I have recently returned to live in the Mount, and, being unable to drive, have taken to walking our streets. And I am appalled and disturbed at what I see. Many of our streets resemble the worst slums of Los Angeles, with bottles, cans, and other rubbish littering unkept front lawns and berms, with footpaths broken and not much better than a carpet of concrete bits, with fences broken, sometimes with graffiti, with houses and gardens obviously uncared for and in disrepair.
The worrying thing is that this reflects an attitude in the people of this 'clean and green” country. An attitude that can only be described as Stone Age”. Why have so many of us lost that self respect that would never allow our living space to become almost a rubbish dump? Even in Los Angeles the County puts large clean up machines through the streets on a regular basis, and broken down footpaths are very quickly repaired. Are our city fathers also infected with this 'don't care” virus?

John Mills, Mt. Maunganui.