Letters: Heed Rotorua Lakefront the petition

An artist's impression of the Lakefront redevelopment. Image / Supplied.

Heed the petition

John Pakes' support for council's lakefront redevelopment (Letters, October 27) blames resistance on Rotorua District Residents and Ratepayers' "concerted, programmed, letter writing campaign."

But less than half of the critical letters published in the Rotorua Daily Post are from our members. The resistance is broad based.

He claimed that the Council's Long-Term Plan consultations and $19.9 million project budget are 'reliable'. How could they be, when they lack detail and costings?

The RDRR boycotted the consultations because they lacked project plans and public hearings. Even then the vote by participants split 53-47.

He claimed that the $20 million grant from the Provincial Growth Fund recognised the 'viability of the project'. Not so.

The PGF proposal met key criteria that could have been better achieved, in my view, through a 'Museum Redevelopment' project – lifting regional productivity by rebooting the cashflow (that a boardwalk can never deliver), creating additional value, linking to regional and stakeholder interests (not just local 'co-governance partners'), and be well managed, well-governed and have appropriate risk/reward trade-offs (presuming a reformed council).

He judges RDRR's call for a lakefront 'tidy up' plus proper maintenance as 'petty'.

He apparently prefers Council's Long-Term Plan to expand the current debt of $189.7M by about $18.2M each year out to $280.8M by 2023.

Why impoverish ratepayers?

His advice to Council, that they ignore RDRR as an 'irritant', reflects current practice and explains their growing political obsolescence.

It might be wiser to sign and heed the petition.

Reynold Macpherson
Rotorua

View obstructed

I see that they are taking the ugly chain fence down from around our museum Te Whare Taonga o Te Arawa for the royal walk around of the Government Gardens.

Hopefully they can leave it down since it spoils so many tourist pictures of our beautiful building showcasing Rotorua.

Every time you drive past someone is having a picture taken outside of it, with many years until it will be open again it will ruin many thousands more pictures, something so beautiful shouldn't be obstructed by such a ugly fence.

Kevin Godwin
Rotorua