone to chipped edges, and subsidence into their substrate in places, a criticism often levelled at the pavers they had replaced, together with their sometimes lethal slipperiness after rain.
What disgusts me however, is the constant barrage of nastiness routinely directed towards the sole councillor whose dissenting voice usually advocates for common sense, while it seems, the rest of the council is just along for the ride.
Ian Smith
Waverley
Address Letters to the Editor to: Otago Daily Times, PO Box 517, 52-56 Lower Stuart St, Dunedin. Email: editor@odt.co.nz
