Letters: Mount park revamp not what was promised

Mount Maunganui's new partially-opened park, Te Papa o Nga Manu Porotakataka. PHOTO / ANDREW WARNER.

I am a relatively new resident in Mount Maunganui and feel pressed to say how incredibly disappointed I am in the council for using public funds to create a concrete monstrosity in the centre of the Mount village.

Initially, I was delighted in the change, thinking that an urban green area would encompass large trees, lots of grass, lovely gardens; a place for the residents and visitors to sit under shade, enjoy the surroundings and relax, picnic or whatever. In fact, that seemed highly appropriate given that there are a lot of retirees living in the vicinity (and many of them may not be extremely mobile), the number of overseas visitors as well as the temperatures being so hot.

However, this ridiculous development seems more appropriate to the skateboard age group as it is mostly concrete with a little bit of green here and there. The trees (those that there are) are small and are dying from lack of water - not a good look for people visiting our shores.

We were led to believe one thing a couple of years ago, and have been presented with something totally different and an absolute eyesore. The sooner it is got rid of, the better. We want to enhance our village, offer more than just shops and restaurants and attract more visitors and revenue. Someone has got things very wrong and I don't believe that your promising that "the work hasn't finished yet" will provide anything like the picture we were originally presented. (Abridged)

Kathy Landsman
Pilot Bay

Costly repair

Really? $2.2m to fix the Mount Base Track? That's disgusting Tauranga City Council.

The cost, in my view, comes in when TCC hire surveyors to look at the track and put their 5 cents worth in.

That's where all the money goes, to people who probably don't even walk the track. It doesn't have to be flash, it just needs to be safe. PD workers could do all the labour because they have to complete their hours and what a view they get to have, not just that, they can say that they helped shape Mauao.

PD workers do a great job around the region, good on them. Go on TCC, check it out for yourselves. Just don't balls it up like you did in Greerton.

Selina Elvin
Te Puna

Bus service

It is amazing that the regional council officers who tendered the bus services did not do their due diligence to ensure that tenderers had sufficient resources (drivers) to fulfil the contract before it was awarded. This is a very basic rule of tendering and, in my view, shows an alarming level of incompetence.

Russell Wenn
Oropi

Nation's name

A recent television news report stated that China has concerns over the political stance of Aotearoa. Our nation is New. Zealand. Not Aotearoa New Zealand and certainly not just Aotearoa. When will this insidious corruption of our nationality cease? When will this be seen by the Government as grossly unacceptable?
At the signing of the Treaty, Maori used Niu Tirani as the country's name.

Bryan Johnson
Omokoroa

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