Council did not use its noodle

You reported (April 19) that the night market sizzled. We couldn’t agree more. We went with friends on Sunday evening and Frank Kitts Park was packed with people of all ages.

What better way to reinforce our links with Asia than a regular event such as the noodle night market in this splendid, open air auditorium.

Oh, but I forgot – it is all to be destroyed to make way for a Chinese Garden, which will be closed at night for security reasons.

The council clearly did not use its noodle when agreeing to despoiling the waterfront for such a limited-use venue as a Chinese Garden.

With a little thought the council could have found a better venue. I am in favour of such a link with one of our largest trading partners but not on the waterfront. We will lose all the flexibility and openness that the current format of Frank Kitts Park offers to Wellingtonians. I would have put it on the empty land on the corner of the Basin Reserve and Cambridge Terrrace. This would have given the garden a more visible presence to travellers in the area and those tourists visiting Pukeahu Park. It would also be near the new Chinese Embassy.

Leave the waterfront for lively evening events such as the noodle market.

ROSS MACFARLANE

Mt Victoria [abrideged]