Proposal promising
In 2015, The Press revealed to us a superb design that could have/should have been our rebuilt cathedral.
From Sir Miles Warren, Christchurch’s most celebrated architect, it was modern gothic, utilising the existing stone base, but with a modern wooden interior, wooden cladding on the upper exterior walls and a copper roof. It was a stylish, elegant solution from a man who contributed so much to Christchurch architecture, strongly supported by a majority surveyed at the time. And the cost? Approximately $35.2 million!
Fast-forward to today, with no progress and more than $100m still required, and one might wonder how on earth it came to this. I believe the answer is the arrogance and intractability of the Great Christchurch Buildings Trust, whose conservative leadership has fought against everything the Anglican church has attempted.
Craig Minehan, Lyttelton
Creative diversity
A substantial part of cultural life in Ōtautahi Christchurch has for decades depended on the facilities and services provided by the Arts Centre. During my life I have attended countless performances, films and exhibitions there, and as an artist it has been a place where I have worked in so many different contexts during the past 30 years.
There is no other local site that draws in such creative diversity, thus providing unique opportunities for both artists and audiences. The Arts Centre is therefore absolutely crucial to the cultural life of the city and in order to continue to thrive, its management must remain in safe hands, requiring Christchurch City Council support.
If this support is abandoned as planned, the infrastructure and services it provides for the city will fail. To effectively destroy this would be a profoundly regressive decision.
How can it make fiscal and cultural sense to defund something that is so important and yet, in the grand scheme of things, only a modest expense? To proceed with this poorly considered and short-sighted plan to defund the Arts Centre would be a devastating, souldeflating and ultimately fiscally stupid move for the cultural life of this city. Reuben Derrick, Strowan
Treaty obligation
Abolishing Ngāi Tahu’s Māori ward is absolutely the wrong way to go (Mike Yardley, ECan’s Ngāi Tahu councillors should go, April 16). Since 1840 we’ve had an obligation to honour the spirit of the Treaty’s tino rangatiratanga clause, guaranteeing tribes the right to collectively govern their own affairs. Our signature on the UN’s Convention on the Rights of Indigenous People bolsters our obligation. Abolish ECan’s Māori ward; the obligation still remains.
Ngāi Tahu’s tribal representation to right their Treaty wrongs is a sincere attempt to honour the tino rangatiratanga clause. How is it “separatist” when it works within councils? Or “undemocratic” when tribal electors vote for these councillors? Or more “ethnically-based” than our local councils have been since 1876?
Today 35 of 78 councils have or want Māori wards, and the 2021 consultation process showed the majority of submitters wanted them. As do I.
Gary A Clover, Richmond, Tasman
Short memory
Mike Yardley asks: “How can you have a body anchored in democracy with a side serving of no democracy?” He has a short memory - our district health boards used to have elected members and appointed members - it was seen as a way of getting the best voices around the table.
Mike Yardley and the quoted David East have a particular view of these things clearly at variance with the experience of others around the table - thanks Peter Scott for speaking up about the benefits of having mana whenua around the table.
ECan is the richer for this collaboration - long may it continue. Rosemary Neave, Redcliffs
Poor productivity
Heather Roy’s column (Poor productivity, poor Kiwis, April 16) argues that “Lifting productivity is the top consideration of the new Government” and bemoans that the media is not focusing on that (an opinion), and instead highlighting the facts of massively disrupting job cuts across the public service and media.
Yes, it may be that some government departments have grown too much, but a more considered evaluation of priorities, and of the social and economic impacts of making so many people unemployed all at once (including many of our most educated), would be much more effective than the current slash and burn, where many essential services and skills are being lost.
Her arguments would also hold more water if the Government had not restored incentives for capital to be diverted away from productive activities and into “unproductive” house ownership, all to make themselves and their propertyowning friends wealthier.
Lin Roberts, Cashmere
Proper planning
It is disappointing to hear the Carter Group has approval to subdivide our valuable farmland at Lincoln.
The RMA is a useless tool that aids these developments for commercial gain without regard for strategic planning. Subdivisions both sides of the West Coast highway at West Melton and the west side of the motorway at Kaiapoi are examples.
The satellite towns around Christchurch contribute nothing to the expensive infrastructure of Christchurch like the art gallery, stadium, convention centre, sports centre, library etc.
However their continued expansion as dormitories rather than service centres for the farming communities only adds to the transportation mess.
Proper planning with rules is long overdue, otherwise towns like Rolleston, put together by developers, will be the norm from Amberley to Dunsandel. Richard Owen, Christchurch Central
Travel dominates
Your paper edition of Monday, April
15, is dominated by advertisements for international travel. These cover 16% of the print area. On the same theme, articles cover 9%, bringing the total to 25% of the paper.
Air travel and cruising are two of the most greenhouse gas emissions-intensive activities.
I realise that you need advertising revenue to survive. What about the need to reduce our emissions?
You provide only a tiny description of how people can supposedly reduce their “carbon footprint”. Also, on the Weather page there is brief data showing increasing CO2 in the atmosphere. I wonder how many people notice these offerings.
Warren Pettigrew’s letter, and its heading, Radical change, describes how we need to respond to the huge challenge of emissions reductions. This radical change needs to encompass the removal of the media’s reliance on advertising emissions-intensive activities.
Paul Broady, Somerfield
Government’s responses
Am I the only one confused and shocked by the Government’s responses to the situation in the Middle East? To recap, the score is:
The Hamas attack on Israel – condemned at every opportunity; Israel’s genocidal reprisal – hand-wringing over more than 30,000 killed, but no condemnation.
Israel’s attack on the Iranian embassy – now declared “illegal” by Foreign Minister Peters but a complete refusal by the PM to condemn it; Iran’s reprisal – total condemnation and the possibility of further sanctions against Iran.
Politicians should play fair and at least condemn them equally. There are no winners in war and Israel’s apparent attempt to increase US involvement in this conflict will have no good outcome. Ursula Ryan, Huntsbury