It's time for a word of congratulations to the people of Rotorua and its greater surrounds in acknowledgement of the achievements of its people, young, old, and in-between, for effecting important changes by reason of logic, wide-spread and genuine community, environment and resource caring, and their concerted effort, rather than by the violent, dangerous and disruptive means that have become the world's hallmark.
My particular motivation came from the people's voice that prompted the reversal of the Korean mud importation AND the request for petition signatures, as reported in the Rotorua Daily Post, begun by a 17-year-old young lady in the Waikato region, who showed initiative in querying the use of NZ water resources for foreign export, at both the loss of this precious resource to New Zealanders, and for profit to the exporters only, without financial remuneration to the people of NZ.
It was in looking up this petition that I discovered that the website provided a forum for dozens of petitions from individual citizens, each with a view to bettering a personal concern covering a broad spectrum of topics, most of which certainly affect much larger numbers of people.
My puzzlement? Why has Rotorua been placed in the third and last phase of the Government's new rail-link plan, when it is our very "tourist hotspot" credentials that are being used, in part, to sell the whole rail concept? It's time to speak up again, Rotorua!
MARY WRIGHT
Rotorua
