Fines are ‘puerile’

I have just read article ' Sleepers swept from store fronts ' (The Weekend Sun, April 5, P4-5) where I find the lack of analytical research appalling. I might add this is not the first time I have thought this about the level of journalism displayed by your paper. I quote ‘Intimidatory begging in Greeton Village and the CBD….. putting people off and nearly driving shop owners out of business'. This inflammatory and emotive statement, and I for one haven't been party of this type of situation whilst shopping in Greerton.

There has also been previous articles commenting about new traffic lights and roundabout causing the shops to lose business, however, there is no hard evidence published to support these comments therefore they are hearsay.

I'd suggest a more accurate reason for these shops losing custom is the new shopping mall complex in Tauriko which offers more choice and better quality retailing than found in Greerton Shopping.

The beggars sleeping overnight is a problem, and I can sympathise with the retailers, however, if they applied more pressure on Tauranga Council to come up with a real solution other than passing a bylaw to make begging and sleeping rough an issue. It seems that council and government prefer band aid approaches rather than dealing with the core issue. Fining beggars for infringing this bylaw is puerile, as the beggars will not have the facility to pay the fine, so you end up in a perpetual loop. This is crazy, and a waste of time and effort. A better solution might be for council to provide small huts where people can sleep at night, with adequate domestic facilities. Suggest researching Glamping Huts.

If your journalist spent a little more time in analysis and research the quality of your articles will improve. It's not difficult just stop using hearsay evidence and dig deeper for the facts.

Best Wishes

L Hawk, Pyes Pa

You may also like....

0 comments

Leave a Comment


You must be logged in to make a comment.