Whanganui letters: Brazen abuse of mobility parking

The wheelchair symbol in carparks has lost all meaning, writes Julian Emmett.

I am becoming more frustrated with the attitude some members of the public have towards the disabled, not just here in Whanganui but around the country.

The wheelchair symbol in carparks has lost all meaning; it seems that it is no longer a crime to park there without a permit, yet those of us who need the mobility carparks must pay for them.

Why should we when the very carparks are misused on a daily basis, with those responsible for them neither monitoring them or issuing fines.

No one in authority seems the least bit interested in doing anything about this issue.

As such, this form of abuse is not being recognised for what it is; an illegal act and a way of saying abuse of the disabled is not only condoned but even encouraged.

Posts on Facebook about this tend to be derided by the public, the actual abuser being applauded while the poster calling them out is vilified. Threats of physical assault are also common.

I feel that unless measures are taken, society's attitudes towards the disabled will go backwards even more.

Yes, advances have been made, but this continued abuse of a system designed to help those in need will hold everyone back.

JULIAN EMMETT
Gonville

Will new system reduce waste?

I suspect Elwyn Evans speaks for many of the ratepayers here in Whanganui (Letters, November 20).

In addition to his comments, I wonder why the council went down the public consultation road on waste management/recycling when the end result is merely a copy-and-paste of what is being done elsewhere in New Zealand.

The winners in all this are the owners and shareholders of the companies who operate the transfer stations and landfill operations.

So while Whanganui District Council has climbed aboard the climate emergency train, I am not convinced the proposed waste management/recycling system does anything at all to reduce waste and the associated negative environmental impact.

TREVOR STRATTON
Whanganui

Three Waters opposition

I met with the mayor and suggested these points to him:
1. Don't join this undemocratic Three Waters takeover.
2. Organise all mayors to fight it as one body.
3. In the future, government to amalgamate all individual council loans and underwrite them for lowest rates.
4. Government to set up top-quality engineering advisory panel to assist councils.
5. Government also to set up a regulatory body to enforce actions and quality control of all waterworks.
6. Māori to be consulted on proposed plans.
7. Government to provide some level of assistance to each council for capital water development.

This saves setting up a huge bureaucracy and keeps water infrastructure and development in local ratepayers' hands – the democratic way our forefathers fought for.

I hope the mayor and councillors are open to persuasion.

GEORGE MARSHALL
Whanganui

Cart before horse

Your headline (News, December 2) "Please stay home" says it all. Suggesting that visitors stay away because a few refuse vaccination is putting the cart before the horse. It would have rung bells with me if it had read "Please get jabbed".

GORDON COLLIER
Taihape