Letters: Development, Air Force complaints, wildlife and public transport

Hold off the development of further land until our roading and infrastructure has caught up, a reader urges.

Good on you Mayor Greg Brownlees (News, February 24), I've waited a long time for someone in council to put developers in their place. Nobody owes them a living and no matter how conducive the market is for sales, not one of them has done a thing to make land for housing affordable. You are quite right to hold off the development of further land until our roading and infrastructure has caught up.
Dan Russell
Tauranga

Complaints miss point
Have these people nothing better to do than complain about the noise from the recent Air Force exercise (News, March 3) at the airport? Don't they realise that it is essential for our forces to train to remain an efficient and effective force? It brings to mind the Rudyard Kipling poem Tommy which dealt with the same subject (public attitude to troops in peacetime). "For it's Tommy this, an' Tommy that, an` Chuck him out, the brute!' But it's 'Saviour of 'is country' when the guns begin to shoot."
Get a life people, get a life.

Robert England
Papamoa

Wildlife concerns
Councillor Bill Grainger has proposed solutions to traffic congestion issues from Welcome Bay (News, March 3). While there certainly is a problem, Bill's apparent disregard for the wildlife that uses the old bridge supports is of significant concern.

White fronted terns are an endemic bird listed as "at risk" of extinction due to environmental disturbance and human factors (such as development). The terns have nested on the old bridge supports for at least 10 years, offering a unique wildlife experience right in our backyard. Community initiatives have improved breeding habitat for the terns in recent years. Other species regularly using the old bridge include the rare little black shag, herons, and more.

The bridge is a small part of a much bigger problem. Long commuter times in Tauranga today are caused by systemic issues with the entire transportation network, resulting from past refusal by the council on which Bill sits to implement cheap and effective solutions such as one-way roads, safe cycleways, reliable public transport, and more.

It is a bit late, but these ideas are finally on the table. However, those solutions must not include sacrificing special wildlife.
Dr Ian G. McLean
Tauranga

Public transport
An embarrassing rant and rave about a bus driver's allergies and two hours to travel 12km were the only two negatives I experienced recently when car woes forced me to use public transport. Generally though, I was grateful for the service, its connecting buses (once learned) and the drivers. The bus driver on one particular trip announced loudly, albeit too late when smelling the air, there was to be no sprays on that bus.

The few of us travelling at the time heard about the experience of a hospital admission from a previous incident. Due to the driver's emotive state and the time allowed I resisted fessing up or sharing how sensitive I too am with smells containing chemicals and that the essential oil I use is not a spray, is therapeutic and totally natural.

Some questions in relation to this incident: Is this appropriate behaviour by the driver? What rights has the driver? What has the employer done to mitigate risk of chemical reaction for the driver? (such as a sign asking passengers not to use sprays or aromas). My second point was of the gridlock at peak-hour. Aside from improving public transport so people can leave their cars at home and/or we build more infrastructure to cater for the increased and increasing number of vehicles, could we look to other countries for innovative solutions, include a think tank (possibly a competition) to find futuristic long-term solutions. It is possible.
Gillian Cook
Welcome Bay