Letters: Councils, moko kauae, spot prizes, rail tunnel and Queen St

Before insisting on better communication from central government, local councils should get their own houses in order first, says one writer. Photo / Samantha Motion

Address ratepayer mistrust first

Stuart Crosby, president of Local Government New Zealand (NZ Herald, November 4) makes some excellent and laudable suggestions for better central and local government co-ordination of post-Covid public infrastructure spending.
The elephant in the room though is Crosby's - and LGNZ's - tone-deaf support for a council sector that by and large has lost the confidence of its ratepayers.
For Stewart's pleas to be treated seriously, widespread ratepayer mistrust and scepticism must be dispatched and their confidence regained - by councils first putting their own houses in order.
The evidence is the councils' bloated payrolls, including the enormous salaries paid to their legions of dubious "communication" spin doctors; their flawed and far from independent, often self-serving performance reporting and; of course their many egregious and current examples of waste and low-quality council expenditure.
When new council HQ buildings take precedence over urgent public three-waters works (Tauranga and Wellington for instance), unsurprisingly we are cynical of their "more money" claims.
Our newly elected Government is honour-bound to exact unqualified guarantees of this leopard changing its spots, accompanied by the fullest of public accountability.
Larry Mitchell, Rothesay Bay.

Housing crisis

John Hawkes' article on housing (NZ Herald, November 3) should be mandatory reading for every politician and property professional. Over the past 30 years, across all governments, there has been a deliberate asymmetry in policy and regulation to favour property investors over first-time buyers. This favouritism permeates the property industry, which has the ear of any government and the Reserve Bank. Commercial banks, in turn, welcome existing property owners to refinance using their current collateral to acquire even more properties. These, and other, practices actively discriminate against first home buyers.
Consider the case of multiple property ownership. Each additional property owned by someone reduces the stock available for first home buyers. Logically, if no one could own more than, say, three properties, then more supply would be freed up. Hence, the fears of supply are, largely, manufactured and then manipulated by the property industry to generate more opportunities for investors. Housing affordability is, therefore, less a supply issue and more of a problem around the inequal distribution of property ownership which has, in all effect, been intentionally planned.
It is time to level the playing field. Politicians need to move on from trivial social engineering around, say, cannabis and gun rights. Addressing the fundamental inequalities in housing are so much more important.
M P Boardman, Browns Bay.

Expression of us

The criticism of Nanaia Mahuta's moko kauae is totally misplaced for many reasons. Freedom of expression is fundamental to modern democracy. Just as important is the fact that culture is synonymous with national identity. If we have no culture we lose ourselves.
Ultimately, Nanaia Mahuta personifies our culture and she is the perfect choice to represent us.
Brent Innes, Milford.

Mightily unimpressed

I'd never heard of Olivia Pierson before yesterday and, while her comments were unwise, who does Mighty Ape think it is that it can pass judgment on her because some of their customers are offended.
Is this to be the new norm under (what was) Andrew Little's view and push for hate speech? Scary stuff.
And one less customer for Mighty Ape.
John Beach, Christchurch.

Rewards regime

D B Smith's suggestion (NZ Herald, November 4) of offering a daily prize of $1000 to one user of the QR Covid tracer makes sense.
This carrot approach could be used more widely. In many cases it would prove cheaper than many other (often expensive) forms of persuasion.
Why not pay people to get their children immunised? Ditto for HPV. It would have a big economic payoff. Pay people to get enrolled (cheaper and more effective than all those pre-election commercials). Prisons are filled with many people who are illiterate, so why not offer decent rewards for becoming literate? Make it immediately financially worthwhile for attending and staying in school.
As a society, we'd probably be a lot better off.
Roger Hall, Takapuna.

Tunnel diversion

So, a proposal to build an expensive tunnel for a rail link to Smales Farm (NZ Herald, November 4), which already has a busway that doesn't exactly seem to be clogged with buses, to a location with zero commuter parking, is going to solve a transport problem?
It isn't going to help the 60 per cent of people currently crossing the bridge, who are not going to the CBD. Nor is it going to be of any help to those from the western side of the North Shore, such as Beach Haven, Birkenhead, Birkdale, most of Northcote and Glenfield.
A much cheaper option would be a low level road bridge – but a swing bridge centre, given that 90 per cent of the time, water traffic is not tall.
Any rail-only option is a classic case of people wanting to cross the harbour 24/7, but expensive capital costs not being available 24/7 and is of no use whatever to delivery and trade transport.
Ray Green, Birkenhead.

