Suzanne Williams

I, too, am concerned about the new toilets in Lovelock Street – they are pretty, of course, but necessary?

When Pak’n Save has a quite adequate one in the shop 100 metres away?

However, there is a more serious problem with the council’s priorities; one which I have written about before:  crossings.  

First, I want to make it clear that I have received (almost) nothing but the utmost courtesy from Whakatāne drivers.  

They are so polite that although I am forever waving them on, they nearly always decline.

Since I have been in this town, there have been some nice new red crossings done, but to me, as a frequent mobility scooter user, there often seems no sense in the choice of site.  

I would like to know from Mayor Nandor Tanczos, what criteria are used when decisions are made as to where to place these.  

As a layman, one hopes that these would relate to amount of traffic using the road, plus, to a lesser degree, types of people perceived to be using them; therefore the Goulstone Road ones are reasonable to me.  

But, why two on Salonika Street, with little traffic?

Does a councillor live there? Why only one old one outside the school on Alexander Avenue, a much busier road?  

And why, on two of the longest and most dangerous roads in Whakatāne, Landing/Domain and Commerce, are there so pathetically few: two, and one?

And how do you cross State Highway 30 at The Hub?

In a town so concerned with health and safety, it seems to me that a little more concern would not be wasted on the old and disabled.

I think it would be a great idea if, as part of “Outreach”, each councillor and the chief executive undertake to use a scooter or a wheelchair for a day or two.  

It’s so exciting navigating around all the cars, vans and trailers parked on the footpaths, and bumping over the uneven paths.

Have fun.