Lorraine Kidd, Warkworth.
Yesterday’s solution
Anecdotal evidence of Richard Prebble’s trip from Tokyo Narita Airport is hardly proof that roads are better (NZ Herald, March 13).
Firstly, Narita Airport is 70km from Tokyo in the country, not surrounded by suburbs as is the case in Auckland. Secondly, there is an excellent train service to Tokyo which connects to other train lines and the Metro, which most people use.
On my first trip to Tokyo in 1992 I spent about two hours in a bus from Narita to Tokyo, most of it staring into sixth-floor apartments on an elevated motorway.
The proposed light rail to the airport would have served much of central and west Auckland, when combined with existing rail or a short taxi ride. In most cities around the world a trip to the airport involves at least one change.
We cannot just keep building more motorways through the suburbs - they swallow up huge amounts of land and cost enormous amounts of money - the East-West link is likely to cost at least $500 million per kilometre! This is yesterday’s solution to tomorrow’s problems.
Errol Anderson, Ponsonby.
Revolutionary road
We live on Sunnynook Rd, a major link between the suburbs either side of the Northern Motorway.
Along the route there are three schools, at least two pre-schools, a shopping centre and Sunnynook bus station serving several thousand walk-up commuters every day.
Over the past four years Auckland Transport has put in three raised crossings and one signalised crossing, calming the traffic and greatly improving safety for everyone. The primary and intermediate school pupils now regularly walk to school and cross safely without supervision. Well done AT!
Patrick O’Rourke, Sunnynook.
Negligent policing
Your correspondent Paul Beck (NZ Herald, March 13) lauds the police for dealing with the perpetrator of the 2021 New Lynn supermarket attack.
I’m wondering how those directly or indirectly impacted by the event are feeling now, knowing that six police officers were assigned that day to the offender, yet seven people were injured. Ahamed Samsudeen was meant to be under constant surveillance but all six officers were outside the supermarket when the attacks took place.
The lawyer representing the officers claimed “they needed to maintain their cover” in order to be effective. Well, they certainly were not effective. The word I would use is negligent.
John Walsh, Green Bay.
Boxing’s dangers
I must take issue with the Herald editorial (March 13) about how “inspiring” Joseph Parker’s win over Zhilei Zhang on the weekend was.
There is nothing at all inspiring about hopefully leaving one’s opponent a bloody, unconscious and potentially fatally injured mess on the canvas, just to hold a rather tacky-looking belt over your head.
The fact that this contest went the full rounds is irrelevant. Time and again we hear and read about boxers and other sports people suffering early onset dementia or other mental impairment due to repeated bouts of concussion.
Surely time is long past when these issues must be taken seriously enough to ban such contests. This includes all combat sports.
They are pointless egotistical exercises and can cause a great deal of damage to the lives of the combatants and those charged with their care in later life. A purse of a million dollars or more won’t cure an injured brain or a family’s heartbreak.
Jeremy Coleman, Hillpark.
Monkey wrench
It was interesting to see the reaction to one rugby league player calling another a monkey.
Most people are evolutionists these days. We are taught that mankind has evolved from monkeys – the monkeys are our ancestors.
Many cultures show respect towards their ancestors. I am sure that if I was an evolutionist I would have no problem being called a monkey.
However, if God created mankind totally distinct from the animal world – and in God’s own moral image, then to be called a monkey is a different story. Even though we have long since lost that moral image, it is a nasty slur to call a human being a monkey.
Colin Ross, Mt Roskill.
