Letters: Rotorua skatepark worth repairing for community

I am writing in response to the recent update in budget allocation for the Rotorua skatepark.

The skatepark is an amazing place for kids, youths and all people to skate. Our skatepark is currently in a perfect, open location; it's easy to see what youngsters are up to and watching the vibrant activity while waiting at the lights is a refreshing sight in the city.

Moving the skatepark to Kuirau Park will put the park in a covered area. For the skatepark to be better than it is, and safer, the concrete needs to be smooth and at one level.

One of the dangers at the moment is the uneven concrete.

On a positive note, parts of the skatepark can be repaired and that will revive it. The concrete certainly needs redoing and the half-pipe has a dangerous gap between the two slabs of concrete. Some of the ramps just need new plywood and the screws in the ramp replaced.

I would like to see some of these things fixed. If they just started with one half of the park and re-concreted it, that would be a huge improvement.

Other popular and successful parks I have skated at have a few key elements: Smooth concrete, consistent surfaces and a "simple is better" approach.

Simple and solid.
IVY BATES
Hamurana

Dr Bernard Conlon, kia kaha! You are so right.

Israel for 70 years has illegally denied Palestinians, ethnically cleansed during the nakba, their inalienable right to return to their homes and lands.

The fact that Israel now murders those attempting to exercise this human right shows what little regard it has either to Palestinians or international law.

We hear that these Palestinians gunned down by Israeli armed forces were "attempting to cross the border into Israel". Difficult to do when Israel refuses to declare its borders. The only borders that still have legality are those set out during the partitioning of Palestine in 1947/48 by the United Nations, in which case Israel is illegally occupying the land on which they murdered innocent Palestinians.

If we believe in human dignity and human rights we must support the Palestinians in their struggle for justice.

I support all boycott calls against Israel until Palestinians are free from oppression.
PETER WILSON
Rotorua