Civic destruction

When is someone going to stop Auckland Council and Auckland Transport from totally strangling this beautiful city?
With ugly concrete blocks and "people spacing" uprights, it is now impossible for anyone to drive along Quay St or Queen St, let alone pull over to drop someone off. The central city is becoming a ghost town. Just ask the poor retailers and cafes.
I realise the aim is to keep cars out of the city but Auckland is a huge sprawling city covering the area of Los Angeles. It is not tailor-made for public transport like Wellington where there are only two routes in and out of the city. Here, people want to go from Avondale to Mount Wellington, Massey to Onehunga. It cannot readily be done by public transport.
Everywhere else in the world, major disruptive public works are done by crews working in shifts, seven days a week, to get the job done. Auckland Council and Auckland Transport seem to think that as long as you cover the streets in orange cones it will give the impression that something is actually happening.
It's beyond a joke—it is destroying our city.
Jenny Gibbs, Ōrākei.

Seeing red

Not only is the exporting on huge crowded ships of livestock e.g. cattle paramount to cruelty and smacks of the prison ships of the 19th century, but it is fed by monetary greed as well.
Why are we exporting our best breeding stock to the advantage of other countries' economies when ordinary New Zealanders can no longer purchase decent cuts of meat in our supermarkets? The cuts that were given away or purchased as "dog tucker" in the 1970-90s are now barely affordable items, e.g. lamb shanks at 2 for $10, (once 50c each) mince at $15-20 a kilo ($3-4), sausages at $7 for a pack of 5 ($2.50), pork bones, beef bones, etc. Steak at $48 a kilo.
Red meat has become unaffordable for many families in New Zealand. Let's stop live exports, stop animal cruelty and give New Zealanders a fair deal at the supermarkets and butchers.
Marie Kaire, Whangārei.

Revival decried

I was puzzled and shocked to see the article in (NZ Herald, November 4) proclaiming the "revived" fountain in Cornwall Park having been "refurbished".
What was once a beautiful parkland with mature trees has been denuded and debased with the loss of many mature poplar trees, among others. It has no coherency and all the little scrubby plantings look messy and unkempt. What a blow to the city and waste of money. Not to mention the increased carbon load from losing all those carbon filtering mature trees.
I dread to think what they might "improve" next. Maybe they'd be better consulting the public first.
R Howell, Onehunga.

Short & sweet

On America

The Americans could elect Mickey Mouse as their president and it would not make a scrap of difference to New Zealand. C. C. McDowall, Rotorua.

What a pleasure to watch the United States election. The presenters are experienced, well-spoken and thoroughly professional. W Harrison, Kohimarama.

Few are surprised when President Trump declares fraud in the counting of votes against him. Yet half of Americans vote for him to continue. That is beyond surprise. It is shameful. John O'Neill, Whangārei.

I find it difficult to discern the difference between Donald Trump of the USA and Alexander Lukashenko of Belarus. Warwick Maxwell, St Heliers.

On fireworks

Every cat, dog, tūī, mother with young children trying to get some sleep, shift worker and bush lover agrees with your editorial proposition "Time to fire crackers for good" (NZ Herald, November 4). Steve Russell, Hillcrest.

On America's Cup

Public scrutiny of how public money, including taxpayers' and ratepayers' money, is spent, down to the last cent, is non-negotiable. No ifs and no buts. End of story. Bruce Tubb, Belmont.

On memorial

The final meeting for landowner (Waitematā Local Board) approval for the Erebus memorial is to be held on Tuesday, November 17. The board members need to look at who elected them and reflect their wishes. Rob McCartie, Parnell.

On crossing

Could anyone believe the proposed plan to build a rail-only tunnel as a second crossing without a back-up for both private and commercial motor vehicles if anything happened to the existing and ageing bridge? Hylton Le Grice, Remuera.