We now appear to have an odour-free solution that will turn the city's waste into dry fertiliser pellets able to be spread on land for farming and horticulture.
It was a pleasure to congratulate council CEO Kym Fell and infrastructure manager Mark Hughes, both of whom were on-site on Sunday morning. Between them and the many council staff and contractors involved, they have ensured that this project is likely to be tested and commissioned in time and under budget, without following the previous administration's example of fatal cost-cutting.
CAROL WEBB
Whanganui
Assisted dying
In response to Melinda Bolton, who asked, in her letter of March 13, "Why do people want to bring in another person into the situation [if someone wants to end their life] when most people are perfectly capable of taking their own life without assistance."
There could be several reasons for that, e.g. they don't want to die alone, which they would have to if assisted dying was illegal, or they don't trust that they can find a reliable method.
And to her concern about cases where people in Belgium or the Netherlands were coerced into agreeing to be euthanised, I would like to know where she has heard or read about that. Are these real cases or speculation?
My husband's sister, his sister-in-law and two friends all opted for assisted dying after having suffered, either through cancer or a debilitating muscle disease; none of them were coerced. They lived in the Netherlands.
The same holds for the mother of a friend of mine who was German. Unfortunately, she had to be taken all the way to Switzerland, because assisted dying is not legal in Germany.
The time for submissions has run out, but I feel so strongly about this I had to respond.
ANNE MOHRDIECK
Whanganui
More rubbish?
How pleasing to read that Wanganui District Council is to undertake a "core council activity," rubbish collection ... Or is it? Already decisions, while not causing my alarm bells to ring, make them tinkle nervously when I read that the proposed "household survey to test support" will have only the council-preferred option.
A survey containing only a "preferred option" is not a survey, it is a "take it or leave it" ultimatum, similar to Henry Ford's 1909 model T offer: "You can have any colour as long as it is black."
Further, as one of many ratepayers with neither council rubbish nor recycling collection, I require the council to clarify which of the 19,000-plus "residential ratepayers" referred to in the "council's strategy and finance committee" report, will benefit from any proposed service.
I support the council providing a rubbish and recycling collection service but stress that only ratepayers who benefit from this service be charged. There must not be an across-the-board 1.5 per cent rate increase to all ratepayers as has already been mooted in one report, as there still remains a bad odour from the council's attempt to increase the rates of ratepayers not connected to the council's sewerage system by $50.
Consider also that when the private sector "walks away" from any activity, as the current contractors in Wanganui are doing, it is because the activity can only be operated at a loss. If the council undertakes this debt-creating activity, we ratepayers do not want yet another debt debacle such as the sewage treatment station. Were the council to undertake this then fail miserably, coupled with additional debt creation, and then re-contract it out to the private sector at increased value contracts, that would be unacceptable.
An outsider's view may be that renegotiation with the existing contractors is the answer as opposed to the creation of a new council empire laden down with major expenditure and debt on plant, equipment, vehicles and staff.
Finally, as the council is intent on this "take it or leave it" survey, why not give ratepayers the opportunity to comment in yes/no answers about other proposed council expenditure, such as the fivefold increase in the Velodrome's operating expenditure and the animal pound along with not-yet-revealed expenditure?
Do it once, get it right is an ideal concept for any operation.
V W BALLANCE
Westmere
From where?
I am sorry, but despite the occasional inoffensive letter I have penned being published in our local rag, I am duty bound to criticise the management of that fine newspaper.
On the front page of the Chronicle (March 8) we see a grinning mayor with an annotation "Mayor joins United Nations". Thank God, I thought, has he gone to New York for a better employment deal, or has he volunteered to impress the "at war" Third World countries with his legal and local governance experience earned at the barrel of a gun?
Sorry, neither. In reality he attended a gathering of students from around the world at the War Memorial Centre.
OK, I accept that in Wanganui anything with Hamish involved is newsworthy, but if an event is of such import demanding publication, let's do it right.
The explanatory story tells us he welcomed about 110 students from 10 named countries and eight other countries. How do you think the students from the other eight countries felt when they opened the Chron?
Perhaps in future the author of such a report should think about either mentioning all countries involved or not mentioning any if total inclusion is not possible. I also believe there is an onus on senior staff to ensure this sort of reporting is checked before publication.
Well, there go my "publishing rights" for an indeterminate period, but a man has to do what a man has to do!
D PARTNER
Eastown
Old homes
Forever and a day, the approach to environmentally-sensitive housing has gone something like this: It's better to renovate an existing home than to tear one down and build new. As far as I know this has not changed and if anything has become even more true in places like Whanganui.
I'm rather shocked to read opinions to the contrary in the Chronicle.
If a home is rotten, then obviously it should be terminated. In nearly all other cases, however, it is economically and environmentally far better to renovate an existing home than to build a new one.
One example is our villa in Arawa Pl, Castlecliff. With a thoughtful renovation we transformed it from one of the worst homes in Whanganui to one of the best in terms of health and comfort with a power bill that averaged $27 per month. The young couple who own it now just spent a cosy winter in passive solar bliss with no symptoms of asthma experienced in the past as renters elsewhere.
Old homes are awesome. It's just a matter of knowing what to do with them.
NELSON LEBO
Okoia
Propaganda
Enough is enough. Don Brash and Bob Jones are perpetuating the myth Maori were saved from self-annihilation by the arrival of Europeans in colonial times.
This is racist propaganda, and it's still alive here in Maoriland.
Yes, Maoriland was once a popular term right here in Whanganui. Coined by the early tourism industry to promote the Whanganui River steamer journeys, the Pink and White Terraces and many other interesting curiosities.
And it worked well, so perhaps it's time to revive this concept. "I am the river and the river is me"is a good start. And the Waitotara River could also be recognised and promoted similarly. But to do so properly, we would have to revive the original reo, i.e. chuck out the "river" and refer to this body of water as Te Wai Totara (The Totara Waters).
Yeah! Let's go back and retrieve all of that lost and discarded luggage. It's another world and a wonderful one.
Why? Our Maori ancestors were "one with the universe" a concept recently rediscovered by modern philosophers.
So who were the real savages of colonial times? Certainly not the Maori people.
POTONGA NEILSON
Castlecliff
Send your letters to: The Editor, Wanganui Chronicle, 100 Guyton St, PO Box 433, Wanganui 4500; or email editor@wanganuichronicle.co.nz
