BUS STOP VOTING
In response to A.Reid who said that I voted to move the Bus Stop from Gascoigne St , you really need to check your facts. Intercity did not want to have a permanent base in town and gave up their lease. Their intention was for people to be dropped out at Wairakei BP. I am happy to have voted to retain a bus stop and pick up in the town centre. We also were able to sell the empty deserted space on Gascoigne St for over $1m which went straight to debt repayment. As a smaller town - Taupo punches well above it’s weight and I am proud to be a councillor who is at the council table to move Taupo forward and not be a handbrake. Anna Park (nee Kirk)
LITTER
I have just returned from a lengthy road journey through California’s Yosemite and other splendid national parks in the Sierras and Nevada. I was struck by the lack of roadside litter in both States and put this down to prominent road signs warning of a $1000 fine for littering and by the presence of occasional CCT cameras. In our beautiful country there is a sector who do not give a toss about keeping the landscape pristine and what is working well over there I believe could be implemented here at little cost compared to the endless cleaning up after these thoughtless people. George Reed
RESERVE LANDS
Kia ora, in the last few months waikato regional councillor Kathy White has written some very interesting articles to the local papers.
I will be voting for her in this years local body elections and the reason why is because for months she has been talking about consultation or lack of consultation in this case.
It appears to me that in the granting of the amount of $55,000 unbudgeted money to the Go Tongariro group that perhaps Go Tongariro and the Taupo council need to understand the word consultation.
The council is well aware that all the settled treaty claims in this rohe have all included as part of the settlements, that iwi, hapu and whanau have to be consulted before you can move on with planning in this area and in most of new zealand where maori and the treaty of waitangi are concerned.
What I am saying is Turangi shopping centre has lots of real estate belonging to local hapu and maori trust.
They also have vast estates of land and buildings in this rohe as well as reserve lands.
At no time that i know of has go tongariro or taupo district council consulted with the hapu or trusts as to their plans for maori land in the town centre.
As ngati tuwharetoa are due in the near future to settle their iwi claim with the Crown , and will end up with more real estate and reserves Go Tongariro and the council have no right to tell tangata whenua what they want here.
Tangata whenua do not want a mini queenstown, all they want is to be able to determine the future their way, and to be consulted on anything where they are concerned just as we ratepayers would like as well.
It is well known that every time someone has planned something all our ratepayers get to take more money out of our pockets to pay for the new toys and at the moment lots of the ratepayers already have empty pockets, and not much to show for it. Virginia Church
INTERNET CHATTER
We bought our first home just a few months ago VERY lucky - Brianna Asplin commenting on rising house prices story on Facebook/Taupo Times