Subway mural plan causes contention
Proposal aiming to turn tunnel into ‘point of interest’ on hold
Aproject to upgrade Dannevirke’s subway in the hopes of putting a stop to frequent vandalism proved to be contentious with members of the community board.
The proposal was to have a mural painted through the tunnel and at each of the entrances, funded by grants, with one grant application already approved.
Tararua District Mayor Tracey Collis told members of the community board at a meeting this week that the subway, which connects Hall St and Queen St, was used by many people with mobility issues.
“I’ve had quite a few people contact me,” she said, adding they didn’t feel safe using the tunnel as it was tagged frequently.
The council, through a contract with the Ministry of Social Development, had the tunnel painted last year in an attempt to stop the tagging, but it was vandalised again.
“The concept was to transform it and turn it into a place that visitors wanted to go to have a look,” Collis said. “It is a beautiful area there, and it is something that is very special.”
It hoped to employ an artist, who went by the name SwiftMantis and painted a mural on the side of a building in Pahiatua, to do the work.
Collis said people stopped there to have a look and it did get a lot of publicity.
Part of the project would involve artwork that told the cultural story, she said.
However, board members Ron Wallace and Ernie Christison queried the project, saying they felt it would be better to have a mural that wasn’t underground, thus more visible to people passing through town.
Wallace said there was a mural on the side of the Warehouse on High
St and that hadn’t been tagged.
“This is the main connection to Hawke’s Bay, and we’re going to put something under the ground?
“We could put these murals where it gives us credibility as a community board to say, ‘Look what they did, isn’t that beautiful?’”
He asked if a count of how many people walked through the subway, questioning the viability of the project if no one was going to see it.
“It’s the principle of what we’re doing for the ratepayers.”
Christison suggested putting up CCTV cameras in the tunnel.
“We’ve got cameras everywhere
else. Why haven’t we got cameras down there to catch the problem?”
Board member Terry Hynes spoke up in support of the project.
“The subway has always been ... an area where all sorts of obscene activities have carried on.”
He said there was a need to upgrade the area, adding that with the obscene language painted on parts of the tunnel, it wasn’t a good look for the community.
“It’s an area which we could make a point of interest. It is an area which
we can do a lot with, and I think we’ve got to continue to look at that.”
Councillor Erana Peeti-Webber said there was evidence to show adding something like a mural meant people had more appreciation for an area and there was less tagging.
She suggested getting a price for cameras and investigating the lighting in the tunnel as part of the project.
Chairman Pat Walshe moved that the board waited until it had more information on costings before moving forward.