Moan all you like but water woes are your fault
Mayor Bryan Cadogan and his bleatings on "it's not my fault" (Opinion ODT 8.9.25) ignores the fact that it is his council's bungling of the water services that has caused the problem.
There was the appeasement to the Waihola residents of low-quality water by pumping water from Milton's inadequate water supply, and the grandiose scheme to supply Tuapeka with reliable water at $25 million-$30 million when a cheap and ready supply was available above Phoenix dam. The council, as usual, ignored local knowledge, leaving a legacy of disastrous and costly decisions behind.
Play a full part
Hunters and their organisations, like Fish & Game and the NZ Deerstalkers’ Association, often describe themselves as New Zealand’s "biggest conservationists."
They do remove animals, trap pests, and plant trees. That mahi matters.
But it’s not enough — and it’s not the solution. Our forests are still being hammered by deer, goats, pigs, and tahr.
Hunters cannot control these species at the scale needed to protect native ecosystems.
Yet they regularly block real action, from opposing official control to fighting 1080 programmes to remove predators, as on Stewart Island.
Fish & Game’s glossy "ReWild" campaign goes further, claiming it’s about "sustainable hunting traditions," but internationally, rewilding means restoring native species and ecosystems.
Twisting it to mean trout fishing and duck shooting isn’t conservation — it’s greenwashing.
Hunters can keep contributing, but they must stop using conservation as cover to block science-based programmes that give New Zealand's unique biodiversity a fighting chance.
Archway sustainable
The hierarchy of the University of Otago wants to demolish the unique Archway Theatres, to replace them with a gothic garden.
They obviously have no regard for authority as the Heritage Trust had it listed. Now the university is trying to run roughshod over them.
Vice-chancellor Grant Robertson’s reckless behaviour has no regard for sustainability. What would his forefathers think?
This is a well-functioning building with recent bathroom upgrades, good sound and projectors, warm and functional where numerous lectures are held on a daily basis.
These Archway Theatres, placed near the old university, give a sense of its history and prestige that the university has been around a long time more than any gothic garden will achieve.
This is not a war about defending one’s self
Re "Who to back in a conflict of bad versus bad" (M. W. Cowan, Letters, ODT 9.9.25).
Cowan is right about one thing: the Gaza Strip is an enclave. Some have described it as a concentration camp.
It is occupied by refugees and their descendants, forcibly removed from their homes by European Jews whose ancestors left the land 2000 years ago.
What do I think about Ukraine fighting Russia?
Well, Ukraine did not invade Russia, it is defending itself.
Is Israel defending itself? Palestinians have no navy, army, air force. No way could they subjugate Israel. This war is not about defence.
There are 6000 trucks with food waiting on the border to feed these starving people.
The border is closed to the trucks but open for Palestinians to leave.
The British allowed the European Jews to go to Mandatory Palestine. They were meant to share the land with the Palestinians.
Instead they started a war with the British — and what started as incremental stealing of Palestinian homes and land has become outright terrorism and blatant ethnic cleansing.
I have seen the light, let’s back Edgar Centre
Until recently, Dunedin's Edgar Centre had been an edifice to be driven past, to be sometimes marvelled at due to the numbers of cars and buses parked there.
Recently however, I had a reason to go there and find for myself what a wonderful asset this facility is for our city.
There were activities of all kinds taking place, with still space for many more if needed.
Some seniors were playing a type of tennis with wooden paddles and a plastic ball.
A bit ho-hum compared with Wimbledon perhaps, but seemingly enjoyed by those taking part with, no doubt, mobility issues being addressed in a presumably painless way.
On another court some aspirants to some occupation were undergoing a fitness assessment, while on another, a group of my friends were flying indoor model aircraft.
Most of these activities giving seniors a reason for getting out of their beds on winter mornings, and still with ample space to spare for groups in other age categories. Such a proletariat-friendly phenomenon for me, stood in stark contrast to the ill-conceived and under-utilised edifice at the other end of the foreshore; so in my view the city council should prepare to plough sufficient ratepayers’ money into the Edgar Centre to maintain it for the benefit of all prospective users.
They should listen to the advice of an aspiring councillor with expertise in such matters, if it helps, and keep it as far as possible from the "gnomes of city-hall’' implementation-wise, based upon their well-known cavalier disregard for the city's ratepayers.
With a new city council imminent, let this be a project where more is spent on bringing to fruition the objective of the exercise, than is spent on wall-to-wall road cones.
Address Letters to the Editor to: Otago Daily Times, PO Box 517, 52-56 Lower Stuart St, Dunedin. Email: letters@odt.co.nz
