Letters: Make parking free to bring back customers

Should parking be free, asks a letter writer? Photo/file

I have recently spoken to several cafe/restaurant owners in the central business district - they are not happy/ It would appear that parking - or the lack of it, is keeping customers away.

Parking pays for itself - meter wise, it makes no profit and does far more harm than good, so why do we have meters? The 60-minute zones - the very few 60-minute zones are not enough; you cannot do very much in the city in an hour.

One of the groups I belong to (mostly pensioners) used to meet for one-and-a-half hours - now it is 50 minutes as they have to get to their vehicles.

Several other cities/towns that are within comfortable driving distance have free parking - why not Rotorua? Or is mayor Steve Chadwick trying to drive everyone to the outlying malls opening up on the outskirts?

JIM ADAMS
Rotorua

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Don't upset the elderly, they are the voters

How we elderly shut ins miss our Mobile Library Bus. I understand the bus itself broke down and has been decommissioned and the council is bringing forward the purchase of a replacement.

They do, of course, have endless money to build skate board parks and cycle tracks for the young and active, to put monuments and sculptures in the parks and roundabouts, and to shout each other free lunch.

There is an alternative in the pipeline, but don't hold your breath. It is still in the planning stage.

I have used a Kobo e-reader which is the one our library recognises so, seeing the writing on the wall, I upgraded my e-reader only to find I cannot use any of the new apps such as OverDrive because the Rotorua Library cannot afford to use the new programme.

Our library is being amalgamated into a children's health centre. Are the powers that be trying to do away with libraries and this is the sharp end of the wedge. Remember, old people vote.

MARIE BOOTH
Rotorua