Letters: Traffic improvements creating even worse situation

The "so-called" roading improvements undertaken in Greerton should just be reversed, a reader says.

Last week I visited Greerton Village to look at the so-called roading improvements undertaken and all I can say is that they should just be reversed and I support the call reported (News, February 23) to undertake remedial work to fix the problems that the city council's transport department has created.

Why is it that the council seems to undertake roading improvements that invariably create an even worse situation and I would be saying that this is a council department that requires change as they will not change without new leadership and new ways of doing things.

Unlike both Rotorua and Taupo, we seem to install pedestrian crossings and traffic lights everywhere, resulting in reduced vehicle flow and the loss of numerous car parks but sadly for little benefit.

Yellow lines festoon the city with many appearing in the most unnecessary and unlikely places such as recently in Carmichael Rd where visitors to the Bethlehem Country Club and the Ryman Bob Owens Village can no longer park on the road due to hundreds of metres of yellow lines.

Time for a change. (Abridged)

Mike Baker
Bethlehem

Disabled car parks

I am an amputee in a wheelchair and love going to Pilot Bay with my grandsons as it's safe and easy to watch them from the grassy areas.

There are only four car parks for the disabled, and only one is fully suitable for our vehicle which has a rear auto ramp. The most suitable is at the end of Pilot Bay and is very safe for me to exit from our vehicle's rear ramp.

On our arrival last week, we went to see if it was available but found a vehicle with a boat trailer in the disabled car park. We had to park in the normal car park on the side of the road and exit on to the road with my wife watching the traffic.

We gave the driver of the vehicle in the disabled car park the benefit of the doubt as we thought they might be displaying the parking permit, but on checking there was no permit displayed.

This happens so many times, not just in this park, but able-bodied drivers think they will park and 'just run into the shop quickly' but that is not acceptable, and the authorities need to make the fines higher to deter these people who think that because the park is empty, they can use it.

I think the offending drivers should be made to live in a wheelchair for seven days; they may get a glimpse of life in a wheelchair.

My advice to these drivers, don't use car parks designated for legal Disability Parking Permit holders.

R. Warner
Pyes Pa

Mount Base track

I wish to offer my congratulations and thanks to the Bay of Plenty Times for continuing to highlight the woeful performance of the Tauranga City Council regarding the failed reopening of the Mount Base Track. This has been done, in the main, by publishing letters to the editor from concerned residents.

We, the local electorate, are, to a large degree, TCC's employers and they need to start listening to us ( and also those concerned with the Greerton roading shambles and the Phoenix Park redevelopment).

I have a civil engineering background and find the almost two-year delay and $2.2 million budget to be ludicrous. Perhaps, if we the voters refused to pay our quarterly water rates until the base track was reopened, our "employees" might start to take some action.

Andrew Lattimore
Mt Maunganui

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