Our signage should be welcoming

Your headline ‘‘Welcome to Christchurch - Gun City’’ on the front page of the Weekend Press (Sept 7) stirred up a lot of pent-up emotions in me on two counts.

First, due to the inappropriate and potentially highly offensive nature of such a large prominent sign and the message it might convey.

Its tragic association (albeit unintended) with the terrible events of March 15 is obvious. How is it possible, at this sensitive time, that Christchurch, which officially purports to be a Peace City, can have allowed the establishment of such a large gun outlet in such a public location?

The city should do everything in its power to rectify this mistake and involve the Government and Prime Minister, if necessary.

Second, the headline reminded me of how unwelcoming and out of touch the signs are at the key road entrances to Christchurch. These signs all simply state ‘‘CHRISTCHURCH’’ ... not even ‘‘Welcome to O¯ tautahi Christchurch, Haere Mai’’.

It is quite unbelievable that a city that is the tourist gateway to the South Island and obviously wants to project itself as friendly and welcoming to visitors does not use signage at the first point of contact visitors will have on their arrival to project this message.

John Gould, St Martins

Service centre

I should state at the outset that I have no strong feelings one way or the other about the recent establishment of the Gun City store at the Sockburn roundabout.

However I notice that council has stalled on any demolition of the former Sockburn Service Centre building on Main South Rd, nearly adjacent to the controversial Gun City site which was headlined in The Press on Saturday.

If Mayor Dalziel is so concerned about Gun City spoiling one of the ‘‘main entrance points to our city’’ or a ‘‘dominant gateway’’ to the city, perhaps the council’s lack of action in demolishing its earthquake-damaged building is contributing to the untidiness of the immediate area, having its frontage on State Highway 73 as well as the busy Main South Rd.

The former service centre building and grounds are at least as unattractive as the ‘‘Stubborn Swimming Pool Ruins’’ also headlined on Saturday.

Jon Lovell-Smith, Christchurch Central