Housing needs to be fit for purpose I agree, and affordable, but putting people altogether in multi-storeyed blocks reminds me of apartments in London and around the world in poorer and war-torn countries.
It would be great to spread this type of housing on a much wider scale throughout the country with lots of space between the apartment blocks (with other housing between, including older houses, trees, etc).
The Government has passed the law that housing can be multi-storey, but it also needs to consider that a diverse range of people have to be housed there with space to grow and also take care of and appreciate their environment.
Marilyn Cure, Papamoa.
Voter turnout
Local elections usually result in low turnout.
Those who do vote are more likely to be us oldies of 65-plus.
How do you persuade younger citizens to open their envelopes and vote? Do they want democracy or Putin-style referenda?
Geoff Barlow, Remuera.
Business case
Simon Wilson's column (NZ Herald, September 27) concentrates on being critical of Wayne Brown, and ends in asking "Why not Efeso Collins?" A question that I feel Wilson very adequately answers himself.
Throughout the piece, he points out how Brown is primarily a businessman, but at no time does he mention if Collins has ever run or owned a business, employed staff or been in the position of having to make tough decisions. He does say Collins has been involved in civic leadership roles. But surely by now, even Wilson must be sensing the mood of the country and the city. For too long we have had career politicians, good at oratory, big on ideology, but abysmal at the practicality of getting the job done.
And right now, Auckland needs and deserves some good practical business thinking.
Trevor Stevens, Pukekohe.
Save the planet
Nasa can divert an asteroid billions of miles away from crashing into the earth but can't dissolve or remove the skin surrounding the earth made up of methane gas and nitrous oxide which is preventing the sun's heat from escaping and threatens our very existence in the short term.
Priorities the wrong way round, perhaps?
Gary Hollis, Mellons Bay.
Helping ourselves
Another of those "people should take personal responsibility" letters in the paper today (NZ Herald, September 27). This time it's about obesity, quite likely the next one will target families who can't control their teenagers.
The writers of these letters should get an auto-response directing them to the wealth of research on why some people are overweight or information about the drivers of crime such as inequality and poverty.
Barbara Grace, Grey Lynn.
Tethered cars
Warren Couillault (NZ Herald, September 26) raised many valid points about the change to electric vehicles but he missed one glaring lack of infrastructure. The developers of new multi-storey apartment buildings and the new House Intensification scheme do not have to supply parking, which means that new owners have to park in the streets. How are EVs going to be charged when they have to park three blocks away? I saw one solution at a brand new development scheme; the owners simply ran power lines from their apartments, out of the window and over the pavement, and plugged into their new EV parked on the street. Pedestrians had to walk over the cables.
Yet another step into the third world?
What next? Charging stations erected on all the pavements?
The Government's move to full EVs has clearly been made too soon and without proper planning. Surely petrol engine hybrids are the answer, at least until the proper infrastructure for full EVs is available countrywide, especially for the thousands of cars parked in the streets in the suburbs.
Johan Slabbert, Warkworth.
Choke points
The jolly faces of two housing developers greeted me in today's paper (NZ Herald, September 27), and no wonder they are so pleased. Their projected profits rise almost daily as property becomes more and more in demand.
However, there is no mention of any guaranteed arrangement to accommodate the already groaning state of Lake Rd, the only route down the Devonport Peninsula.
The more than 100-year-old road has been virtually untouched in that time and is already well known for an inability to cope with the traffic.
Ambulance and fire services are hampered in accessing their destinations to perform essential duties.
Considerable extra pollution is caused by excess gases as the line of cars builds up.
None of these frustrations after a long day are good for mental health, either. In one microcosm, we have an example of a Government and a city council who do not put their minds to where their tongues continue to 'blah'.
Big housing developments must contribute more to all infrastructure, including existing public highways, and not leave [it] for taxpayers and ratepayers to mop up. R. F. Baird, Devonport.
Short & sweet
On police
If police wanted to locate the supposed Northland Covid absconders, why didn't they just ring them?
Steve Dransfield, Karori.
On asteroid
Scientists seem intent on saving the earth from an asteroid strike, I think we need to focus on saving the Earth from ourselves first.
Randal Lockie, Rothesay Bay.
DART crashed, signal lost - well done!
Rod Lyons, Kumeu.
On pay
I fail to comprehend that any male who has fathered a daughter does not support the Equal Pay Act 1972. Surely we who are fathers, grandfathers, uncles, etc, agree with equal opportunity and pay for all our whānau, whatever their gender?
Richard Ward, Remuera.
On housing
I support Trevor Purkis' point (NZH, Sept. 27) that Auckland Council should push back on NPS-UD. We need stronger leadership.
Michael Single, Bayswater.
On raiders
Richard Keller (NZH, Sept. 27) is correct to say many youths are apprehended after ram-raids, but most are underage and get nothing more than a telling off.
Wendy Tighe-Umbers, Parnell.
The Premium Debate
Prebble: US interest rate hike has slammed NZ dollar
As much as I loathe this Govt, Jacinda Ardern and Grant Robertson, the currency moves are rarely a reflection of economic performance. If so, the NZD would not be "tanking", which is point of fact, it isn't. It is higher vs the GBP and JPY year-on-year. This current market movement is a direct result of the Federal Reserve interest rate moves and hawkish narrative not seen in decades. Whilst NZ interest rates are below the US rate, this will continue, and that is the principal factor in this scenario. Longer-term, macro factors will prevail, but right now, this is not the fault of the Government that has printed far less money than the US or UK.
Glenn P.
There's only one way to fix inflation, and that's with degree of austerity that no government wants to do at this stage in the NZ electoral cycle. Thatcher's fix to Labour-caused inflation was an immediate rise in VAT (in NZ that's GST) to take money out of the economy. After an initial surge in inflation, caused by the higher prices, inflation started to fall away as demand dropped and unemployment rose. She also sold off loss-making state-owned companies. A few years later, all was hunky-dory, and the economy, for the first time in many years, was running efficiently with low inflation. Who knows what the current crew over there are thinking now, but it seems to come from the same school as the Voodoo Economics practised by Grant Robertson - spend, spend, spend.
Steve N.
Sadly, our PM has allowed some overzealous people full reign and we are now reaping the consequences. The first wake-up call came from the Treasury, which seem to be the only independent voice left. I am really concerned that Radio New Zealand, which was once very independent, are now on the path to State control, leaving them open to censorship. Judging by the directive to all Government departments, very few are able to employ people on the strength of their ability - rather, they gain employment only by complying with the current ideology. We need people with actual common sense and experience running the country, whatever their personal beliefs. The polls look good for National/Act and it cannot come fast enough. We need to remove this ideology-driven Government and get back to governing for all NZers with a stable, sensible government. I wonder if Bill English could be persuaded out of retirement? Or some of those who resigned earlier might come back?
Sandra H.
Yet the population still prefer Ms Ardern as PM, this is just mind-boggling. The country is going to the dogs, but hey, we still love the leader of this mess we see ourselves in. It beggars belief.
Candy B.
History shows the incumbent PM is usually the most preferred, even if their party/ government support is trending down. She won't save them: important for me is the previous poll, which had her disapproval rating at 40 per cent, well over the approval. Stephen H.
