No more CCC support for park

How dare the Christchurch City Council even consider increasing the amount it already has invested into the Christchurch Adventure Park? This is a private development and as a ratepayer I strongly object. The ratepayers of Christchurch are constantly being told that there is not enough money in the pot to cover the cost of maintaining basic infrastructure needs, which is why we are faced with ever-increasing rates demands and it is becoming untenable.

The fact that ‘‘the council has spent ratepayers’ money in far worse ways than supporting the adventure park’’ does not give it the right to spend ratepayers’ money propping up private enterprise.

Which part of ‘‘enough is enough’’ do the current city councillors not understand?

Election day cannot come soon enough.

Marylyn Morrison, Burwood

Underwrite

Mayor Lianne Dalziel wants advice as to whether to put more money into the Christchurch Adventure Park. Well, here’s some for free (unless the CCC wants to pay me a consulting fee).

Offer to underwrite the $10 million the park is seeking, but the cost of that underwriting will be to get any shares it acquires at half-price. So if other shareholders put in $8 million and get one share per dollar then the council would make up the remaining $2 million and get 4 million shares at 50 cents each. Why shouldn’t the council get to privatise the profits instead of socialising the losses?

Steve Cox, St Albans

Rentals

Having read and listened to National Party leaders’ comments on the impact of the Government’s new regulations on rental properties I have yet to hear a single word of sympathy for those they say will be most impacted by the existing state of affairs. Bridges, Collins and Adams can only be heard reflecting the views of those who, like themselves, are rental property owners. The coalition government’s members who own rental properties are not bitterly complaining that the roof is about to fall down on the 150,000 rental property owners in New Zealand. You don’t hear those organisations who make it their job to help succour those in need in this country screeching about landlords (and ladies) having to reduce their profits.

Recent research has shown 35 per cent of rental properties are damp and mouldy and contributing to medical, ACC and hospital costs of $145 million a year. Perhaps National might be willing to support a regulation that demands that owners of damp and mouldy rental properties pay for the medical treatment of those of their tenants who end up sick or in hospital.

Tom Brockett, Redwood

Tax reform

It is high time for tax reform in New Zealand. People on the lowest incomes and those on medium incomes are paying too much income tax. The wealthiest and those able to make arrangements to avoid the taxation net, do not pay enough. The Tax Working Group’s recommendations deserve support, and if the current Government does not implement the main elements then it will not have earned reelection. The time to stop playing politics with tax has arrived and most fair-minded Kiwis want to see the system updated to suit the world we are now all confronted with.

Denis O’Rourke, Mt Pleasant

Scooter ban

Chris Ford, disability rights and pedestrian rights activist, has argued for the ban on e-scooters to remain until better regulation and/or standards arrive. He says those with mobility impairments are particularly at risk, as they tend to have stability issues and lack the ability to quickly jump out of the way of oncoming scooters. Blind and visionimpaired people have difficulty knowing when e-scooters are oncoming because they are fairly quiet.

Mr Ford questions users’ freedom to leave the scooters anywhere, especially on footpaths. Wheelchair users and mobility aid users are forced to navigate around scooters abandoned in the middle of the footpath. As a pedestrian and cyclist with concerns, I welcome his timely perspective from a disability community standpoint.

Jack Barrett, Papanui