Time to refuse to pay ‘ludicrous’ parking fines

HOW many other Dunedinites were shocked recently by receiving a $65 parking ticket while shopping at Great King St New World?

Fancy being penalised for buying groceries and giving a supermarket the benefit of one’s custom?

If this is to be the norm, what is going to become of Dunedin’s relaxed, often envied lifestyle? Are we to succumb to the pressures of commercial imperialism taking precedence over the common social decency of being able to park as a paying customer of an establishment?

This is a ludicrous and deplorable development and must be stopped dead in its tracks. Rally Dunedin people!

Wilson’s Parking must be set straight. I refuse to pay my $65 fine for shopping for $505.51 worth of groceries — whatever time it takes.

Is our freedom to be swindled by time constraints imposed by commercial aggrandisement? Dunedin must defend its culture. Joan Wilson

Waikouaiti

New hospital heating

RELATING to the new Dunedin Hospital’s projected sustainable biomassheating system.

Currently the hospital is heated by a combination of biofuel (wood chips) and coalfired boilers. That is, one fivemegawatt chipfuelled boiler and three coal ones.

It would pay to investigate the new generation of superheated boilers, such as the recently installed 7MW example at Burwood Hospital in Christchurch.

It may have been costly to install to replace the coalfired one, but the longterm savings are considerable. And it is a clean form of heat energy. Plus it cuts carbon emissions by between 7000 to 10,000 tonnes per year.

Also the ash can be sold as a fertiliser mix. That also provides savings from coal dust and clinker, which incur considerable cost to dispose of. Jim Childerstone

Hampden ...................................

BIBLE READING: I will sing of the mercies of the Lord forever. — Psalm 89:1.