Thank you Whitianga
I have been involved since The Informer was first published and with every new owner I have seen improvements. You now have a coloured tabloid with a balance of news and advertising containing news and editorial content covering sports, community affairs and local interest.
Thank your editorial and advertising staff for the job they are doing. As you know I was an accountant for a large weekly national newspaper, so I know a lot about publishing, printing and distribution of these papers.
The unsung heroes are the advertising staff as without them you could not be able to create enough income to keep this paper going.
My wife, Betty and I, have moved to Auckland recently to be near family but Whitianga is our much loved home where we took our part and worked to better the community. We still have that attitude – caring for Whitianga.
Peter Grant, Whitianga
Malcolm Campbell – worth noting
That is a very good article from Malcolm Campbell (page 10, 18 August.) It seems he and I share the same values. I’m searching for the solution and the answer to his frustrations as well.
This was a great quote:
“Every time regulation comes into being, it seems that the theme is what the author of the regulations has been trained in. This means you get what someone else believes is true by education, without actual experience of local conditions, knowledge and resources.” M. Campbell.
A wise man who, you can see, is proud of the country that he has lived in. He will be missed.
Winton Bebbington, Whitianga
P.S. Malcolm Campbell died 2Saturday, 22 August at 93. He never gave up and never gave in to practises and decisions he believed were wrong.
Time to dismantle power regimes
The position of Mayor requires Peter Revell to put forth the views of his rate-payers and yet (Informer 18 Aug) he ignores what he calls ‘opinion’ saying: It’s not ‘fact’.
Unable to perceive how badly he has let his voters down Revell is still keen to display the depth of his ignorance by questioning the integrity of the Informer’s editorship and even Geoff Robinson’s ability as a reporter.
Revell states that the three amalgamating Mayors did not even discuss the possible outcomes of what they were signing us up to. There can only be ‘speculation’ and surely that speculation should have been made well before signing, not something left to the rate-payers afterwards.
Of great concern is the way local residents continue to pay for such inconsiderate leadership. It is not inappropriate to compare this public acceptance with the way the Italian population put up with the abusive Fascist regime one hundred years ago which caused Aldous Huxley to remark: “It is the same attitude as one sees over the whole world – blank fatalistic resignation to stupid and wicked governments, to anything or any person with power.”
This resigned condition was clearly illustrated by 90,000 Hamilton residents who only managed to send 500 submissions on the coming amalgamation issue to their council.
What will it take to get the people of Coromandel to stand up together and make some strong demands, to take over the management of council services at a local level?
John Veysey, Thames Coast
MOEWAI ROAD/SH 25 INTERSECTION
NZTA (Waka Kotahi) is currently consulting on installing an Intersection Speed Zone (ISZ) at the Moewai Road/South Highway/SH25 intersection. The proposal is for electronic signage which lowers the speed limit to 60km/hr when traffic is detected on the side roads. The cost of this is estimated to be $300,000. This dangerous intersection has a long history of crashes, culminating in a lethal one last year.
Roundabout needed
There is ever expanding industrial activity on the side roads as well as the sports park on the South Higway side and the soon to be developed Sherriff block which includes a new concert area on the Moewai Road side. The increase in traffic in the foreseeable future is such that a roundabout will be required before long. In fact it needs one now.
Why is NZTA proposing to waste 300k on an ISZ when for a bit of additional funding a roundabout could be built now? Undoubtedly NZTA will argue that the cost would run into the millions as NZTA is capable of achieving massive cost overruns compared to private enterprise. But even TCDC manages to build roundabouts at moderate costs. A roundabout at this troublesome intersection should cost no more that 400k. I call on TCDC to collaborate with NZTA with the aim of building a safe roundabout.
