Losing more state houses unacceptable

How does the appalling news that we may lose even more of our state housing stock sit with the city’s vision to be vibrant, caring and sustainable?

It is alarming that there may be a loss of a significant number of state houses to follow the steady erosion in this city in recent years.

Some state houses have been sold, some demolished and others left to decay and await demolition while the neighbourhood runs down.

It is time we citizens and our city council representatives, showed some vibrancy and demanded both the reasons for this decrease in supply; and the further numbers that could be lost.

I do not accept that there is not the need. It concerns me that the criteria to gain a state house may be so restrictive that many families who need safe affordable houses are missing out.

One thing is for certain: children are healthier and learn more effectively at school when they live in stable, warm and comfortable homes as part of communities who know each other and keep a look out for each other.

This is about being a sustainable city.

Mayor and councillors, what are you going to do about this opportunity to lead a caring and sustainable city? JILL WHITE Palmerston North

Advice deplorable

caring and I was amazed to read the editorial [ Standard, May 12], concerning the actions of the Horowhenua District Council chief executive and other staff which effectively undermine the role of councillors and the public submission process.

The headline could well have been stronger, something like ‘ Council staff sabotage democratic processes’, rather than ‘ Council move blurs democracy’.

Staff chose to advise councillors to ignore the submissions before they had been heard and deliberated.

But then they’ve been doing similar for many years.

They appear to treat the views of the public as irrelevant, distractive and misleading, if not wrong, in advance sometimes, as in this case.

This is especially so when a specific local government fund is proposed to be allocated for the purpose of supporting public health – a central government responsibility – the new project details have not been made available and are controlled by an essentially unaccountable separate entity.

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details. PO Box 3, Palmerston North

email: editor@ msl. co. nz

Where is the news?

On page 4 of the Standard, Monday March 12, is a large headline ‘ Retired cop: Watson is a psychopath’. Is the paper running short of something to write about?

What would you expect the man to say? Maybe ‘ Watson may not be guilty’ or ‘ perhaps we got it wrong’ – now that might have justified a headline as large as that.

But what you wrote is news is it? R ARCHER Palmerston North

hardly