Letters to Editor: Make our beaches attractive

I totally agree with David Rayner from Westshore about "beach shame". Westshore beach and Marine Parade beach are both embarrassing to the residents of Napier.

Mighty idea with the pathways, well done, but we do need to think of the big picture and make our beaches more attractive and useable.

Spend the money to build the groynes and create the safe beaches.

Stop wasting money to replenish the beach with gravel that gets washed away. Do it right.

Create a couple of surf breaks left and right of the Marine Parade; sink a ship for the divers; a jetty for fishing and a great place to look back at Napier from; and nice sandy beaches with plenty of picnic areas with good shady trees for families, instead of wasting money on the project planned between Marineland and the aquarium.

As a ratepayer I would not mind paying extra towards it all, with the intent that once visitor numbers increase due to the attraction, council rates are reassessed.

Work with the Port of Napier, who are willing to help fund our coastline especially when they are the reason our beaches are in the state they are.

Sell leasehold land, both residential and commercial, at a fair price to raise funds. The return on visitors will outweigh the rental amount NCC gets for leaseholds per year.

Napier is a great place, it has everything but nice beaches to make it a complete holiday destination even for residents.Greg WattsNapierMerger ployAny amalgamation of councils would be weighted in Hastings' favour, as it has the larger population. Hence Mr Yule's aggressive campaigning for a merger, as obviously he would have the numbers to become mayor of a new super council.

I fail to see how Mr Tremain is representing Napier's best interests with his fanciful list of what the collective thinking of a merger could bring about. Surely such things as improving the highway between Rotorua and Wairoa is the Government's responsibility, not the ratepayers of Hastings and Napier?

Don't we have a trio of National MPs who have the numbers behind them? So why aren't they using their collective thinking to make Hawke's Bay prosper.

I see Mr Tremain would also like to take away our Hawke's Bay power dividends. Don't we get a say in these things anymore?

Also a message to SDP - the Government funds the hospital for the people of Hawke's Bay, not just Hastings, hence the name Hawke's Bay Health. So Napier's taxes already pay their share, but you want us to pay extra. No wonder most people in Napier are not interested in amalgamation.Ann PirretNapier