TCC Council in its infinite wisdom, have gifted $100,000 towards the RMA Consent process plus agreed to provide TCC ratepayers' Cliff Road site to the Museum Trust which not surprisingly operates outside the public's gaze presumably because most Tauranga residents don't want a bar of any Museum, let alone the one envisaged.
Meanwhile, artefacts storage costs of around $1million annually, for many useless items that will never be displayed continue to rack up the expenses.
Clearly the high-flyers have rejected out-of-hand a modest Museum at the Elms or the Historic Village or an easy revamp of the deserted modern Cosmopolitan Clubrooms at the Mount and are hell-bent on a state-of-the-art Museum costing tens of millions of dollars on a prime site. Why the completely pro Museum Trust, The Elms and maori interests are having a greater say in this aberration rather than affected Tauranga residents and ratepayers is anyone's guess. To now say the Museum Trust is seeking funding from Bay Regional Council's $38 million Infrastructure Fund meant for general infrastructure projects is very concerning and quite wrong because this Fund is not for ‘castles in the air' stuff. This will impact on essential infrastructure schemes. These public funds one way or another are ratepayer funds when we were all clearly assured the Museum was not going to be funded by ratepayers. It seems we are being misled and the next funding stop will be undoubtedly be TECT and Bay Trust.
Any Museum will inevitably go the same way as the Route K, Baypark, Art Gallery, Tauranga Aquatics, JazzFest fiascos that were not supposed to cost ratepayers anything – well, think again!!

R Paterson, Matapihi.