SURELY there are health and safety rules on leaving bins permanently out on the pavements.
In Dundee, people with mobility problems and parents with buggies and prams have to step on to the road to get past these smelly obstructions, thereby putting themselves at risk for the sake of lazy people who cannot be bothered to put their wheelie bins away where they belong.
Does the council have staff to monitor the situation and make the guilty parties responsible like the rest of us? — Wheelie Concerned.
Have field day
WHAT are the rules on wheelie bins being left out on Dundee streets permanently?
Most of these are from tenements.
Why is there no one responsible for seeing that householders are being responsible?
Cats, dogs and seagulls have a field day raking around.
People have to park their cars on the road next to smelly bins, parents with prams or in wheelchairs are forced on to the road, all for the sake of a few lazy people.
Make people responsible and considerate and fine them if they are not.
Surely the council can find some way to enforce this. — M. A.
[A Dundee City Council spokesman said, “We do contact the minority of people who do not think about others and leave wheelie bins permanently out on pavements to remind them about their obligations. We will also be looking at taking further action to deal with the problem.”]
Need for motivator
DUNDEE needs a motivating figure to move us from our economic lethargy. Glasgow has Stephen Purcell whose vision and enterprises freed that city from the grip of tired, old politicians.
Dundee appears to be managed by officials, not by the elected members, and it shows in the timid fashion by which we approach any innovative idea.
So will someone please tell politicians of all persuasions to stop this corporate rot before Dundee is overtaken by its rural neighbours and help maintain our status as a dynamic urban area? — Dundee Reader.
Too many new licences
I have driven a taxi part-time in Dundee for about three years. In this time the number of taxis on the road has increased way above demand. The council continues to grant licences for new vehicles and profits from all the testing and other associated fees paid to them by the driver/operator.
Drivers are struggling to make a living and it is not uncommon to wait almost an hour for a fare during the week and get paid £3 for this. When is Dundee City Council going to act on this situation? — Taximadness.
MPs can’t sit on fence
Dundee MPs Jim McGovern and Stewart Hosie stated that jobs are the key to lifting one million Scots out of poverty.
Yet recently mentioned the large influx of Eastern Europeans to Tayside.
As MPs they are supposed to be representing those who put them in power. Can they explain to the parents and children who will be looking for jobs why there are fewer or no vacancies?
Can they explain why when companies are closing here and taking jobs abroad?
There is no use sitting on the fence on these issues. — K. S.
Cat complaints
I too, am sick of cat owners having it all their own way. I have dogs and had them before my neighbours moved in.
They own cats and if I let my dogs off their lead in the back garden to exercise they complain.
If my dogs bark at passers by during the day, they complain.
We cannot take our dogs to the park to exercise as they were not socialised with other dogs by previous owners when they were younger and may go for another dog.
However, it seems completely acceptable for cats to have the run of the land 24/7, mess in our garden, drop dead vermin on our path, wail and scream in the middle of the night and do what they like. — Irate.
Only add to congestion
I with M. S. that lights at Fountainbleau/Claverhouse and Forfar Road/Kingsway in Dundee would only add to already unacceptable congestion.
I wrote to Malcolm Forysth, of Transport Scotland, suggesting the Forfar Road/Kingsway roundabout be left in place.
This would help the flow of traffic and give people from places like Tealing a route back on to the A90 north.
I think it is time for all parties involved to look at the plans again with a view to leaving the double roundabout instead of replacing it with traffic lights.
Another concern is the old Linlathen School gates, an entry never in the original planning application for Morrisons.
This is being used as a general entry and exit on a trunk road and this unauthorised entry/exit is an accident waiting to happen. — Ron Neave, Chairman, Fintry Community Council.
No “go” for green
LOOKING to incorporate green alternatives, specifically air source, heat exchange, into a partial house rebuild, I contacted several companies to obtain advice and prices.
Some expressed initial interest and promised to get back.
Only two ever did and the one who then agreed to a survey never came.
Another who purports to do the kind of work I require was eventually persuaded to do a survey and asked to tender and have never been heard from since. — Thwarted In Coldside.
Post Office was hub
ONCE upon a time the local post office was the hub of the community.
Today many prefer to purchase or renew their passports, stamps, television and road licences from other sources and figures show the overwhelming majority of pensioners prefer to receive their money via their bank accounts.
Post offices are closing because people aren’t using them. Losses of more than £4million each week are unacceptable.
If communities are so concerned for their local post office then they should run it themselves. — Postman Pat.
Red Santa
IN answer to B. C., Monifieth, Santa used to be shown wearing green. The red version was invented by Coca-Cola. — G. O. B.
Dundee trams
I doubt very much that the tram lit up for Christmas and featured in the letters page was pictured in 1959.
There were no trams left running in Dundee by then. — Hysterical Historian.
Wheelchair costs
I read the report in the Tele about making all taxis in Dundee wheelchair accessible. Graeme Stephen, of Dundee Taxi Association, said the cost would have to be covered by increased fares.
But what about all the people who have already purchased these vehicles? I don’t hear any of them saying fares have to increase. — Fare’s Fare.
Hard hats and dust masks
Residents at Balerno Place, Dundee, and the surrounding area should be issued with hard hats and dust masks. Since building work began in the area it has been like living on a construction site. — L. S.
Buddha gone
SOME bandit stole a large stone Buddha from outside my house in Balgillo Road, Dundee. The Buddha is spellbound so watch out. — P. Davidson, Broughty Ferry.
THE ADDRESS for readers’ letters is - Readers’ Page, Evening Telegraph, 80 Kingsway East, Dundee DD4 8SL. They can also be placed in our post box at our offices in Albert Square, Dundee, emailed to us on letters@eveningtelegraph.co.uk or faxed on 01382 454590. We ask correspondents using a nom-de-plume or sending by e-mail to provide a name and address for reference purposes. The editor reserves the right to reject or edit any letter. Please keep letters as short as possible.*
