A step forward
I can only applaud our new Housing Minister's programme. Chris Bishop has returned to a style of conservatism that incorporates moral and social justice objectives that seemed to have been abandoned by the current government, when they announced their 100day programme of policy reversals.
Bishop's recognition of our failures to provide affordable housing, reduce levels of poverty and inequalities as well as the need for brown and green land intensification for new truly affordable housing, is a game changer. The question is will his racist and reactionary partners in this tri-partite government allow it to happen?
Given the historic reluctance of the National Party and other more right-wing groups to use the state powers and finances of central government to correct the so-called market forces, it will be interesting to see the ministers detailed plan of action. We can only live in hope that this government has retained a moral commitment to social justice.
Paul Green, Waimarama Village
What consulting?
I read with interest Tuesday’s article about the “high quality” consultation work done by the council’s communications and engagement team. The reality of their consultation work as experienced by some residents is quite different.
For the Thorndon-Wadestown cycleway, there has been zero contact for two severely impacted properties, between the Town Belt on lower Wadestown Rd.
There was no contact during the original consultation in December 2021/January 2022, when only cycling advocates were made aware that the council was seeking input.
There was no contact following the change to the Wadestown Rd route in a council meeting in 2022.
There was no contact or communications at all during the period of “consultation with affected residents” in August 2023. Affected residents in Park St, Grant Rd and Wadestown Rd above the Town Belt were contacted, but not these two properties.
It is a mystery as to why this has happened. A simple look at aerial photographs would allow all affected properties to be identified. A walk, drive or even, dare I say it, a cycle ride along the route would also allow this. None of these simple means of identifying the affected properties appears to have been done.
Inadequate performance – definitely. Peter Steel, Thorndon
Buyers out there
Talk about overstatement. Opposition to the council’s plans to cut car parks from the Eastern side of Cuba St has created an overstatement competition (The Post, February 28). The winner must be Karl Tiefenbacher: “You might as well close the shops right now. It is ludicrous, it is insanity.” A close second is Nicola Young, “It is just nuts – the council is supposed to be supporting Wellington, not killing Wellington.” But number one for paranoia must be Annie Minerva, “I can only conclude it is part of an ideological war on cars and independent retailers”.
The council rightly deems climate change an emergency. It’s war is on reducing the burning of fossil fuels, not the cars themselves and certainly not retailers. People buy stuff, not cars. Look at Lower Cuba St – congenial, few or no cars, people everywhere, many buying. Russell Tregonning, Seatoun
Powering up
Geert Gelling is not the first of your correspondents suggesting that nuclear power is the solution to generating carbon-free power (Letters, February 28). He claims it is safe.
Former inhabitants of Chernobyl or Fukushima might beg to differ. He also ignores a couple of other problems. No country has yet been able to develop and run a storage facility for highly-radioactive spent nuclear fuel, which is mostly kept on site in nuclear power stations.
These facilities would have to guarantee the waste is stored safely for thousands of years. Who can make such a guarantee in our volatile world? Lastly, nuclear power generation is hideously expensive, ridiculously more so than already available renewable energy sources, so really only the builders of the plants and the generating companies would make a profit. Everybody else would pay the cost. Bad idea. Laurence Harger, Seatoun
Collective acceptance
Correspondents have put forward a multitude of “solutions” to Wellington’s water woes, but an increasingly common thread is the need to stop “band aiding” the problem by giving primary emphasis to fixing leaks as they appear, and to address the real problem, which is the complete replacement of the ageing supply network.
The current network is no longer “fit for purpose” and for every leak fixed several new leaks appear (ie, Wellington Water is fighting a losing battle).
From an engineering point of view such a shift in emphasis is sensible and do-able. But the elephant in the room is the cost – now ballooning out to several billions if not trillions of dollars. This is well beyond the ability of government – local or central – to fund, under the current governmental settings.
Central and local government need to come together, face up to the cost involved and agree on a financial plan which will fund the work required. Simply reprioritising existing expenditure will not come close to being enough.
New funding will be needed and this will inevitably fall back on taxpayers, present and future. Our collective acceptance of that reality will be an essential part of the solution.
Bas Walker, Wellington
Why urgency?
Can anyone explain to me why the smoking laws are being repealed under urgency? Could it be the lawmakers do not wish to hear the death rates being talked about in public? Shame on them, especially if they claim to be Christians. Mike Nightingale, New Plymouth
News demise
It is absolutely outrageous that this government could even consider allowing Newshub to go under. They are the owners of TVNZ and, if they allow the demise of Newshub, they will always be subject to suggestions that they control the news. We desperately need independent news reporting in Aotearoa New Zealand. I have nothing but the utmost admiration for all the journalists who have impartially reported on their own potential loss of an important job in the news this evening.
Peter Wyllie, York Bay
Toon-ing in
Maybe instead of investing in New Zealand television news programmes Warner Brothers is returning to its roots and what it does best, making Bugs Bunny cartoons.
Carole Naylor, Papakowhai
Cheers to the workers
It is well known that poor pipes have caused outrage for the Wellington public. Hundreds of thousands of litres of good quality water are being wasted every day. While me, as one of the few, have a different opinion. We see the workers, out on the street, working hard to stop leaks, and trying to fix problems that they did not create. So let's not get frustrated with them.
According to Stuff (February 13), on Wednesday morning there were 3337 confirmed open leaks and another 803 yet to be confirmed. Since that date, there have been many fixed. In Petone, there was a massive leak that has now been fixed, saving a huge amount of water.
Wellington Water said the increased number of leaks was due to the age of the water pipes. It is estimated around 45% of our drinking water is going into council pipes was lost to leaks.
At the end of the day, I think the hard working people, fixing the problem, need more respect. Thank you to those people, doing the physical mahi to make our city more liveable. Next time you are stopped in traffic, by some good people fixing a leak, don't get frustrated. Tobiah Maurd, Wadestown
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