Cr Bill Faulkner Faulkners Corner www.sunlive.co.nz

Observers attending a council workshop last Friday could have been excused for thinking we are not alone.

The workshop was with NZTA (formerly Transit, now The Agency!) to learn first-hand what was going on up at the Hairini/Maungatapu/Welcome Bay roundabouts and interchange. It's been a long time since such mumbo-jumbo alien-speak like that has been heard at city hall. I don't think I heard the mention of ‘tunnel' rather it was all veiled references in alien-speak to ‘option this' or ‘option that'.

Quite a few interested members of the public had turned up to listen, but after sitting through lengthy gobbledegook I noticed some left the meeting. Worse was council's consultant who had been employed to peer review The Agency's proposals at a cost of $15,000 plus dispersements. It was difficult for members to follow his presentation in detail with all the complicated techno-speak he used. This was not good enough for a public meeting in my view. Techno-speak, no doubt has its place at officer level, but once it gets into public domain it has no relevance.

Public private plight

A brief history of the Maungatapu/Welcome Bay interchange shows that The Agency is struggling with government's public and private dilemma. Three years ago, just before the election, National promised a $100 million upgrade including a tunnel, four-laning and a four-lane bridge. As with so many election promises it has come back to bite them on the bum. The need, on a priority basis, is down the scale. The lights work quite well. There's no point in piecemeal development like just building the tunnel. That would just speed up the traffic to the next pressure point. Millions have been spent investigating options since the ‘70s when the ramps were built with the intention and provision of approaches to a tunnel.

A political bind

The then Ministry of Works were due to start construction and were called off at the last minute. So the government is in a political bind, for the best reasons, but they made the promise and now the expectation, quite reasonably, is that the promise be made good. Three years is long enough dallying. And funding should not be coming out of existing allocated funding. That just means something else, probably more important, misses out. The Agency should not be placed in the position of weaselling out of political promises. It's surprising that these experienced politicians made such a promise, but they did and now it's time for action.

For the community

TECT Arena at Baypark opened last week with a low key ceremony. The first event got underway shortly after. This addition to our city's amenities is overdue. It has been designed to provide an amenity for the widest possible community use. Paramount is a decision that community use will prevail over commercial use. So it won't be taken over by business as has happened elsewhere. This decision will come at a price, in that commercial use pays much higher hireage charges. Budget is for 20 per cent income from user fees and 80 per cent ratepayer subsidy. In this first half year ratepayers will pay a subsidy of $509,000 for operating costs with loan costs $2.3 million and depreciation $900,000 or $60 per ratepayer approx after user fees. Our community can expect to get ongoing use of the facility – not just sports – and the flow on effects to Tauranga's business are expected to be considerable.

The weekend just gone saw the TECT Arena full with the AIMS Games as an example. If you haven't seen this facility yet it is worth making the effort. It is situated beside Baypark Stadium. New caterers will provide service to the arena and the stadium and their opening effort was first class.

Water plant postponing

The proposed new water supply plant at the Waiari, just south of Te Puke, had its three monthly advisory group meeting. Council is monitoring the stream for flora, fauna and water quality to build up a valid database for when the plant is built. It is likely that with the downturn in the economy that we will be able to delay construction (and consequent cost) by another three years. Originally set down for 2015 it was pushed out to 2017 in the last Ten Year Plan and could go out to 2020 in the latest Ten Year Plan.

Measuring the meter

Back in the late ‘90s water meters were introduced with the intent of reducing water wastage and finding leaks. This was a big political football with the daily media leading the charge. In the face of a vociferous and sometimes acrimonious public campaign against water meters, the council of the day (which I was not on) took the bold and proper step to introduce metering. All the information on the benefits of metering have now been proven. No summer water restrictions, enough water for everyone, huge leakages stopped and most importantly a long delay in the need for this new $100 million plant, reservoirs and reticulation project.

Moment to reflect

The New Zealand Red Ensign will be flying from city hall this Saturday, September 3. This is Merchant Navy Day, as this was the day the Second World War commenced with the sinking of the Athena that day with the loss of 112 passengers and crew. By the end of the war, 2479 merchant ships and 670 fishing boats had been lost. About 32,000 Commonwealth Merchant Navy personnel had been lost. There were 4633 made POW and 5000 posted as missing. In the words of Sir Edward Hamley: 'It is not so much the flag itself that stirs our souls, as the deeds that were done beneath it.”

This week's mindbender – from Bertrand Russell. The degree of one's emotion varies inversely with one's knowledge of the facts – the less you know the hotter you get.