Container art project an ‘eyesore’
It’s not art, it’s an imposing eyesore – that’s how one man describes a community initiative.
Duncan MacDonald said his local neighbourhood policing team’s latest project was ‘‘rubbish’’ that was causing ‘‘bad vibes’’ in the area.
In July this year, two 40-foot shipping containers painted with graffiti were placed on a privately-owned vacant site in the Auckland suburb of Avondale, to be used as a temporary community and recreation hub.
But MacDonald, chairman of the area’s business association, said the ‘‘huge’’ and ‘‘ugly’’ containers were visible from Great North Rd. A section of the site was also being used as a public car park. He said there were better uses for the old 3 Guys supermarket site, which had been vacant for more than a decade.
MacDonald said the graffiti was not a good look for Avondale.
‘‘Here we are trying to put up with this just because some people think this is art – and I don’t,’’ he said.
The project was being led by the Avondale Neighbourhood Policing Team, supported by Community Waitakere and Turn Your Life Around Trust.
Community Waitakere’s website said the policing team was ‘‘guardian’’ of the location. A representative of the policing team, understood to be leading the project, did not respond to multiple requests for comment.
Since taking over the neighbourhood policing team had not cleaned the site, where illegal rubbish dumping was a long-standing issue, MacDonald claimed. This was in breach of the agreement with the owners, he said.
MacDonald, who was also a member of the Whau Local Board, said initially he was told the idea was to put two containers on an Avondale location to ‘‘store gym and exercise equipment for youth’’.
MacDonald said he had suggested a council-owned site with utilities nearby would be more suitable.
‘‘I want these containers gone, I want this site developed, I want some nice housing and I want more shops on it.’’
A shipping container was an inappropriate place for community activities, he said. ‘‘Why on earth would anybody want to hold a community class in a dirty old 40-foot shipping container instead of going to the community centre?’’