Time to consider ideas to keep Dunedin on track

WE were surprised and sad to read that Dunedin Railways is to be mothballed in a bid to avoid closing entirely (ODT, 21.4.20).

Then, in the Opinion piece by Dave Kearns (4.5.20), we have him stating that the chief executive has included himself as one of only five paid staff to remain under the ‘‘mothballing’’ proposal, while watching over 50 workers lose their livelihoods. Perhaps the chief executive and Dunedin City Council could consider also taking pay cuts at this difficult time.

There is a lot of interest in keeping Dunedin Railways running. There are plausible suggestions and worthwhile ideas to consider.

We have been on some excellent trips organised by Dunedin Railways and, if Covid19 had not occurred, we were looking forward to going on a West Coast excursion from May 1116.

We do hope that the Dunedin City Council and Dunedin Railways management will seriously reconsider the decisions they seem to have made in haste.

Bruce and Mona Cromb

Green Island

School buses

THE Ministry of Education seems more interested in saving money than saving lives.

School buses have not run for nearly two months, and the ministry must have saved millions in that time. Now it says it cannot find extra buses or drivers to maintain physical distancing.

This is simply untrue. Taking Dunedin as an example, there are about 20 buses and drivers set aside for cruise ship visits that are unused. We even have doubledecker buses that could be used. Scores of drivers in the sightseeing and tour sector are unemployed.

The ministry needs to put school children’s safety first and pick up the phone. It would find plenty of bus companies and drivers willing to help.

Philip Matthews Dunedin Tramways Union secretary .....................................

BIBLE READING: A friend loves at all times. — Proverbs 17:17.

SHORTLY after 5.30am on Saturday, I was woken by the noise of a truck and a flashing orange light reflecting through our bedroom window.

A quick look out the window revealed a truck and various personnel offloading equipment on the Dunedin City Council playground in Larnach Rd.

My immediate thoughts were accident, medical event, fire or maybe some major infrastructure problem? Daylight revealed that the source of the noise and activity was DCC contractors having arrived to deliver equipment for a planned playground update — obviously to happen at some future date as the workers had already departed.

What rightminded person thinks it’s appropriate to turn up to a playground with surrounding houses at two hours before sunrise on a Saturday morning?

Planned upgrade? The playground had a large area cordoned off for several weeks late last year for the upgrade of a slide. Given there are only four items of playground equipment on this site, surely a planned project would have assembled all the necessary gear to upgrade the lot in one go.

Private sector organisations embark on asset and infrastructure upgrades with a basic underlying principal in mind: ‘‘Do it once — do it right’’ (and where possible, do it quickly). Sadly, this frequently seems to be missing in action when the DCC plans expenditure of ratepayers’ money. Mike Sawyer

Waverley

[Dunedin City Council parks and recreation group manager Robert West replies:

‘‘Thank you for bringing this to our attention — we have followed up with our contractor. We apologise for any inconvenience this upgrade work has caused. We expect the project to be finished this week, weather permitting.’’]

Wanaka plan

THE article ‘‘Bird advocate: lake at risk’’ (ODT, 2.5.20) gave another dimension to Wanaka’s natural beauty that is treasured by locals and the thousands of tourists who visit, when concerns by John Darby who is responsible for establishing, overseeing and monitoring a safe haven on Lake Wanaka for southern crested grebes, were aired.

It was reported that for Stage 3 of the Wanaka Lake Front Development Plan — which has already been consulted on, and is in an area where the grebes have made their home — the Queenstown Lakes District Council is investigating the possibility of constructing a boardwalk around the edge of Lake Wanaka.

Recently, however, it has been reported that due to the present economic situation, all work has been suspended on the Lake Front Development Plan.

Does the council now intend to proceed to have resource consent for this board walk when Stage 3 has already been fully consulted on?

Loris King

Wanaka

[QLDC community services general manager Thunes Cloete replies:

‘‘We would like to clarify that work is not suspended on the Wanaka Lakefront Development Plan (LDP). Stage 3 of the LDP is to be funded under the current Long Term Plan, and QLDC is currently working through the consenting process associated with it.’’]

Dunedin Railways

IN this time of uncertainty, due to the Covid19 crisis, it is very disappointing to hear that Dunedin Railways is shutting its operations down for an undefined period.

It is appalling to think of losing up to 70 skilled jobs in the city and a valuable part of Dunedin’s identity. Equally as sad would be the lost potential this operation has, right now, to improve the city and the region.

With a refocus, Dunedin Railways could diversify its operations and become less reliant on just tourism to survive. It is worth noting, however, that some tourism will still exist in the form of domestic holidaymakers, those who will be unlikely to travel abroad for some time and decide to travel about New Zealand.

Dunedin has an opportunity to develop a suburban train network between Mosgiel and Port Chalmers. This service could become an integral part of our public transport system, provide continued employment, diversify transport options and improve the environmental standing of the city.

Another opportunity could be to start regional passenger services to Christchurch and Invercargill. This may also attract ‘‘shovel ready’’ or PGF funding and could possibly collaborate with KiwiRail and be included as part of its passenger network.

Furthermore, perhaps KiwiRail should take over the section of track between Mosgiel and Middlemarch. Tourism trains could operate as an extension of normal city suburban train/regional train operations and pay a fee for using the track.

Dunedin Railways operations need to evolve and staff/carriages and maintenance facilities should continue to operate for the benefit of the region.

Refocusing operations provides an opportunity to improve Dunedin city infrastructure and environmental credentials, attract visitors as well as diversifying and creating a more resilient Dunedin Railways of the future.

Michael Nicholson

Paekakariki

[Abridged]

Rural community

IT was unfortunate Gerrard Eckhoff (Letters, 4.5.20) responded with a confrontational, ‘‘us versus them’’ manner in order to defend his entrenched views.

It is clear that Mr Eckhoff sees economic and environmental wellbeing as being mutually exclusive. This does not have to be so.

Benefits for the rural economy do not have to be gained at the expense of the environment, or vice versa.

Fortunately, there are many in the rural community who are leading the way with innovative and forwardthinking initiatives.

Encouragingly, Mr Eckhoff writes that ‘‘the Manuherikia River looks pretty good to me right about now’’.

Well, ‘‘right about now’’ the recorded flows are between 5.0 cumecs to 7.5 cumecs (ORC river flow monitor at Alexandra campground).

I imagine that Mr Eckhoff will enthusiastically support and advocate for these figures in any discussion regarding the minimum flow for the Manuherikia.

Billee Marsh

Tarras

National politics

IT just seems the seriousness of Covid19 hasn't reached the National Party yet.

We should all be united against such a deadly enemy yet we have the constant antieverything by Bridges and the completely negative articles written by Judith Collins and Stephen Joyce which simply show that National, by politicking at this time, has no idea of what is really important, as well as showing it is well off the pace.

Ian Morgan

Oamaru

Cannabis

THE potential for harm from the use of cannabis is well researched and is part of the international multidisciplinary study carried out in Otago over many years.

For a more accurate take on the damage caused to people included in the study, contact the study group that continues to monitor the lives of about 970 participants. I believe they are just down the road at the University of Otago.

Chris Menzies

Maryhill