Dirk Sieling, Whitianga
14 Million for Thames Swimming Pool but no funding for Infrastructure
Saturday 15th August saw the first of two meetings offered by council for a Q and A session with Simpsons Beach residents to clarify issues involved with the Wharekaho reticulation programme. The long awaited letter that would supposedly give us all the information we were waiting for arrived weeks later than promised, and contained nothing but a repeat of the figures that Cr. Fleming Rasmussen had already shared with us months prior.
Q & A is always good – provided those answering the questions actually have the answers. Cr. Grant was asked if Council had considered any other options for the reticulation of water and waste water. He replied “No”. That should have been a “Yes”. All possible options were listed, investigated and shown clearly by Stantec.
Cr. Grant was asked if Council had done any Water Testing at Simpsons Beach – he rightly replied “No”. The person’s response, “So the test results that Murray was ranting on about were a load of rubbish”. Instead of acknowledging that tests had indeed been collected by a local resident and tested by the nationally accredited HillsLabs, and had provided damning reports on the ecoli levels at the beach, he allowed the comment to stand and shut down any attempt to qualify the statement.
Cr. Grant was asked what the cost of a Macerator was. He said he did not know. TCDC had quoted a cost of $14,000 to $17,000 in their original document. A quote I requested 3 months ago from a highly reputable local firm was a firm $12,500 installed and, if we did a bulk buy it would definitely make it more cost effective.
Cr. Grant was asked by a resident why she had to sign up with an annual fee for her newly installed $55,000 state of the art septic system – and that when she rang council they knew nothing about it. Cr. Grant said he did not know.
The answer is:- It is standard procedure with a “state of the art” septic system that they have to be monitored annually and a contract signed up with a local company for annual monitoring and servicing at the owners expense. These details need to be notified to council for their records to ensure the septic system is being properly maintained.
TCDC has admitted to being remiss in that fact that they have never monitored our septic tanks, and under the new regulations ALL septic tanks must be monitored. Also, under the new regulations, septic tanks installed prior to 1990 are now well passed their “used-by” date and will have to be replaced. A standard old type unit has a life span of 20 – 25 years – and some high-tech units have a life span of 50-55 years. An old type unit replacement is around $35,000 to $45,000 depending on the installation site. Council have not been forthcoming with any of this information which I believe is misleading.
The cost of reticulated water is excessive as all the infrastructure has to be paid for before you get close to the cost of the water. The cost of the water, and meters, is all under council control and once tied in to that scheme you are obliged to pay whatever they ask. A UV treatment system works well and we all have our own catchment areas – our rooves serve us well and with septic tanks eliminated, the bore water would be safe and usable again.
With regard to those who stand to have their water cut off in October – Mo Imtiaz, GM for Infrastructure TCDC, together with Max Bosselmann and Murray Ward have sorted a temporary system which has the potential to possibly become permanent. (A work in progress) Cr.Grant was high in his praise for the payment scheme pushed through by Crs Rasmussen and Brljevich – spread over 50 years. A first in New Zealand and sets a president for other councils to follow.
Ady Cole-Ewen, Wharekaho-Simpsons Beach
Kauaeranga trail
I’m blessed to live up the Kauaeranga Valley,
It’s a beautiful place, but traffic tends not to dally.
People are busy, they haven’t got time….
There’s places to go and Pinnacles to climb.
Our river has so many great swimming places,
The kids love them and often jump from rock faces!
If only they could walk safely…. or bike to their school,
Some can’t catch the school bus – there’s a 3.2 km rule!
In winter the sun is low in the sky,
When you bike out of the valley the sun’s in your eye.
There’s a lovely big verge at the top of the hill,
But cars in both directions can still be a thrill!
You drivers are careful – I’ve never had a close call,
But if I stuff up my gear changes, I do tend to fall…
I don’t want to give you motorists a fright.
So I lean to the left….never to the right!
We want a simple track, it doesn’t need to be flash.
We all know the council’s pretty strapped for cash.
Just a gravel track so we’re off the road…
We don’t want our health service to have too great a load!!
Rose Davis, Thames
