Air quality
We all agree that roaring trucks pouring out toxic diesel fumes aren’t nice to be near. That’s not the issue. The issue is that people like Graeme Skinner (April 13) who walk or cycle along Rocks Road do so by choice and are exposed for short periods only. The thousand or so children attending schools and pre-schools along the proposed route of a state highway through Victory would have no choice but to be exposed to the toxic fumes and deafening noise day after day at a crucial stage in their physical and mental development.
Can you see our present government agreeing to this? Would any responsible council agree to it, especially one that cares enough about air quality to ban all woodburners in this enclosed valley? What Crs Lawrey, McGurk and Acland indicated was that a walk/cycleway around Rocks Road now is something the government could agree to if only our council would request it. Cable got it wrong’’ the sort of basic leftist absurdity we expect daily from the government benches. While I’d love him to itemise all the other ‘‘usual’’ instances, strangely and most untypically, his usual combative deportment came across as almost reasonable when rendering his understanding of road-funding. I won’t try to contest his assertions, but I have to say I’ve never heard of financial interconnections between road-funding, KiwiSaver and superannuation schemes. Steve’s perception of cycling’s benefits is certainly grandiloquent: how it contributes billions to healthcare (though presumably, not through cyclists’ hospitalisation), how cyclists were all taxpayers, and how bicycles didn’t damage road surfaces. Veritably, it was close to spellbinding but, as Steve’s comments were actually centred off-topic , somehow I missed where he actually focused on anything relevant to the wearing, or not wearing of cycle helmets. also to all those concerned in the publication of the ‘Nelson Mail’, making it possible for us to read ‘‘lowly citizens’’ opinion on such important developments regarding local government. Long live our local newspaper.