Bay of Plenty letters: Phoenix Park overhaul disappointing; plastic bags

The new park at Mount Maunganui. Image / File

Phoenix Park disappointing

The family visited Phoenix Park recently, and the verdict is, "a colourless disappointment".

If the council's intention was to create an oasis of peace and tranquillity in Mainstreet they have failed.

The grassed areas are smaller that portrayed, there's no shade, sitting on concrete walls is not ideal and the few visitors that tried soon moved on due to the uncomfortable seating, lack of shade and skateboarders intrusion which shattered any sense of peace and tranquillity.

Max Lewis
Mount Maunganui.

Waste of money

As a resident of the Mount I was gobsmacked by the lunacy of spending $3 million turning what was a practical carpark, into what could be predicted to turn into a skateboarder heaven.

And that is exactly what happened. The concrete and seating was completed, the fences came down, and the skateboarders arrived.

So within about the next 24 hours the damage began to occur. The vast expanse of grey concrete is now marked, the concrete seats and slopes are now chipped.

But who would want to relax and sit in the place anyway, a perfect place for sunburn for the tourists, what a waste of money, should have been spent on the overdue repairs needed to the Mount track, caused by erosion well over a year ago, and still not repaired. Strange priorities.

Christine Treacher
Mount Maunganui

Pastic not fantastic

The British government's clever ploy to name all the supermarket bags "single-use bags", has backfired. It has just been revealed that UK supermarkets have responded by issuing more than one BILLION "bags for life" last year.

The bags are made of much thicker plastic material and are widely promoted here. I wonder what part of the environment they are saving. Incidentally, I was given such a bag on a trip to the UK a few years ago. It said "bag for life" on it.

I brought it back and it lasted less than a year before falling apart. The answer? ...... I now use string bags from the US, ideal for most things.

Will our next election be the plastic fantastic?

Maurice Mckeown
Tauranga

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