Waterfront development plan a ‘flight of fancy’
I HAVE just taken the opportunity to have a good look at the Dunedin waterfront vision. What a disappointment; a real lack of connection with Dunedin’s rich heritage, a bridge that looks like the remnants of a stegosaurus (not sure how many of them have been found in Dunedin) and a scattering of concrete blocks that look like they have been imported from the Middle East.
This is a great opportunity which we must not waste. A project like this should be subject to an international competition to get the best ideas. Criteria should include a real connection to our heritage, remembering those who built Dunedin, our local environment and produce.
What an opportunity to show off the value and sustainability of engineered timber rather than ugly concrete. Come on Dunedin, do it once, get it right and don’t waste money on architectural flights of fancy. David Tordoff
Dunedin
IAN Taylor’s trite invocation (ODT, 30.10.18) of the ‘‘legacy for our children’’ meme mirrors the same sickening ones heard in council debates in 2008 about our albatrosslike stadium (a stadium that is nationally irrelevant once Christchurch builds its own).
A real legacy for our children would acknowledge the IPCC when it recently said ‘‘the world is headed for painful problems sooner than expected.’’
Let us build for future generations great water and sewerage infrastructure, energy independence, great housing, hospitals and services for all. Let us help South Dunedin before it succumbs to water. Let us put robustness and resilience ahead of spectacle, monument, and decoration.
If people want to decorate then let them do it at their expense. It’s true we need to send a message about the world we are making. The message I want to send to our children and their children is: ‘‘We value your physical, mental and emotional health rather than shiny shells on the seashore.’’ Leyton Glen
Dunedin
Southern healthcare
GET over yourselves, Dunedinites.
All this grumbling and mumbling about our health providers down here in the South should be squashed.
A surreal three weeks from colon cancer diagnosis to operating table, with so many scans systematically performed in between — CTC, CT, MRI, PET CT (Christchurch) — the whole process was smoothly organised by a most professional caring staff; all I had to do was follow the pathway to success.
Never think our public health system is inferior to private. In fact, even with my health insurance, I could not have been tracked any faster with elective surgery.
Most of the urgent major operations require the public hospital facilities. A quote overheard: ‘‘We may not be a hotel with all the trimmings, but we get the business done down here.’’
A very special mention to Mr Klas Pekkari and his amazing surgical team, with support from Lyndel Gillett (colorectal nurse specialist) and Ann Patton (ERAS nurse).
Averil Pettitt
Roslyn
Wanaka parking
I AM as confused as Julian Price (ODT letters, 12.11.18). The Queenstown Lakes council asked the Wanaka people to answer a survey about the future town plan for Wanaka. The results were interesting in that nearly all the people that took part opposed parking on the waterfront, especially camper vans.
This is why I find it confusing that a large new parking area is in the process of being built on the foreshore. It looks as though the results were completely ignored by council. Toad Innes
Wanaka