Richard
Moore's Straight Talk Columns
We
mustn't let red tape stifle sirens call
22/3/2011
I
HAVEN'T got the appreciative email yet, but I'm sure it's on the
way.
Who
from?
Well
Civil Defence of course.
In
last week's column I pointed out they had a couple of bung links
on their website that meant anyone trying to find out information
on tsunami, or other natural hazards, went to error pages.
When
checked on Sunday the links had been fixed.
Hooray.
Well done, thanks for reading Straight Talk.
Mind
you, the Tauranga City Council website is still featuring ridiculous
questionnaires instead of making it easy for ratepayers and residents
of the city to find out how to escape in the event of a tsunami.
And,
as you would expect from an organisation that reacts to issues with
the speed of a herd of turtles, quick action on tsunami sirens,
warnings and evacuation plans will probably not occur any time soon.
Already
you can feel the suffocating effect of red tape and lack of political
will strangling the people's demand for action on a siren warning
system.
Our
councillors are calling for more expert opinions, extra studies
and show a desire for more navel gazing and little else.
There's
a lot of talk about revisiting the issue of sirens - which is political
speak for deferring any decision until people have forgotten about
it.
We
need action.
We
need our leaders to get serious about providing safety and judging
by the number of emails I'm getting there are a lot of concerned
folk out there.
And
there are a couple of examples they gave me about text warnings
and officiousness that are worrying.
Fred
had set up a tsunami warning alert via text from Telecom and at
9.23pm last Friday he got a message saying ``Massive 8.9 earthquake
in Japan. Tsunami warning issued for NZ being evaluated by CD. Please
listen to the radio.''
Excellent,
so the system worked.
Well,
sort of ...
Fred
discovered that for nearly all of the next day, Telecom locked his
phone for everything but emergency calls. Whenever he tried to ring
out he got a message to say that only emergency calls could be sent
on his phone.
Message
to Telecom: Um, aren't phones supposed to be two-way thingies? So
you can either warn others, or let people know you are okay?
And
how about this for bureaucratic stupidity.
On
the morning of the tsunami a lady and her hubby tried to walk up
Mauao to be safe from the imminent wall of water. Good, sensible
plan you would have thought.
But
no, an official stopped them because the area was still closed after
the recent slips.
Better
to let them drown in a tidal surge then.
Sigh.
********
New
Zealand Post you are a disgrace.
Your
miserly policy, and the less than acceptable attitude of some of
your staff, is shameful. Those people who read the front page of
Saturday's Times will know what I am talking about.
A
visitor, escaping from the ravages of the Christchurch quake in
which she lost her home, was reduced to tears at Palm Beach Post
Shop when she was refused Sellotape for a parcel.
To
make matters worse, customers abused the tearful woman, telling
her ``lots of people lost their homes _ get over it'' and another
``just buy some Sellotape for goodness sake''.
Well
I have to ask those unpleasant people just what you were in such
a rush for. A hair appointment? Getting your bunions dealt with?
Certainly it was not a class for Manners 101.
You
are appalling and show the Bay of Plenty in a very bad light.
Now,
I have had issues over the years with this cheapskate rubbish from
NZ Post, which refuses to provide people sending packages a small
amount of tape to seal their boxes.
The
litany from some staff is ``It is NZ Post policy not to provide
Sellotape''.
I
buy a lot of boxes at NZ Post to send off shop items and they do
not fit together well. When you are posting valuable things you
want them secure.
A
33m roll of Sellotape costs about $1.69, or about one cent for 19cm.
Would that break the NZ Post bank to provide a little bit of extra
service for customers?
As
for the comments from NZ Post's regional chief Phil Barnett that
``it really was a misunderstanding at the post office'', that really
takes the cake.
I
have been refused Sellotape at not only Palm Beach, but also the
Bayfair Post Shop, and the line used was the same as the one the
Christchurch woman got.
It
is clearly a company policy and is one that needs to be changed.
richard@richardmoore.com
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