Don’t swap the Maitai’s beauty and peace for more houses and cars

Maitai project

This photo (right) was taken on our peaceful lower Maitai River. This bend in the river is very much within earshot of the road, which will be redesigned to take up to 2000 vehicle trips per day if the area is rezoned as residential. It would be so sad to lose this natural beauty and peace in exchange for more houses and cars. It is a muchneeded recreational area in Nelson that can never be duplicated. Penny Colombatti

Nelson, September 17

Waimea dam

I appreciate your ongoing coverage of the Waimea dam, but every article reads of a project of poor management at all levels, assumptions about the site geology and construction, uncoordinated logistics, excuses for what went wrong, and the glory of a colossal concrete structure to release water into aquifers that’s not proven.

Sadly, I can see the term ‘‘unprecedented’’ being used in the future, and not by me. I am curious as to how much over $200 million the ‘‘damn’’ will cost.

The greatest tragedy of what this dam was supposed to address is that there is a cheaper, safer, ecological and more intelligent solution. It appears that water dumping, organic and mixed burning, crop dumping and soluble fertilisers will continue as has been practised for years.

Darryl K Wilkes

Hope, September 12

Alien life

‘‘Alien life might exist in the atmosphere above Venus . . . microbes might be present . . . life might have found a way to survive’’ ( Nelson Mail, September 16). However, the last line is more accurate: ‘‘The field is littered with failed life detections.’’ There will continue to be failures by scientists to find evidence of life just appearing anywhere in our universe. Strange how scientists cannot grasp the simple fact that any life (by their own definition) cannot exist unless all systems that make up the living entity are present and working from the very start.

Mark Quinney

Motupiko, September 16

Road planning

With the new traffic lights near the top of the hill on Waimea Rd soon to become operational, I would like the Nelson City Council to please explain to your readers how the future inland road, previously known as the Southern Link, will be able to pass under the new connecting road that is joining at these traffic lights. To me, it does not look as if any provision has been made for this, which is an appalling omission, as these new lights will just increase the delays and frustration for traffic coming into the city. Will this require a new large underpass to be built in the near future, and who is paying for that?

Gaire Thompson

Nelson, September 18

Nikau House

Many New Zealanders are increasingly aware of mental health issues, be this due to change during the Covid-19 lockdown or some other health issue. In Nelson, the Nikau House community health service has been to the forefront – with management, the Nelson Marlborough District Health Board and the Government behaving in a sociopathic nature by introducing major changes to a previously settled client group. The Code of Rights for Consumers of Health and Disability Services is not being complied with.

Clients, their families and friends, doctors, legal representatives and supporters demonstrated and presented submissions to retain Nikau House. In only a few weeks, some staff have been moved out, and new staff and services are arriving.

I amsure that since lockdown, most Nelsonians have some insight into feeling mentally unsettled and distressed.

For many Nikau House people, even less change is required to cause extreme and sometimes permanent deterioration in their mental health.

Heather McAlister

Nelson, September 20

Flower power

May we say thank to the gardeners who colour up the flower beds at the Stoke shops (pictured) and bring us such simple delight? John Whittaker

Nelson, September 21

Riverside path

Friends of the Maitai commends the Nelson City Council on the completion of the new section of the Maitai riverside path between Collingwood St and Bridge St. When this change was proposed, we asked for the width of the planned path to be reduced from 3.5 metres to 2.5m, and were very pleased when that was taken on board.

The new path is an excellent outcome for the community that is to scale with the surroundings. We much appreciate the council being receptive to community engagement. The riverside path now provides a beautiful walk or ride from the attractive bridge over Saltwater Creek, past the imposing sculpture of The Prow, the landscaped section of the lower Maitai and the new pop-up park all the way to the Suter. We can’t help but feel that this is helping Nelson live up to being a smart little city. David Ayre Friends of the Maitai, Nelson, September 22

Fishing rules

A new set of regulations for set netting has come into force as of October 1, regulations that I believe are ill-thought-out and unjust.

The Fisheries NZ information sheet states: ‘‘This includes all inlets, estuaries and lagoons within the two boundaries.’’ Closed. Yet all down the West Ccoast, ‘‘all inlets, estuaries and lagoons’’ are open to set netting.

Also, this regulation clearly implies that a net set in these areas endangers dolphins, but a net set in the same place with a permit from tangata whenua does not endanger dolphins.

The people I feel most for are those officers who are asked to police this. These regulations are as absurd as they are unjust, and no sane person should ever be expected to police them.

John Morrison

Stoke, September 24