Double-deckers just the ticket
I have extensively used our bus network and read heaps of mainly criticism about it. In no way do I doubt we have been let down greatly by the recent changes so that all those complaints were 100 per cent justified.
However, the regional council and the bus operator deserves congratulations for the new buses they have obtained. Our bus fleet is noticeably morphing from the fumebelching dungers of a year ago to buses as good as can be found anywhere.
One innovation is worthy of a heap of affirmation, and that is the electric double-deckers. They are what is needed for the environment and they are superb to ride in. I hope the ongoing testing and development being carried out leads to more of them being obtained to treat more of us more often to state-of-the-art public transport. Norman Wilkins, Petone
Balkanised track care
The life of a Conservation Department ranger is not an easy one. Tu¯ hoe took on the task of management of the Waikaremoana great walk and has since found this out.
When the Treaty settlement was signed up to, there would or should have been an assessment of the costs and liabilities of taking over track and facilities work and a period of handholding beween Tu¯ hoe and DOC.
I recently visited both the Panekiri Bluff and Hopuruahine Landing ends of the track. Both tracks are dangerous in places and the track-end welcome and orientation facilities are run down. Dangers include river-bank collapse with a narrow unformed track teetering on the edge.
The Balkanised start to new management of the track cannot be allowed to continue. We don’t need Nato (Not All Tracks Open). Getting tourists to do the right thing is only a start. DOC and Tu¯ hoe need to sit down again and resource the short and long-term planning and operations needed to get this right.
Kevin L. Jones, Te Aro
New columnist
‘‘New voice’’ Phil Quin, with his long career as a political hack and spin meister (‘‘strategic communications adviser’’), will now thankfully devote himself to fearlessly challenging our lazy, preconceived notions of social and political reality.
In his debut column, It’s a weird world in the conspiracy rabbit hole (Feb 4), Quin bravely takes on the rarely covered topic of conspiracy theories.
He employs a fresh, unique formula. First, he makes you identify with him by admitting to his own irrational All Blacks-related superstition that has nothing to do with conspiracy theories. Next, he creates a Straw Man argument by citing the #Qanon cult, easily demolishing it by listing a few of their wacky beliefs. Next, he laments the declining general belief in official stories, citing someone’s doubting of an event he personally knows about, the mass murder of Tutsis.
So far, Quin has plucked lowhanging fruit, enhanced his own credibility, and led us to his logical leap of faith, the coup de grace. He conflates all non-Establishment beliefs with #Qanon and Holocaust denial.
Genius! Quin is sure to be a hit with Dominion Post editors, though perhaps not with discerning readers.
Phillip Rose, Newtown
Busy all year
Former regional councillor Michael Gibson (Letters, Feb 2) should know that attending monthly formal council meetings is just a small part of councillors’ work. Between these, at least in the city council, there are many committee meetings, officer briefings, workshops, inter-agency meetings and site visits. These restarted in midJanuary. Add constituent queries and advocacy (from which my muchpublicised tunnel-tooting tweet arose) and it should be no surprise that city councillors are indeed busy, 11-12 months of the year.
I can assure both Gibson and my eastern ward constituents that I have been working hard for the past two years to ensure that a second Mt Victoria tunnel, with safe, comfortable walking and cycling facilities and fitfor-purpose traffic lanes, is a priority outcome from Let’s Get Wellington Moving. We currently await a ministerial announcement on funding and project timelines.
I promised my constituents that I would work hard for a second tunnel, an end to the Basin Reserve impasse and a game-changing mass transit system, and I’m confident these improvements to Wellington’s transport infrastructure will indeed proceed.
Incidentally, in response to Keith Aldersley (Feb 2), the buses are the responsibility of GWRC, not WCC. Chris Calvi-Freeman, Wellington city councillor
Reason to be an atheist
Sarah Sanders, the unfortunate mouthpiece for Donald Trump, recently said ‘‘God wanted Trump to be president’’. There’s a justification for being an atheist if ever I saw one.
Rod Shaw, Te Horo
Letters
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