Plaza’s Paradise lost

It was with frustration but little surprise that I watched workmen remove artist Michael Mansvelt’s Return to Paradise garden from Huatoki Plaza.

Council chief executive Miriam Taris’s platitudes regarding every dollar spent seem like a poor joke. NPDC, in the course of being the largest employer in the region, has repeatedly spent this kind of money as chump change. How much already on consultancy to fix the plaza’s original poor design? The reasoning just sounds weak, and every issue could have been addressed with the help of the designer.

Bureaucracy has a longstanding image of no creativity and moving like treacle ... and here we are again.

The public came out in widespread support of using this ‘‘green fix’’ and along with Taft and Michael Mansvelt were rebuffed. Saved a dollar and lost the room ...