Parking around hospital a bit of a nightmare
I want to congratulate Cr Steve Walker on successfully achieving one of his projects in removing private vehicles in the central environs of Dunedin City. I have now personally experienced the direct effects of his endeavours. On Wednesday after waiting up to a year, I had a 10am specialist appointment at the Dunedin Public Hospital. What turned out to be the biggest problem for an over 80-year-old geriatric was getting a park.
I tried the carpark in Frederick St with no luck. There was a vacant 5-minute park outside the main hospital doors and no luck in the area of the hospital emergency department. The same for at least three blocks either side of the hospital. I thought I’ll park in the Centre City New World carpark as I planned to do some shopping there after my appointment.
I arrived to the appointment time with a minute to spare. I have no complaints with the magnificent assistance I had from all the hospital employees. Arriving back to do my shopping around 10.30am, I spotted a ticked under the wiper of my car.
The fine was $100, this being a big chunk of my weekly fixed superannuation.
Do councillors still get a free car, and for him (Cr Walker), bicycle parking in the Civic Building?
[Response from Cr Steve Walker: Although flattered by Mr Neilson assigning me a new superpower, I politely suggest he brushes up on his current misunderstanding of how voting occurs around the council table!
Getting a parking ticket is never a great feeling, but in terms of him being fined by a private contractor on a Foodstuffs Ltd-owned property and somehow connecting that to me, is a rather long bow to draw.
However, I think I am responsible for slightly annoying my fellow elected members by taking up valuable space in the small councillor's office to store my bike — sorry guys! I don’t however use the DCC-allocated cycle parking underneath the Civic Building (I’d rather staff get to utilise those spaces) but do often use free lampposts, railings, bike racks, signpost poles, or anything deemed secure to lock my bike while out and about attending to my council business. I respectfully suggest Mr Neilson contacts Centre City New World management and/or the private parking contractor who may look favourably on his tale of woe.]
[Abridged — Ed.]
Outrage hypocrisy
Out of 149 fast-track proposals, 18 are for mining and quarrying. New Zealand is way too happy to export our pollution. Batteries in all your and our devices are made with copper, heavy metals and lithium mined in African hell-holes, often by children. And that's OK because it's not done here.
To pull its weight environmentally and morally and to avoid the hypocrisy New Zealand must find a way to mine all its current mineral needs including fuel, or at least covering minerals imported in products with export of a similar amount. It’s so easy to shout and appear on the right side of environmentalism and morality when all the immoral and unenvironmental practice is not done here. Are you going to relinquish your laptop, phone, EV, and just about any other transport and electrical device?
Trains sensible
Using the train is the sensible option to transport the tourists from the cruise ships (ODT, 8.10.24).
It takes the load off the buses and the busy road. It's not a long walk to the Port station and showcases the harbour on the way into the city.
Tarras community able to speak for themselves
Tarras-Lindis communities were surprised recently to read Dunedin Mayor Radich (ODT, 9.10.24) decided that "of all the places you could think of mining, it (Tarras) seems like a reasonable choice," and that the mine would be "pretty hidden from the public eye".
As the largest growing census statistical area in the Otago region, and with more than 100 Tarras articles over the last four years in the ODT, we prefer to speak for ourselves.
We welcome input from far and wide around how our community should shape our future, but challenge those who feel we should just knuckle down and do what others tell us.
Tarras has a vibrancy and with that we see growing pains. We get brassed off with bombastic statements around our community, especially those who would like us to remain hidden from the public eye to help with their own plans or aspirations.
Leave the lizards alone
Thank you Anna Yeoman for your book Geckos & Skinks: The Remarkable Lizards of Aotearoa.
Launched in Alexandra by Lan Pham and Robbie Burton, this heartwarming read is of wondrous lizards living around us in our rocky landscapes. Living native plants and bushes create habitat for lizards, as well as birds and insects. Allowing a destructive gold mine to heavily pollute waterways and destroy our landscape and lizard habitat is not wanted. Australian company Santana Mining, mining gold in our backyard is not wanted at all. Our children and grandchildren deserve to live with natives growing in an ecologically restoring Central Otago, increasing our otherwise very small area of natural heritage.
A real, feeling people, these southerners
I see Joseph Mooney, MP for Southland, is repeating Minister Reti’s line about the "passion" of the tens of thousands protesting the signalled downgrade of Dunedin hospital (ODT, 3.10.24)).
This unsubtle bit of messaging is of a piece with the government’s routinely glib dismissal of serious objections to its programme: rhetorically relegate a population outraged by a political decision to the realm of emotion rather than reason.
They’re a feeling people, those southerners, but they don’t understand big numbers, or rational matters like evisceration of the public health sys- — ahem, we mean fiscal constraints.
That’s the way, National, keep adding insult to injury.
In Australia, Medicare is funded as a levy on top of general taxation. I believe something like that exists for NHS funding in the UK too. When I left Australia about 12 years ago, the levy was 2.75% on top of tax of 46% at the top of my salary (much higher that here). I do not recall there was too much complaint when this levy was introduced.
We could introduce something like that here to help fund healthcare costs and contribute to the building the new Dunedin hospital. In the first instance this could be a targeted levy to fund urgent projects like the Dunedin hospital and then other needy infrastructure projects around the country.
Any extra revenue would be used for primary healthcare.
Although ‘tax’ is dirty word for the current government, I suspect the general population would be happy with an extra tax, provided it was ring-fenced for funding public health.
Address Letters to the Editor to: Otago Daily Times, PO Box 517, 52-56 Lower Stuart St, Dunedin. Email: editor@odt.co.nz
