Re: The amalgamation debate. In my past letters to The Weekend Sun I don't think I have got it any more wrong than everyone I know in Auckland that is moaning their guts out about their super city.

I didn't say we are the same as Auckland.

My concern is that, well let's look at the Tauranga City Council which has wracked up a massive debt in the first three years I lived in Tauranga.

Does the rest of the Western Bay of Plenty want to be ruled by that same ineffectual mob, who seem to totally lack any fiscal expertise.

The majority of voters live in Tauranga and they will vote for Tauranga and Mount candidates who they know, so Westerners should stand against such a stupid idea from the start.

The main problem as I see it is that too few people will have control over too wide an area.

Let's face it everybody has bias and bias will play a major role in negative actions in any super city.

Now someone wants the Mayors of super cities to have the power to overrule a whole council. For one person to have such power over the future of a city and the spending/wasting of ratepayers' funds is intolerable and cannot be allowed to happen.
I will most certainly be signing any petition against the amalgamation in our district. A city slicker will have no idea how rural people live and work or their needs and aspirations.

Alastair Bourne, Bethlehem.