Letters: Budget blowout, SH2 and South Africa

The revelation that the Phoenix carpark redevelopment Is close to $500,000 over budget is in an absolute disgrace, a reader says. Image/Supplied.

Phoenix carpark redevelopment

The revelation (News, September 19) that the Phoenix carpark redevelopment Is close to $500,000 over budget (being plus 25 per cent), is in my view, an absolute disgrace and just goes to prove that this unnecessary redevelopment should never have proceeded in the first place.

Councillors that supported this project should be soundly criticised and also held to account for wasting valuable ratepayer resources when other more pressing projects such as roading, water stormwater, sewerage and flooding issues should have been addressed first.

Sadly, it appears that we have a council that contains too many elected representatives that seem to have the ability to make bad decisions which then negatively impact on the financial resources of ratepayers.

Mike Baker
Bethlehem

Keep to the speed limit

Amazing how many of your contributors who bang on about the Northern Highway do not even travel along it.

They obviously do not understand the frustration that is caused by the dithering bunch of do-gooders that bumble along with a huge tailback of traffic behind.

The only opportunity to overtake is the lanes at Apata, Whakamaramara and the roundabouts at Te Puna and Bethlehem all of which are woefully inadequate and normally hindered by the ditherers speeding up at these points.

Okay, most of the crashes are head-ons, and speed may not be the issue, simply inattention. Why then travel at 60km in a 100km area?

Acknowledged that the impact will be greater, but it's still going to hurt a lot at 60km. I would rather be doing 100km and spend significantly less time actually exposed to the idiots who are going to bash into me. Do the sums.

Instead of building crash barriers on the side of the road, stick an Armco barrier all the way along the centre until the road is rebuilt as a four laner. And please if you don't use it just remember that some of us do and do not want to spend any more seconds on it than we have to.

Janet Lacey
Katikati

Stick to your knitting

A TV rugby commentator chose to close his programme last night venting his spleen on the presence of an old South African flag at the rugby ground in Wellington.

Go home, he told the owners. He was offended by the violation of human rights the flag represented. Fair enough.

However, it is of interest that he remained deathly silent about the violation of human rights presently being experienced in the same country. Why not reveal consistency in the argument? The new flag (which I really like) represents a country in which there is shocking abuse of human rights at present.

My suggestion would be: Stick to your knitting - rugby commentary. Choose to pay careful attention to your own society that has a few weeping wounds of its own - a few statistics relating to the human condition that are not representative of the best in civilised, Western countries.

Gordon D Paterson
Ohauiti