Letters
Big Brother
Thanks to the Motueka-GB News I note that the police will be spending $20,000 of our money on new security cameras and recording equipment for Commercial Street, Takaka.
I have just re-read George Orwell’s 1984, where the authorities have recording cameras on every street and in every person’s home. I find it alarming that we will all soon be under constant 24-hour surveillance when strolling through our lovely local town. Are these devices recording sound too, and when will freedom of speech be the next casualty of alleged “progress”?
I find it even more alarming that Arthur Clarence is calling for the Mardi Gras to be moved out of the town centre, to an area that can be fenced off and be “easier to police”. What a vile notion.
The article explains that Tasman District Council will be footing the bill, which means the cost will be added to our ever-expanding rate burden. My first-hand experience of police in Tasman suggests they are primarily legalised, mobile, money collectors - surely they could use money they forcibly extract in fines to pay for their new toys.
Bruce Collings
Drinking water in Takaka
All ratepayers in the greater Takaka area from Rototai in the east, to Park Avenue in the south, should have received their letter regarding the drinking water reticulation subsidy. If for any reason you a have not had a letter, please ring our TDC service centre (525 0020) and enquire. Council will apply for the Ministry of Health subsidy for Motueka and Takaka drinking water only if this is what the community wants.
This a reminder that your reply needs to be received by 28 February, so please don’t put those letters aside to do later; answer the questions now, and get it in the post or hand deliver to the service centre.
We know this letter has provoked controversy; however there is no intention to foist a drinking water scheme on Takaka if this is not what is wanted.
The most important contribution you can make to this issue is to send your reply ASAP so your answer is recorded.
Carolyn McLellan,
chair, Golden Bay Community Board
Ligar Bay houses
This is local body decision-making at its worst. Our elected councillors have failed to rise above personal petty politics and have caved in to threats of legal action from holiday house owners and a real estate agent.
Not one councillor has had the guts to see and stick with the wider long-term view, which is about who determines the shape and style of our beachside communities. Is it the people who live here, or the holiday-home investors who don’t live here? What is these people’s problem with the Ligar Bay “baches”?
It is obvious; they believe it affects their property values because there is not a panoramic view of the sea from their houses as they were told there would be when they bought their sections. On the other hand, the beach is freely and easily accessible. The numbers of people using it outside the three weeks after Christmas has not increased, the holiday houses being empty most of the time. There is plenty of foreshore available for recreational use already, so no arguments there. A dangerous precedent has been set, and I for one will be there to sit in the path of the bulldozer.
Celia Butler
Reply from Cr Noel Riley: You need to know that I support your right to express your personal view. I will continue to do so, as I have stated many times. I have listened to all the evidence and I have believe the council has made the right decision.
Reply from Cr Martine Bouillir: Far from caving in to anyone regarding the decision to uphold the existing agreement between council and leasees of Ligar Bay to retain their leases until 2014, my decision was based on pleasing no-one and sticking to the facts. Nothing has changed, no-one is being evicted, tenants are living out their agreed-to time.
This was one of the most difficult issues I knew I would ever have to deal with; whichever way I voted there would be flak. None of the letters to the media so far have been from people who attended the meeting where the decision was made and to date no publication has covered all the issues concerned. Gutless? You’ve got to be kidding! I have had vicious personal attacks for making a hard decision to the best of my ability. There has also been much support and agreement with the decision. This is not about who is right or wrong - it’s all personal opinion. While I understand people’s strong reactions, using emotive arguments doesn’t help anyone. I can’t do this complex topic justice in a letter. If anyone wants more detail on how I arrived at my decision they can join my emailing list <martine.goldenbay@xtra.co.nz>
Pakawau coastal erosion
Recently, Dr Arthur Pearson wrote an excellent article explaining the cyclic northerly-moving erosion occurring on Golden Bay beaches with particular reference to Rangihaeata.
The east and southeast storms erode the sand and the prevailing northerly current sweeps it northwards. A classic example is the big and rapid build-up at Beach Road, Collingwood. In the 1950s and 60s we stepped off Beach Road at high water and speared flounder.
In February 1954, Collingwood was inundated by an easterly storm. Leigh Gamby will verify this. The channel lead lights were some 40-50 metres offshore.
