I recently saw our new mayor Tenby Powell on TV reacting to the gun shoot-out and also heard him being interviewed a few weeks ago on Village Radio. Both times I was impressed by him but recently I read he voted to remove the by-law that keeps the homeless away from shop doorways, etc, and I was so disappointed in his vote, as I can now see the homeless returning to shop fronts in Greerton and downtown Tauranga and the reaction will be more businesses suffering and/or closing.

I think it will cost our new mayor at the next election if he doesn't rethink his actions, especially if we see the homeless invade places like The Crossing, Bayfair and Bethlehem Shopping Centre, then the rest of Tauranga's population will understand what we in Greerton have had to put up with from the homeless people's begging and intimidation tactics. Then we will see a huge public backlash for this irresponsible mistake made by our new council.

Peter Donnelly, Greerton