There was a massive CME in June and a more recent one on August 2 which arrived here on August 4.
If Mr Oakley cares to Google "coronal mass ejections"(CME) a lot of information is available, as part of a fascinating subject, known as "space weather".
John Wightman, Tauranga
Who's to blame?
Council adds $32.5m more debt (News, August 17).
The article says the $26 million historical shortfall in growth funding came about because development fees were set too low including unexpected increases in land costs, inflation not being taken into account and new roading projects after the fees were set. Also, the council made changes to the source of funding for interest costs and some project costs.
These are simple factors to be taken into account in any planning/budgeting exercise so who was responsible for the incompetence?
Or are councillors expected to be budget advisers as well as monitor outcomes. Just who is responsible for monitoring the outcomes that should have highlighted the future shortfalls?
The council has plenty of highly paid executives but seem to lack staff of even basic competence.
Stuart Keene, Otumoetai
Shut the library
How serendipitous that council slashed $30 million from their budgets to avoid a credit downgrade.
But they didn't really did they? The mayor decided to leave the rates increases in place to pay off debt. Now the monster they created for themselves has surfaced and is demanding the remarkably similar figure of $32.5million.
Did they know this was coming? How could they not?
It is quite obvious that the downstream costs of subdivision should be met by the developer before construction, these costs can be added to the price of the section at the point of sale. It would then be up to the developer to decide if the project was financially viable.
We now know that growth does not pay for growth so why do we need it? The council definitely should consider their options before the Wairakei development goes too far.
Talking about debt, we have just upgraded Greerton Library, why does the council want to spend a further $500,000 to extend it again when few people use it?
It seems to me that it probably should close. We are quite well served with libraries here in Tauranga and I, for one, don't resent travelling into town to use the excellent main library.
Dan Russell, Welcome Bay
Absolute debacle
Re: Council adds $32.5m more debt (News, August 17).
What an absolute debacle. This is another example of gross incompetence within TCC. The person or persons responsible for such a major mistake should be suspended immediately, pending a full investigation by an independent arbitrator.
The miscalculations of development fees must have been occurring for a considerable time for such a large loss to be accumulated.
Mayor Crosby made the most inane comment in the article: "We must do something." Brilliant.
Councillors Baldock, Molloy, Guy, Curach and Stewart appear to have a grasp of the situation and the consequences.
The need to increase rates by nearly 1 per cent to cover interest will go down really well with ratepayers just after an 11 per cent increase.
Tauranga has the highest development fees of any local body in NZ. No wonder there is very little going on at the moment.
The time is ripe to campaign for an independent commissioner to be appointed to take the place of our incompetent council, and insist his first job is to institute a full audit of all council staff.
Roger Bailey, Papamoa Beach
Cup ignored
I have just returned from 99 days in Melbourne, England and Italy and there was no mention on the news, newspaper, or people talking of the Rugby World Cup.
It is just a non-event overseas.
Wendy Galloway, Omokoroa
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