The challenge to us authors is to try to create backyard books that kids are motivated to read. However, the books have to reach the kids that most need them, and that's where the mobile library kicks in.
Maybe this should be factored into the fiscal equation by Tauranga City Council when making such a huge call that can only add an extra burden to the already heavy load that Merivale community leaders are carrying.
Kia kaha, Merivale - your community deserves and needs a mobile library more than most. (Abridged.)
Tommy Kapai, Te Puna
Fluoride risk
In reply to Garth George's rant about fluoride and those who oppose its introduction to our water supply (Times, March 17 ):
People are entitled to their opinions without being denigrated by those who are not up with modern research. Attack ideas, not those who hold them.
Supposed benefits of fluoridation have been convincingly disproved recently. The United States Centre for Disease Control has reported that dental fluorosis (discoloured teeth), the visible sign of fluoride overdose, now afflicts up to 48 per cent of school children and fluoride's purported benefits are topical but its risks are systemic, including bone diseases and cancer.
In a landmark case in 2005, the European Court of Justice ruled "fluoridated water must be treated as a medicine, and cannot be used to prepare foods".
While fluoride does occur naturally in most water systems, the silicofluorides used by fluoridating communities are waste products of phosphate fertiliser production and carry trace amounts of lead, arsenic, mercury and other toxins, according to NSF International, the governing body over water additives.
Many years ago, Tauranga residents voted fluoride out of the water supply for good reason. Congratulations to Tauranga City Council for its forward thinking in producing high-quality, non-fluoridated water. Long may this continue.
Alan Willoughby, Welcome Bay
Cater for parents
The problem facing any would-be provider of parenting education is that the need they're servicing is universal, it's not just something peculiar to parents experiencing difficulties.
Training trainers to deliver parenting programmes (BOP Times Weekend, March 17) certainly increases availability but even scaling up that way won't see all parents catered for.
Besides, the approach being used by the DHB-funded Triple P Positive Parenting Programme, being trialled by four DHBs, only targets "parents who want to improve their parenting skills". To get the full benefit, parenting education must target all parents.
That can only come about by a programme capable of meeting that circumstance. Being low-cost, respectful of parental sovereignty and non-stigmatising are part of the requirement.
It must be capable of being delivered in a multiplicity of ways - advantage must be taken of modern communication technology so it can be accessed as, where and when needed.
Without having a DIY learning strategy in the mix we're never going to see parenting education prosper, so will never reap the full benefits of what it can deliver.
When is the thinking going to change? When is a publicly funded, universal parenting education scheme going to become available?
Laurie Loper, Pyes Pa
Job growth stifled
It seems to me that the biggest problem facing the Western world, New Zealand and Tauranga is all the same. Getting jobs for people.
I read much blather about training and educating people. However this will not create jobs. Further reading shows much blather from governments about innovation. Innovation is in abundance - it does not create jobs.
By drilling down into data about employment, the "smack in the face" result is that jobs are created by successful small businesses. Entrepreneurship is scarce. Grow this sector and jobs will follow.
What can Tauranga do to generate jobs? Remove as many obstacles as possible for entrepreneurs to flourish.
The article on Bob Clarkson's beef about lack of industrial land is an obvious area that council can and should address with urgency.
The polytechnic and university run courses on business, but I don't see anything on creating entrepreneurs. Sure, some will fail and grab media headlines, but statistically more will succeed and it's the successful ones who will generate the jobs we need.
Priority One is funded to grow the economy of the Tauranga region, where it has a business incubator to help grow these entrepreneurs.
Let's be clear: governments at any level do not create sustainable jobs. Business does. But government can inhibit job growth by hobbling businesses with regulation and bad planning.
Or so it seems to me.
Roy Edwards, Tauranga
Velodrome plan
Susan Devoy (BOP Times, March 17), suggests councils, and for that matter all organisations, need fresh blood; she believes the focus for councils should be on getting their core business and functions right.
Susan deplores Dunedin Council's rugby bailout, yet recently promoted the Home of Cycling Trust's proposal for a $28.5 million cycle velodrome (likened by thousands to a white elephant) - to be built on the grounds of St Peter's private school in Cambridge - as good for us. "Yeah right," said 64 per cent of the 7000 submitters to the Waikato Regional Council.
Who is being asked to fund the $28.5 million so-called "community facility"? The Government's sporting arm, Sparc, will fund $7 million with ratepayers from both sides of the hill being asked to fund much of the balance - $6 million from Waikato ratepayers, an extra $1 million from Waipa ratepayers, and the trust now pursues Bay of Plenty ratepayers for another $1-2 million, having scaled back its original $4 million request.
It's Bay ratepayers' time to have a say, as your regional council's annual plan is about to open for consultation.
(Abridged.)
Jane Hennebry, Waikato Regional Councillor
Motorist mayhem
I believe that your prediction of mayhem when the old intersection rules are reinstated next week will prove to be incorrect. It was about 30 years ago when the incompetent roading bureaucrats introduced the rules which are now being replaced at last, and I have often wondered why they have been perpetuated for so long.
Congratulations to the current bureaucrats and to the Government. For 30 years we have had to put up with a right/left-turn rule that has been dangerous, and a T-intersection rule which was impractical and once again more hazardous for through traffic.
While I can recall some adverse comment 30 years ago there was no mayhem, so it will be interesting to see if New Zealand drivers are collectively dumber now than in the old days. Yes, there will be a temporary rise in crashes - hopefully none serious - and we can expect the media will have headlines which are more dramatic than reality. Most younger motorists will be pleasantly surprised at the outcome.
Bill Capamagain, Tauranga
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