Letters April 28
28/04/2010 4:24:00 p.m.
Jeff the Maori
Re your Wellyword column, April 21, in which we read about Jeff the Maori street beggar, but are left guessing as to the ethnicity of the lady holding a doggy-doo bag and the driver trying not to hit the cat sitting on the road. Were they also Maori, or New Zealand European/Pakeha, perhaps? Samoan? Chinese? Is this not information critical to the story? Or perhaps there is more than one Jeff the street beggar in town thus the need to differentiate in such a critically informative piece of journalism. On the positive side, Martin Doyle is spot on with his Wallywood column.
Kathy Ombler, Wellington.
Ed – The intention wasn’t to identify his ethnicity at random, it was a play on “Jeff the Maori” off the TV series Bro Town.
Scooter parks
(Referring to the lack of scooter parks). This is a money grabbing scheme by the council and if they were to consider other paid options for scooters then they could base it on how many scooters can fit into a car park space, i.e 10 then divide the hourly rate $4 to cost 40 cents an hour. As a scooter rider I would be willing to pay this if there were no scooter dedicated spaces available. How to display the ticket would be an issue though.
Alan Hucks, Wellington City.
Humanity Threatens
Humanity’s increased ability to exploit nature could be as threatening as CO2 from fossil fuels. I believe sustainability necessitates less use of energy regardless of generation methods. Nuclear power when waste disposal, uranium mining and enrichment as well as construction and decommissioning of power stations are taken into account, it appears neither arguably hazardous, uneconomic and indirectly a significant source of greenhouse gases. Similarly hydro dams and wind farms have their pros and cons. Electric cars are only as good as their benefits balanced against the outcomes of power generation and transmission as well as manufacture and disposal.
John C. Silvester, Mt. Cook (abridged).
Paramount
My last two visits to the Paramount have been spoilt by what would seem to be either incompetence, understaffing, or just sheer disinterest in customer satisfaction. I feel compelled to complain About a week ago we went to Genova. All fine except that most of the audience walked in 10 minutes late. They had been sitting in a different theatre, waiting to see Genova, and had to change when a different film started. Perhaps that was not the theatre’s fault, but they were certainly not made aware which theatre was playing which film. It was disruptive and annoying but I was prepared to see that as an isolated glitch, until Last night I went to see The Road, advertised at 8.40pm. When I arrived to take my seat just after 8.30 the film had already started. For the next 10 minutes, while the film proceeded, the rest of the audience piled in. That was certainly one film that does demand attention right from the start. Understandably most of the audience were very annoyed afterwards and made their feelings plain to the front of house staff. I love my films, and I have always enjoyed the Paramount. But if there is a choice of theatres for a film I want to to see then from now on the Penthouse or the Lighthouse will certainly be my choice. They seem more committed to providing a good film experience.
David Colquhoun, Wellington (abridged).
Re your Wellyword column, April 21, in which we read about Jeff the Maori street beggar, but are left guessing as to the ethnicity of the lady holding a doggy-doo bag and the driver trying not to hit the cat sitting on the road. Were they also Maori, or New Zealand European/Pakeha, perhaps? Samoan? Chinese? Is this not information critical to the story? Or perhaps there is more than one Jeff the street beggar in town thus the need to differentiate in such a critically informative piece of journalism. On the positive side, Martin Doyle is spot on with his Wallywood column.
Kathy Ombler, Wellington.
Ed – The intention wasn’t to identify his ethnicity at random, it was a play on “Jeff the Maori” off the TV series Bro Town.
Scooter parks
(Referring to the lack of scooter parks). This is a money grabbing scheme by the council and if they were to consider other paid options for scooters then they could base it on how many scooters can fit into a car park space, i.e 10 then divide the hourly rate $4 to cost 40 cents an hour. As a scooter rider I would be willing to pay this if there were no scooter dedicated spaces available. How to display the ticket would be an issue though.
Alan Hucks, Wellington City.
Humanity Threatens
Humanity’s increased ability to exploit nature could be as threatening as CO2 from fossil fuels. I believe sustainability necessitates less use of energy regardless of generation methods. Nuclear power when waste disposal, uranium mining and enrichment as well as construction and decommissioning of power stations are taken into account, it appears neither arguably hazardous, uneconomic and indirectly a significant source of greenhouse gases. Similarly hydro dams and wind farms have their pros and cons. Electric cars are only as good as their benefits balanced against the outcomes of power generation and transmission as well as manufacture and disposal.
John C. Silvester, Mt. Cook (abridged).
Paramount
My last two visits to the Paramount have been spoilt by what would seem to be either incompetence, understaffing, or just sheer disinterest in customer satisfaction. I feel compelled to complain About a week ago we went to Genova. All fine except that most of the audience walked in 10 minutes late. They had been sitting in a different theatre, waiting to see Genova, and had to change when a different film started. Perhaps that was not the theatre’s fault, but they were certainly not made aware which theatre was playing which film. It was disruptive and annoying but I was prepared to see that as an isolated glitch, until Last night I went to see The Road, advertised at 8.40pm. When I arrived to take my seat just after 8.30 the film had already started. For the next 10 minutes, while the film proceeded, the rest of the audience piled in. That was certainly one film that does demand attention right from the start. Understandably most of the audience were very annoyed afterwards and made their feelings plain to the front of house staff. I love my films, and I have always enjoyed the Paramount. But if there is a choice of theatres for a film I want to to see then from now on the Penthouse or the Lighthouse will certainly be my choice. They seem more committed to providing a good film experience.
David Colquhoun, Wellington (abridged).
