Reader asks DCC to bring in rental scheme
We are now in the throes of road-works season, and vital tasks like renewing in-ground infrastructure and roading improvements are being undertaken.
However, works sites that are places of apparently minimal activity, but restrict road use for days, weeks or even months, have substantial impacts.
In the United Kingdom incentives are given for efficient road works via the Lane Rental Scheme, where contractors are charged for the amount of time a length of road is closed or of restricted use. That rental is, of course, priced in to the quotes, but efficient and effective contractors will occupy space for a lesser time, both rewarding their diligence and reducing disruption for all.
I would like to publicly ask the Dunedin City Council: is there a possibility for similar incentives here to make our roadworks less disruptive to both our national productivity and quality of life?
David Cohen
Kew
DCC transport delivery manager Ben Hogan replies:
The Dunedin City Council and its contractors are working hard to renew our city’s core infrastructure and together delivered nearly $100 million of improvements to roading and Three Waters assets in the 2021-22 year. We acknowledge this essential work does cause disruption at times and we work with our contractors to minimise this, including by avoiding work in peak times of the day and year where possible. We don’t have any plans for a Lane Rental Scheme, but we work hard to be flexible and balance the needs of motorists, pedestrians, cyclists, residents and businesses as work is carried out, and to keep people informed throughout.
Eketone column
Your correspondents who reacted to Anaru Eketone’s earlier column (John Day and Alastair Watt, ODT, 19.1.23) refer to, or imply racism because in their opinion Labour and Maori political parties’ policies do not treat all New Zealanders equally, whereas, they suggest, the National and Act policies would.
I am sure that during the last approximately 200 years, the original Maori inhabitants of Aotearoa New Zealand and their descendants were seeking a similar so-called equality that Day and Watt claim is their want.
The need for policies with effective levels of equity at their core has been known for decades by successive governments, but fearing how moves towards such policies could be interpreted by many, progress has been extraordinary slow and our Maori people have had to be extraordinarily tenacious to be understood, still by too few.
I look forward to the growth of understanding through knowledge of the history of our country and, understanding the difference between equality and equity by more of my brothers and sisters, and more importantly for the future, by their tamariki and mokopuna.
Frances Anderson
Alexandra
[Abridged]
Anaru Eketone (ODT, 16.1.23) appears to be making a pre-emptive strike before the election.
Personally, I think that David Seymour, for example, does far more damage proselytising his neo-economics than he does raising questions about governance.
It may be difficult for some people to accept, but we are not simply a bi-cultural nation constitutionally consisting of two halves of a contract.
It is therefore important that we explore our constitution and adapt it so that it can maintain the precarious balance between freedom and fairness, for individuals, for groups and for the general population, that is the particular gift of a democratic system when it is allowed to function without prejudice.
Harry Love
North East Valley
[Abridged]
Cafe closures deprive city economy of revenue
Being based in the city, I have increasingly noticed a migratory flock of folks scouring the streets for food and coffee - in the afternoon around 3pm and beyond.
Channelling my best Sir David Attenborough, ‘‘Homo cruisesapians typically migrate to new locations hoping to find an open cafe after a long intercontinental journey’’.
While there are multiple challenges facing hospitality currently, this is simply money being lost to the city economy.
Cruise ship visitors I have spoken to simply cannot understand why Dunedin cafes are all closed at 3pm.
It is time to rethink this. Can cafes work collaboratively or roster later closing on certain days.
It is difficult to ‘‘big up’’ a dynamic city when the tumbleweed is blowing through town mid-afternoon.
Stronger support please for local business to make the most of our beloved migratory species - the Homo cruisesapians.
Jerry Clode
Dunedin Central
