Dog control too slow

Editor,

Last Sunday [January 20] I was walking my dog around Aotea Lagoon and was confronted by a dog which started following my dog slightly menacingly. Animals can be unpredictable at times and so I was rightly concerned about my dog’s safety and my own.

The dog was unleashed and the children who left it to wander some way ahead of the them made no effort to restrain it. Obviously there was no sense of responsibility taken at the time by the children but I have to ask – could the children have restrained the (medium-sized) dog even if it was on a leash?

The lagoon was full of children and adults alike, as it always is on such a beautiful day but more so due to a concert that day.

I can’t help wondering of the possibility of a worse incident occurring where a child runs up unexpectedly to the dog, as they do.

I decided to report this to PCC minutes later and was shocked to hear that they are able to log the fault immediately but would send someone out the day after. I don’t even have to explain the problem with this. Mind you, I did query them of the likelihood of the group being around the day after.

This boy was also throwing stones in the duck pond – where I was moments before – as well as at other objects around the lagoon, but my issue is to do with the fact that PCC would only attend the call the day after the incident. What is the point in having a 24-hour phone number?

I would like to know if our council has left the ambulance at the bottom of the cliff on this one. Logging an incident is easy, preventing further ones is the hard part.

Hopefully there will be some other way in which they can fund this event, though in the present economic climate anyone seeking sponsorship or trust monies will testify to the difficulty of gaining financial support.

I believe, however, the criticism of the trustees of the Mana Community Grants Foundation attributed to Liz Kelly are unduly harsh when one takes an analytical and unbiased view on the broader picture of funding for sporting and cultural activities.

The trusts, whether it be the Mana Community Grants Foundation or other trusts, are always faced with a long list of worthy applicants whose requests for support far exceed the amount of funding available. The trustees face an unenviable task of prioritising the applications and there can be no absolute guarantees of any particular application being successful.

The trustees of the Mana Community Grants Foundation, as was pointed out in the report, are predominantly people who have served this city well over a long period of time. They are fair-minded people and I believe have an open mind as to where their funding should be directed.

I represent an organisation that has received support from MCGF in the past yet we understand that there can be no guarantees with any applications we make.

Over the years, we have applied to several different trust organisations. Most of these applications have been unsuccessful and with never any explanation. That seems to be how most trusts operate, however, I have found that dialogue with the MCGF trustees has been readily available when needed and I am firmly of the opinion that each and every one of the trustees has the best interests of the city in mind when making the difficult funding decisions they are faced with.

While on funding, the Trust Porirua City Brass Band has recently completed a very successful exercise playing Christmas carols around the streets of Porirua and Tawa and, in particular, outside The Warehouse, who generously allow us space near the entrance to their busy Porirua store. I would like to thank The Warehouse and the public for their support. Your generous donations are invaluable and vital to our sustainability.

Thank-you, and I hope that some avenue of support can be found to sustain the Creekfest event. (Abridged)