War of words about George St unceasing
There is a well-known Māori whakatauki: "He aha te mea nui o te ao? He tāngata! He tāngata! He tāngata!" (What is the most important thing in the world? It is people! It is people! It is people!)
Ani Ngawhika summarised this well when explaining about how the Kāi Tahu and settler narratives are interwoven into George St’s long overdue redesign (ODT 10.5.24). Similarly following the 2010 and 2011 earthquakes the story of tangata whenua and other peoples is now an integral part of Christchurch’s architecture and place names.
Instead of denouncing the much needed upgrading of George St, we can celebrate that this part of Dunedin’s CBD is now a pleasure to explore and to shop in. Cities should be designed to accommodate people, not cars.
Playground scoffed at
I have had a look for myself at the children’s play area, literally built in the middle of George St. I had to go back for a second look because I could not believe my eyes.
There are two giant see-saws and another piece of apparatus which resembles a mechanical unstable platform. All of these items appear too large for children, built more for grown-ups.
Also the adjacent raised areas with wooden surfaces: difficult to determine their purpose. Maybe an area for tap dancing demonstration.
What an incredible waste of time and money. The concept of a children’s play area in the middle of the street is fraught with danger, even with a low speed restriction.
Churlish behaviour
A certain business owner who churlishly banned the previous mayor from his shop and campaigned against changes on the main street, believing loss of parking and a one-way system would ruin businesses, is somewhat muted these days.
I note his and all the other businesses in that block seem to be thriving.
Now that he is now a councillor, how does he feel that businesses in Albany St may lose their parking spaces courtesy of the cycleway and be imperilled because of this, or is this "not an issue" for him any more?
[Cr Brent Weatherall replies: I can’t quite understand whether Graham Bulman is advocating for parking spaces and businesses in Albany St or for cycleways. I am in total agreement with Tony Williams’ thoughts in his letter (ODT 24.4.24) that Albany St is one of the more cycle-friendly streets in Dunedin at present.
All businesses do need convenient parking and accessibility for survival and I would be more than happy if approached to work with Albany St businesses that would be impacted by the introduction of the cycleway.
For your information I was not on the subcommittee that decided the parking changes in Albany St.
I don’t agree with their findings (which were not unanimous). However, the consultation period has been extended.
This means the final design for the street has yet to be decided and I sincerely hope a compromise can still be achieved.
There are now 8 x empty shops in the Farmers Block. In regards to your comment that businesses in the Farmers Block are thriving, I feel it’s a shame Spec Savers and Milburn Optometrists moved out of our block, which may have helped you see the reality of the situation with more clarity.]
Open minds needed, not blinkered ideologues
I would like to comment on the article (ODT 8.5.24), which had a photograph of a group of Otago University faculty members, waving around a letter addressed to university management, requesting action on the genocidal actions of Israel in Gaza.
The definition of genocide, is a crime, where acts are committed, with the intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnic, racial, or religious group. Why are these morally bankrupt people, not applying the same standard to Hamas? A terrorist organisation which has as part of its charter the destruction of Israel and death to all Jews.
How can any educational institution, allow people who are so morally compromised, to have contact with young impressionable people? This group, would like to have free rein to replicate the disgraceful "rent a mob" protests, now happening in the USA and Australia, where Jewish students are in fear of their lives when on campus.
These faculty members will not open their minds to allow for legitimate debate, and will shut down any attempt at contesting their views. They are ideologues, who need to be rooted out of our educational system and replaced by people who have a moral compass, can think for themselves and that are not captured by group think.
Compelling comparison
Glen Morgan (Opinion ODT 10.5.24) gives us a penetrating comparison of responsibility for failures at Boeing and the direction that "NZ Inc" appears to be taking. As I read his fascinating assessment, I couldn’t help but substitute the University of Otago for the above two institutions. The similarities are compelling.
A fair return on investment in 120+ MPs?
With the directive of the coalition government to reduce the number of public servants and consultants , a look at how many MPs are actually required should be considered.
The MMP system voted for in the 1996 election gave us 120 seats to allow for the mixed member representation, 72 electoral and 48 list seats. What plays out now is that the party vote determines who the government is and the electoral vote becomes irrelevant. An electoral MP toes the party line and no benefits to any region happen, so what do they do for the benefit of their electorate?
Running the government are 20 ministers in Cabinet and eight ministers outside Cabinet. Associate ministers are not from the back benchers, so what do the other members, roughly 90 of them actually do? It is time for MMP as a voting system to be reviewed, especially now when MPs are up for a generous salary increase.
Free the cone
I understand that loose herds of road cones have been observed in the urban landscape. Given these strange objects are charged, daily, to the rate/taxpayer at an average cost of $1.30 a day, each, plus installation, maintenance and removal , it would seem only humane to return them to peaceful retirement when, as is common, they loiter unemployed for months on abandoned roadworks?
Think of the river
To have multiple dairy farms, a known high water-use industry, at the driest place in the country defies logic. The sole source of water for these farms is the Manuherikia River. A modest river in flow at best — one does not need to be Einstein to see the outcome of this noses-in-the-trough practice on the health of this river.
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