Fight on to run park, hall
‘‘We want to make it more community relevant. It's a lovely hall, but it's just not relevant to the users.’’
Fairfield Park is being treated as a dumping ground with tagging, rubbish, blocked drains and locked public toilets in what should be a treasured place for people to enjoy.
A group frustrated by the lack of action from Hamilton City Council is asking to take control of the park to resolve the problem.
Fairfield Park Hall is on Clarkin Rd and neighbours Fairfield Intermediate and Fairfield Primary School.
It is one of five public facilities where the council is hoping to introduce ‘‘anchor tenants’’.
These could be community groups who can take medium or long-term leases to manage use of the sites.
‘‘We put our hand up straight away,’’ Fairfield Park Hall manager Eddie Neha said.
‘‘We want to make it more community relevant. It’s a lovely hall, but it’s just not relevant to the users.
He and former caretaker Moki Wereta have big dreams for the hall.
They would like to renovate the site to include a commercial kitchen, a deck and a modern playground. But more than anything, they want to see it maintained to the standard it used to be.
Wereta was the kaitiaki, the guardian, of Fairfield Park.
He worked for council, for about 10 years, maintaining 13 sites around Hamilton until May last year.
He says now the park is treated like a dumping ground. There is tagging on the building and skateboard rink, hedges have overgrown and drains are clogged with rubbish.
The hall also has public toilets that are locked and can’t be used.
Wereta said the biggest issues have been with bottles and litter.