Praise for speaking out, reader better informed
I just wanted to praise Alisha Evans from Bay of Plenty Times for her piece “concerns at wording in draft plan spur changes“.
It gave me an idea of how members of the council act in private and what they really think. I applaud Margaret Murray-Benge for speaking out and know who I won’t be voting for at the next council elections.
Please keep up the good work. Helen Turrall Katikati
Thames preferred
I heard a startling piece of news the other day; that Katikati people are choosing to drive all the way to Thames to do specialised shopping, in preference to driving in to Tauranga. The reason cited is that it doesn’t take as long and there are no road works or holdups. It goes without saying that people are now heartily sick of all the “road improvements” which seem to be never-ending with an often frightening orange coned obstacle course to try and navigate.
Improvements seem a long way off and once finished there will still only be one road in to Tauranga with bottlenecks all the way.
I remember when it used to take half an hour to get to Tauranga and now people have to allow two hours to get to appointments and catch planes located there, often missing appointments and flights due to delays en route. I also remember when we would drive into Tauranga as a fortnightly treat to do shopping and go to a show or a movie. We’ve stopped doing that now mainly because the strain of getting there at all, let alone on time, has taken all the pleasure out of it. With more houses being built for more people with more cars wouldn’t it be sensible to have an alternative route to get into Tauranga? A road from Omokoroa along the same route as the railway line would be an obvious solution, yes it would require widened railway bridges over the waterways but that may well be a better, quicker and cheaper option than what we’re currently having to endure.
Diane Logan Katikati