Letters To Editor: Reform without amalgamation

Reform without amalgamation
I write in response to both S Nichols and Denyse Watkins (Letters, June 21) on the subject of amalgamation. You both give good emotive reasons why you feel Hastings and Napier should amalgamate, however, neither of you have answered Stuart Nash's call for a business case.
S Nichols waxes lyrical about missed opportunities and the benefits of acting like one community. I fail to see why we can't make the progress they long for with two separate councils that, while representing the best interests of their own constituents, work together for the benefit of the region (oh, and don't be misled on sewerage, even if we had an amalgamated council, we would still need two sewerage plants - that's just down to geography).
Denyse Watkins appears to be a recent convert to the cause, more out of a frustration with the current set-up than an ideal for amalgamation. I say to her: Rather than throw the baby out with the bath water, let's improve what we have.
I totally agree that both Hastings District Council and, to a greater extent, Napier City Council are in need of radical reform. So let's push for that reform, without losing our representation. Your solution of merging and cutting costs will inevitably end up with job losses. Where will those staff go?
There are already few if any jobs available in the Bay. On that basis, merging the councils will have a negative impact on our economy, not the positive one sought by S Nichols.
Let's fix what we have now and make it work for us, the residents of both Hastings and Napier, rather than spending vast resources on changing the whole system, only to have to make the same fixes in the years to come.
Sam Hill, Hastings
Big is not beautiful
My initial reaction was of stunned disbelief that ex-Napier city councillor Denyse Watkins should have jumped ship.But on reflection, I see Denyse has physically jumped ship. She now lives in debt ridden Hasting district, and perhaps it is that, that has coloured her stance.
I have lived through two amalgamations, and we are all publicly witnessing the current debacle of the new Auckland Super City, and the costs associated with it. Both the ones I lived through cost me money, big time, in increased rates. There were not any savings, they were ephemeral fancies of those seeing themselves important in the big new picture.
The real gain - it made our elected representatives even more remote and less aware of what the people really needed. You couldn't actually talk to them, you had to do it through your Local Community Council, another expensive tier in the system. The reality was that they submitted minutes to the council, who tabled them; which means they could accept them but do nothing about them. It was the good old 'P into a Wellington southerly'.
Now Denyse can be excused for not knowing about the reality of those mergers, but she has no excuse for not being aware of the new Auckland Super City fiasco. I am sure she does not wish that on our "beautiful Hawke's Bay".
She used to be a champion of public participation and those that dared to question the 'establishment'. Under a new and Super city, she cannot believe that will improve.
The days of 'big are beautiful' have passed, in the majority of cases failed because they were too big for the people involved to see the wood from the trees.
Small can be beautiful and prosperous, if Denyse wants to see an example of that, she should go and visit and learn from the thriving small community of Tirau. In the main it just needs people with vision and drive and the ability to cut their cloth according to their income. And of course to spend it wisely. (Abridged)
Philip M Ward, Napier
Survey questioned
You ask if the so-called "New Zealand's most trusted" survey can be trusted. (HBT June 21).
I ask: What is the point of the survey? Apart from filling in the surveyors' strenuously demanding day at the office, there's little to be gained from the outcome, because the pollsters were given a list of pre-determined names and groups from which to rank their preferred order. That seems rather restrictive. If it were not so limited, I would have promoted journalists (naturally!) and estate agents off the bottom of "least-trusted professions" and have them replaced with marketers of all sorts, including telemarketers and NZ Post.Garry WhincopNapier
Move truck routesIt is time truck routes were removed from urban areas of Clive and Marine Parade and put in the rightful place - the expressway. It is understood that a justification for spending taxpayers' money on a new expressway was to divert large trucks away from urban areas. The truck crash near Clive bridge on Monday, June 13 and the frequently loud deceleration and acceleration by trucks through Clive areas is conviction that many truck drivers do not abide by the speed limit in their hurry to deliver their load. It is time council bylaws concerned with trucking routes were revised to make Clive and Marine Parade safer and pleasant places to he.
A McQueen, Clive