Neighbourhood takes up graffiti fight
INSIDE: Letters 12 What’s On 36
Marty Edgehill had a once-in-a-liftetime outline embedded in his window last Friday – a kereru in every detail.
The only evidence of the collision between window and bird was the stunning image and a small pile of feathers on the ground.
What happened to the bird is unknown.
Edgehill regularly gets kereru is his central Lower Hutt garden but this was the first time one hit a window.
Our photo was a hit with our Facebook readers, with many, like Clara Bathurst, reporting similar collisions.
‘‘He gave my partner a hell of a fright he was standing in front of the window, he just went ‘donk’ but flew away.
‘‘[There are] lots of them up here in Normandale,’’ Bathurst said.
Rob Jowitt said one flew through his front window one evening. ‘‘Picked himself up, looking a bit stunned had a rest to recover then flew around a bit pooping on things then flew out the window I had opened for him.’’
Readers commented from all over New Zealand, including Janette Martin.
‘‘We live up in the Plateau in Te Marua on top of a hill and when they hit it doesn’t sound healthy all round.’’
Fairfield resident Duane McGregor reported kereru are plentiful near his place.
Jerry Ackley suggested putting stickers on windows to prevent such avian crashes. Jenny Fitzsimmons is sick of vandalism in a alleyway near her home.
To deter taggers she and another neighbour, Tina Hura, have taken up the council’s offer to ‘‘adopt a spot’’.
The pair keep a close eye on the Wainuiomata short cut, regularly painting over tags and removing broken glass.
Fitzsimmons says it’s about taking pride in your neighbourhood and there is a strong argument that quickly removing tags discourages tag vandals.
‘‘The longer a tag is there, the more kudos they get . . . if you wipe it out straight away, they don’t come back because they don’t get the recognition or attention from it.’’
Some taggers like to consider themselves artists but Fitzsimmons says that is not the case with the tags she sees. ‘‘The graffiti here is just vandalism, it is not art. These are the same sort of people who smash over letterboxes.’’ ’
The alleyway is popular with young people heading home from central Wainuiomata in the evening.
As well as leaving rubbish and tagging, she says they make also make a lot of noise. ‘‘They play soccer with the empty cans and that is really noisy.’’
Council graffiti manager Ray Gorin says Fitzsimmons and Hura are good examples of a community stepping up and making a difference.
The council and Keep Hutt City Beautiful are pushing for people to adopt trouble spots. The council will provide free paint and assist in a number of ways.