Small business misses out under 2GP plan
I WORK with small and startup companies, and I read with concern in the 2GP that the Dunedin City Council plans to block residential development of any kind in new industrial areas to conserve the limited supply of industrial land.
This will serve large enterprises who take complete sites, but it will make life more difficult for small businesses who require industrial premises because setting up a caretaker’s flat to live in above their premises is a traditional way to reduce overheads and debt for a small business.
To prevent that — in a world where more industrial work is clean and quiet, where small business is the majority local employer, where physically large enterprises are rarer, and where the council is actively promoting Dunedin as hospitable to small business — is hard to understand.
There are purposebuilt and adapted industrial/residential developments in Wanaka, Christchurch and many other towns and cities that are very popular and successful. Is it really beyond us to manage that kind of useful, positive, growthpromoting relationship here? David Cohen
Dunedin
Steamer Basin
YOUR report of the Van Brandenburgdesigned building for the Marisfrolg fashion house (ODT, 8.11.18) showed the extraordinary imagination of these local architects, I thought rather reminiscent of Gaudi’s work in Barcelona, and with delightful embellishments crafted by local manufacturers.
As many people visit this Spanish city to admire his work, on a gentler scale, the cockleshell buildings of the Steamer Basin project may likewise prove attractive in our own city.
We already have here the most photographed building in New Zealand, the marvellous Railway Station; let’s hope we can add to our architectural wealth with the Van Brandenburg statement at the Steamer Basin. R. Gardner
Waverley
Teachers
WHAT’S wrong with our primary teachers? It appears they are not a patch on their grandparents’ generation of teachers. My childhood photo album shows classes now are half the size that they were when I was at primary school. Starting in 1950 at Fendalton Open Air School in Christchurch our class was 32 young 5yearolds. Next year, I moved to the new Ilam School in a class of 30 6 yearolds. Standards 2 and 3 had 43 and 46 pupils respectively, and form 1 had 46 pupils.
The protest photos speak for themselves. Smarten up, modern teachers. Bonnie Miller Perry
Mt Pisa
Armistice Day
THE Armistice Day commemoration service in my church was very moving, so were those broadcast over the radio or on TV. However, were lessons learnt from it?
In his fourth form year at secondary school — about 14 years of age — our son went with his school on a social studies trip to France. We were told about some the places they would be visiting, especially the war graves. He was then tasked with looking for the graves of a few relatives who never returned from the war. Upon his return from the trip, he was such a different person — rather subdued and sensible. When we asked about his trip and the results of his search for the graves of the relatives, he just about had tears in his eyes, as he told us that some of those soldiers that died were only 15 years old. He matured rather quickly. I can understand why the Canadians were sending their young people to Vimy Ridge War Museum to take on roles as tourist guides — reality matures them. Margaret Scott
Auckland