Letters, Feb 1
Parking angel
My Mum had to come into the city from the Hutt and parked at the Stadium, not reading the sign stating parking was $6 per half hour!. Two hours later when she returned, the ticket machine read the bill at $30. Her $10 parking money wasn’t going to cover that!
My tech-phobic Mother asked a lady passer-by if she knew whether or not the machine would take her eftpos card. The lady didn’t think so. Mum poured out that she couldn’t risk putting her card into the machine and losing it as she had to go to the supermarket on the way home.
This lady then took $30 cash out of her bag and unquestioningly gave it to my Mother to pay for her parking. When my Mum tried to ask for her address to return the money she refused, simply saying ‘I know when someone needs your help you will give it to them’.
I’m overwhelmed at this lady’s generosity and sensitive recognition of a fellow human being, who was in a stressful situation. The world doesn’t seem quite so bad.
Chantal Martin (abridged).
Arts for free
In response to Curtis Nixon’s Lost, Cuba Carnival, (December 21) the 2012 New Zealand International Arts Festival has a long history of providing extraordinary free arts events in Wellington. In 2012, renowned New Zealand artist Michel Tuffery’s giant digital artwork, First Contact 2012, will be projected onto the facade of Te Papa every night of the festival. French performers Les Philebulistes will dazzle with acrobatic feats inside a giant wheel at Waitangi Park and Ngakau Toa will perform a Te Reo version of Troilus and Cressida at Te Papa.
We also screen free Art Talks throughout the festival, where audiences can gain insight into the creative processes behind the works. Have a look on our website, festival.co.nz for great-value ticket packages. We also offer Tix for $20, every day of the Festival.
Sue Paterson, Executive Director, New Zealand International Arts Festival.
Fairer Fares
Oh wow! Perth has a free system of inner city buses, according to Martin Doyle (December 21). What a great idea. Couldn’t work here of course -”What, free buses? Not on your life” would be the official response. But wait, even a cheaper and easier fare structure would be a good start.
Like in San Francisco where a bus, subway or streetcar ride anywhere in the city costs just US$2.00. They have an extra great feature of a free transfer for a 90 minute period from when you buy your $2.00 ticket so passengers can get on and off as many times as they need to get to their destination.
Such a great idea and perfect for a geographically challenged public transport system such as San Francisco’s where large hills get in the way of direct routes. Like Wellington’s.
Curtis Nixon, Berhampore.
Newtown parking
The disabled carpark in Normanby Street Newtown is 60min parking “At all times” and was put there for the use of disabled people who would like to do their shopping in the Mall, and use the money machine. There are few disabled parks in Newtown, and this one and Newtown Ave. are well used.
Every night a member of the Assyrian Centre shows no respect for our laws or the people of New Zealand, and uses the park for up to four hours.
If the Centre needs a park for their use, they should apply to the W.C.C. for one, and let the other park be used for the purpose for which it was installed.
Heather Bevan, Newtown.
Signs for the past
Now that the Wellywood sign has been settled would it be possible to restore the Salamanca board at the cable car’s university stop? For some time the lower Talavera stop has been deprived of information about the other great victory of the Iberian Peninsula of Arthur Wellesley, soon after to become our Duke of Wellington, thereby obscuring its historical relevance.
Similarly, the sign by the elm tree planted in Parliament grounds by Queen Victoria’s second son, Alfred, Duke of Edinborough, in 1869 has disappeared. After several years looking sickly this tree is now flourishing.
Restoration of these notes to our past could provide interest to both tourists and locals.
Geraldine Laing, Woburn, Lower Hutt.
My Mum had to come into the city from the Hutt and parked at the Stadium, not reading the sign stating parking was $6 per half hour!. Two hours later when she returned, the ticket machine read the bill at $30. Her $10 parking money wasn’t going to cover that!
My tech-phobic Mother asked a lady passer-by if she knew whether or not the machine would take her eftpos card. The lady didn’t think so. Mum poured out that she couldn’t risk putting her card into the machine and losing it as she had to go to the supermarket on the way home.
This lady then took $30 cash out of her bag and unquestioningly gave it to my Mother to pay for her parking. When my Mum tried to ask for her address to return the money she refused, simply saying ‘I know when someone needs your help you will give it to them’.
I’m overwhelmed at this lady’s generosity and sensitive recognition of a fellow human being, who was in a stressful situation. The world doesn’t seem quite so bad.
Chantal Martin (abridged).
Arts for free
In response to Curtis Nixon’s Lost, Cuba Carnival, (December 21) the 2012 New Zealand International Arts Festival has a long history of providing extraordinary free arts events in Wellington. In 2012, renowned New Zealand artist Michel Tuffery’s giant digital artwork, First Contact 2012, will be projected onto the facade of Te Papa every night of the festival. French performers Les Philebulistes will dazzle with acrobatic feats inside a giant wheel at Waitangi Park and Ngakau Toa will perform a Te Reo version of Troilus and Cressida at Te Papa.
We also screen free Art Talks throughout the festival, where audiences can gain insight into the creative processes behind the works. Have a look on our website, festival.co.nz for great-value ticket packages. We also offer Tix for $20, every day of the Festival.
Sue Paterson, Executive Director, New Zealand International Arts Festival.
Fairer Fares
Oh wow! Perth has a free system of inner city buses, according to Martin Doyle (December 21). What a great idea. Couldn’t work here of course -”What, free buses? Not on your life” would be the official response. But wait, even a cheaper and easier fare structure would be a good start.
Like in San Francisco where a bus, subway or streetcar ride anywhere in the city costs just US$2.00. They have an extra great feature of a free transfer for a 90 minute period from when you buy your $2.00 ticket so passengers can get on and off as many times as they need to get to their destination.
Such a great idea and perfect for a geographically challenged public transport system such as San Francisco’s where large hills get in the way of direct routes. Like Wellington’s.
Curtis Nixon, Berhampore.
Newtown parking
The disabled carpark in Normanby Street Newtown is 60min parking “At all times” and was put there for the use of disabled people who would like to do their shopping in the Mall, and use the money machine. There are few disabled parks in Newtown, and this one and Newtown Ave. are well used.
Every night a member of the Assyrian Centre shows no respect for our laws or the people of New Zealand, and uses the park for up to four hours.
If the Centre needs a park for their use, they should apply to the W.C.C. for one, and let the other park be used for the purpose for which it was installed.
Heather Bevan, Newtown.
Signs for the past
Now that the Wellywood sign has been settled would it be possible to restore the Salamanca board at the cable car’s university stop? For some time the lower Talavera stop has been deprived of information about the other great victory of the Iberian Peninsula of Arthur Wellesley, soon after to become our Duke of Wellington, thereby obscuring its historical relevance.
Similarly, the sign by the elm tree planted in Parliament grounds by Queen Victoria’s second son, Alfred, Duke of Edinborough, in 1869 has disappeared. After several years looking sickly this tree is now flourishing.
Restoration of these notes to our past could provide interest to both tourists and locals.
Geraldine Laing, Woburn, Lower Hutt.
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