Rumbling trucks lead to sinking of proposals
I note in the letters to the editor (ODT 2.4.24) a comment from the Mosgiel – Taieri Community Board chairman Mr Andrew Simms that the proposed Riccarton Rd widening and improvements were in part sunk by self-interested citizens.
Of course they would have wanted to have their say. Who wouldn’t with the number of trucks passing down Riccarton Rd?
One can hardly get out of one’s car door without waiting a considerable time for a traffic gap. The huge trucks rumble down Riccarton Rd – inclusive of logging trucks, cattle trucks, sheep trucks a lot with trailers attached, having nothing whatsoever to do with any proposed future inland port.
Adding to the activity of trucks, 4WDs and motor cars are also increasing in large numbers. Why? It is because the entrance to Mosgiel coming down the Saddle Hill area is an absolute clogged-up shambles. Some vehicles are not even trying to enter the off-ramp but are by passing same and heading for Riccarton Rd as a better alternative to gaining access to Mosgiel.
The Mosgiel entrance at Quarry Rd with traffic lights and railway crossings is ridiculous for the flow of the traffic. More domestic traffic will increase as Mosgiel grows, so a future for Mosgiel residents without large trucks etc into the future is essential.
Riccarton Rd and Gordon Rd should be secured as relatively safe routes and alternative routes outside Mosgiel found for larger vehicles. These two roads have been a matter of procrastinated discussion for far too long. In 2003 alternative routes were considered a top council priority – it was put aside for various reasons
Why were the bypass thoughts stopped? Mosgiel has not got any smaller in the last 10 years and will not in the next 10 years.
Vacuum of no return
As Wānaka LandSAR chairman Bill Day points out (ODT 4.4.24), social media is once again sucking foolhardy tourists into what can be a vacuum of no return. Weighed up against the cost of countless search and rescue missions, would it not be wise for some group to get funding and strategically install route markers. In time, the trampers would wear a track into the ground, making it more obvious as well.
Having not been to Brewster hut myself, I don't know the current state of the notice board, but surely there are ample warnings against tramping past the hut. Perhaps outlining rescue costs in multiple languages and threatening rescuees with an invoice might also help.
Turn your clock back
By any measure of progress this coalition government seems intent on failure.
It thinks we should return to some past time when everyone was happy to be backward, holding uninformed or outdated views on global warming and the environment, crime prevention, public health, housing, education, transport and race relations.
So far, turning back the clock has been the response to every threat, with progress measured only in economic terms, as "savings".
What are the gains – and for whom – from cancelling innovative social institutions like the Māori Health Authority, and helpful things like free prescriptions and clean-car discount?
What conceivable improvement will come from cutting 200 jobs in the Ministry for Primary Industries and 134 jobs in the Ministry of Health, let alone axing the Suicide Prevention Office? (ODT 5.4.24)?
I am dumbfounded by the number, audacity and wrongheadedness of these calls for change in reverse.
Forget Aukus, BRICS is the way to go
Nicholas Khoo, academic at the University of Otago and apparent "Washington Empire" fan, has a very odd idea of what an independent foreign policy means (ODT 3.4.24).
The conventional definition of an IFP is that of genuine independence, in New Zealand’s interest, not those of the empire of the day and its vassals, as he is essentially suggesting with his support for Aukus.
Now given the conventional definition, how on earth is having “credibility” with Australia the UK and the USA by joining preparations for America’s future war on China (the sole purpose of Aukus) in our independent interest?
These are nations deeply collaborating in the Israeli Gaza conflict through their supply of weapons, targeting information and political cover.
The future with respect to security and prosperity is increasingly with the majority of the world via genuine multilateral organisations such as BRICS, not the warmongering of the fading violent Western minority world via Aukus.
Joining BRICS would give us the genuine global respect of 87% of humanity, the true international community.
Hop in the front seat
I read in the ODT that New Zealand is hoping to become an associate member of Aukus, and that we are planning to become a second-tier member of Nato. Will someone list the enemies of neutral New Zealand? Is it an elaborate April Fool’s joke?
I hope Mr Peters and Ms Collins will insist on getting a front room in each of the Aukus nuclear submarines as well as ensuring our yearly payment to Nato is heavily subsidised so that I may see the new hospital in Dunedin come to fruition.
Address Letters to the Editor to: Otago Daily Times, PO Box 517, 52-56 Lower Stuart St, Dunedin. Email: editor@odt.co.nz
