As a Napier ratepayer, I had the right along with everyone else to be part of the submission process as promised by the council in my allocated time-slot with my representative. The council took this from me.
The biggest insult to everyone who invested time, effort and expense to be there was to get yet another generic computer-generated letter after the hearing.
Over 730 fellow submitters and Marineland supporters would have received the same letter. I am told no other issue facing Napier has resulted in as many submissions over the years as Marineland. That's thousands of voices requesting the Napier City Council to save Marineland and to do the right thing by Napier citizens.
Napier City Council came out looking unprofessional, lacking in both organisational and communicational skills.
Our council doesn't appear to be listening to the ratepayers who voted for them. They seem to have made their decision long ago and they are sticking to it.
We still have hope, though, with the upcoming judicial review. Let's hope it is more positive and fairer on the residents of Napier city.
GERMAINE MEEUWS, Napier
Response from Napier City Council:
The council does provide for submitters to present to the hearings committee for the Annual Plan process.
Germaine provided a written submission to the council with a request to be heard at the hearing.
She elected not to be present at the hearing but submitted an audio recording for the council's consideration after being informed that it was not possible to transfer her submission to another person. Germaine's audio recording was heard in full by the council on Friday, June 3, 2011 at an open meeting of the hearings committee.
Protest correction
We were amused to read the front page headline "Key answers protesters at Hawke's Bay meeting" (Thursday, September 1) and we feel it is appropriate to comment on some inaccuracies in the article:
The headline is a misnomer. The PM did not "answer protesters" - he responded to concerned parents who had gone into the public meeting.
The Prime Minister was not "met" by protesters. We were advised he would go in through the main entrance, as other MPs and the public did. At the last minute, he changed his plans and snuck in through the back door.
We have received numerous comments from people who attended that there were only about 100 people inside the meeting, not "200 strong" as the article suggests.
We organised a protest of over 50 people in less than 36 hours: a diverse group not affiliated to any one political party who all share real concerns about the harmful, destructive policies affecting our communities.
The public meeting was heavily promoted for weeks in advance, with full-page advertisements in community papers and large billboards on busy intersections. Why are our people so disengaged that, when a high-polling Prime Minister comes to town, he only finds a small group of people there (many of whom were present to challenge him on the bullying of Taikura Rudolf Steiner school)?
Not everyone in Napier is enthralled by a glib Prime Minister and a Government that has done very little for us, our communities, and our future.
AARON DUSTOW and ROBERT JOHNSON, Westshore
Genesis sell-off
State-owned Genesis is a power company with 661,500 customers. National plan to sell 49 per cent by way of issuing shares to mums and dads.
They will need a lot of shareholders, as Genesis is a big company with sales of 1.8 billion.
National say if Kiwis cannot afford to take up the shares they will be sold overseas, probably ending up in China.
National plan to do this if they win the November election and there is only one way to stop the sale - by voting them out.
This should be the main topic in the election but John Key has such a fixed mind on this that he refused to debate it on Paul Homes' Q&A; last week, saying that his mind was already made up. A sale is a terrible thing to do and a million of our grandchildren will curse him, for he is living in la la land again.
Vote Labour to keep the power stations in Kiwi hands, where they will always belong.
PETE CARVER, Havelock North
