NZTA clearly don't read the papers

I was at work the other day and on the table at lunch was a copy of the Bay of Plenty Times, the local newspaper for Tauranga. A couple of stories caught my eye. The first related to this piece of 'construction' (sorry can't find the link to the actual story). Anyway, if you drive or cycle this way you will see that $3.6 million is being spent demolishing a large hill to fill a valley to straighten a section of road that, according to NZTA, RDC and the Bay of Plenty Times is 'an accident blackspot'.

Great work you would think? Well possibly not. Turn over the page in the paper and there was another story highlighting there were 1400 serious crashes in the WBOP region last year, but guess what, less than 140 were caused by the conditions, the quality of the road or a defective vehicle.

So $3.6 million (and I bet it goes over that) to make a small section of road faster, which will in turn mean that the bendy sections after this new part, will become the new accident blackspots - so money well spent? The logging trucks will get to Tauranga a minute quicker?

Maybe the $3.6 million could be spent on measures to decrease motor vehicle usage, public transport, cycle lanes, etc - not whilst the car is still king!

So what do you stand for?

The local elections are coming, and one local has possibly the most ridiculous billboard ever. The woman is called Leandra Bowen  and her punchline is

Advocating crime prevention

Now some of you might think I am being a little flippant - but I do not see any of the other candidates with an opposite response, e.g. advocating domestic violence, supporting theft and/or encouraging fraud. I would suggest that my little town has its fair share of other problems - a polluted lake, a dying CBD, a lack of job opportunities, crippling debt and no population growth. I think Ms. Bowen needs to get out more!

Treatygate - the rise of the old white racists

Long time no post; I have kept my output going via various Facebook groups, but since some of them seem to have become the dwelling place of conspiracy theorists, with agendas on Fluoride in drinking water, 1080 poisoning everyone, etc. and, that I was so annoyed by a prat called John Ansell and his "Treatygate" get media commentary on the breakfast news, I felt obliged to start blogging again.

The issue on the news article that regrettably gave Ansell air time for his simplistic views was that of adding the Maori names for the north and south islands of New Zealand. From that link you can see that "the practice was common place until the mid 1950's". It isn't new and the lecturer on marleting that arued for the change blew Ansell out of the water.

Ansell did the usual fear mongering "next we'll be calling New Zealand Aotearoa" - the sooner the better, the sooner we become a republic and free ourselves of the shackles of the manarchy the better.