The Bay of Plenty Times welcomes letters and comments from readers. Below you can read the letters we have published in your newspaper today.
TODAY'S LETTERS:
Keep youth crime in perspective
Re Meeting attacks violent crime (News, August 4) and your earlier article on August 2, both concerning the meeting organised at Baycourt on August 3 to discuss issues facing local youth.
Both articles give the impression that there is at present an increasing and out-of-control problem with youth crime in the local area. However, the police statistics presented by Judge Andrew Becroft at the meeting showed that locally there was a downward trend in youth offending. While there has been some recent increase in violent offending, this was part of a general trend where the increase was less than that in other age categories.
While meetings such as this increasing awareness of problems local youth are facing are to be encouraged, care must be taken in presenting and reporting on these events not to resort to irrational scaremongering. Rather, efforts should be taken to communicate to the public at large that while many local youth face significant problems in establishing a quality life due to the problems such as poverty, racial inequality and dysfunctional family backgrounds, attempts to address these issues should not be driven out of fear but rather from a genuine wish to assist these young people in becoming future valuable members of our community.
Michael Sharp, Mount Maunganui
Cut costs now
Another good time to remind the council that prudent cost cuts on operating our city are required, we need to only look at what's going on in the world to realise generous spending on unnecessary projects in the past 11 years was not prudent. Councillors will depart like the previous CEO and the ratepayers will be holding the debt, stagnation is the reality.
Ian Waite, Mount Maunganui
Park's purpose
Re: Shantytown idea for All Terrain Park (News, August 6).
I understand the original purpose of the TECT All Terrain Park is to find a home for displaced sporting and adventure facilities, which require separation from urban areas for reasons of noise and safety.
The park has a finite size and filling it up with activities such as this reduces its ability to cater for its core purpose as more and more appropriate activities are driven to look for a new home. Undoubtedly sporting tourism opportunities will add value to this facility. Clearly a timber museum does not fit the guidelines of sporting tourism. Our community has seen the difficulties created by misplaced museums. Do we need another?
Linda Loughlin, Tauranga
Text Views
* Shocking addias that is at the end of day its making for company but sad for the people that cant afford it
* spoz u cant blame steve williams - afta al adam scott is only a one hit wunda so far
* Not impressd wth my 12.11% rates increase. We dont even get city sewerage where we r and value of property has gone down, so what is it paying for?
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