This sand has been eroded from the Watson, Colin Baas area and swept north, not crossing the Aorere River. Bird Island (now reforming) and Fairy Point erosion form the sand bars some 300 metres off Fairy Point. They are now uncovered at neap high tides. Waikato Inlet was once (in the late 1950s and 60s) reclaimed for farming but did not succeed.
Totara Avenue and the stone wall have been stabilised.
Pakawau has lost some 60 metres of foreshore in the last 45 years, which has been deposited at Tomatea Point, a big growth of sand at present and in the past.
Residents enjoying this accretion at present must not delude themselves that it is due to their efforts, and refrain from preventing the less fortunately positioned frontages from being protected.
Graeme Beardmore
Pakawau beach erosion
In reply to last week’s letters, which have been written by people who either don’t live on the beach or who are lucky enough to live the north end where the sand is building up and have a lot of metres of reserve left:
We live where the worst of the erosion is happening and would be lucky to have a metre of reserve left. It’s a bit disheartening when you can no longer get down to the beach, and a seat you had in a lovely spot looking out to sea, sheltered from the westerly, can no longer be used.
Facts are, along at the pine trees there has been a loss of at least 6 metres in the 16 years we have been here, and the rock wall has protected the camp for 40 years. Properties north of the camp have rocks that I had not seen till the big washout, so, yes, the sand does build up but it needs something to build on. Soft planting has been tried on one property at a cost, I believe, of $1200 to the council and it has all washed out. It is too steep.
I walk on the beach every day and usually look ahead of me or at the ocean, but surely to look at a natural rock wall along the front of properties, which would be covered by sand and plants 90% of the time is better than gorse or all sorts of ugly structures.
Joy Warren
Flutterby Butterfly
A few weeks ago The White Room, with the help of a small grant from Creative Communities, hosted Flutterby Butterfly, an interactive exhibition in which people were invited to make paper butterflies. Final count, undamaged and unclaimed, 578.
We asked anyone who had a use for them to contact us. Local woman Clare Meerveld thought they were so jolly she contacted us and Nelson Hospital, who loved the idea of hundreds of paper butterflies cheering up the children’s ward. So that’s where she took them!
Thanks to everyone who participated in the exhibition, your butterfly flies on to make others smile. Thank you Clare Meerveld for organising such a lovely idea.
Toy Murchie and Kas Muller, Lollokiki,
caretakers of The White Room
A film about Democratic Education
Thank you to those who made it to see the film last Saturday. For anyone still interested, the film will be screening again at the Village Theatre this Tuesday 1 March at 8pm.
The film is a compilation of interviews from New Zealand students, and teachers, along with international footage from commentators about global changes in education.
It will also be an opportunity for us organisers to collect data from folks who are interested in a Democratic School and answer any questions people may have.
Rae McDowell
Nourishing the Bay
As summer progresses, I’m grateful for the abundant fresh, locally grown fruits and vegetables available in the Bay -- especially from Our Community Stall in Rototai Road, now in its second year of providing spray-free local produce just a short walk from my home.
Initially I wasn’t enthusiastic, thinking we already had plenty of food in the Bay. However, with prices steadily rising and warnings of worldwide food shortages, I now value how Our Community Stall’s innovative organisation has increased production and co-operation amongst local growers and sellers, offered employment, and reduced wastage of surplus food from private gardens.
Plus it’s become a centre for old-fashioned community, a meeting place for friends, neighbours and visitors. It’s a daily pleasure to stroll down the edible art walk, buy fresh local ingredients for dinner, and enjoy a friendly chat. For those living farther away, there’s parking by the mural, or the stall will deliver a weekly box filled with produce chosen from its attractive website, www.ourcommunitystall.co.nz.
The benefits in cost, taste, and nutrition have been well worth changing my shopping habits. Of course, local services like this can only continue if people shop there.
Lethea Erz
Cabaret in the Cave
Thank you so much to all those involved who helped create this wonderful community event last Sunday. There were around 200 people who made it up to the Ballroom Cave for the show.
Thank you to all the performers, volunteers and sponsors - especially GB Organics, Trash Palace and Living Light Candles. Thanks to the generous donations of goods and services, the fundraising raffle made $1,200 which was distributed amongst the performers in the event.
I also acknowledge DOC and the landowners, Mr and Mrs Smith, for allowing this event to take place.
Hera Livingston, event co-ordinator
