Time for wider community to take added pride in city appearance?
“[We want] us to look like a city that has pride in its appearance and that we are not really at the mark where we want to be at the moment."
An Invercargill City Council staffer says they are not hitting the mark in terms of keeping the city’s appearance tidy and adds it is going to be a focus.
Although councillor Grant Dermody has suggested it is a responsibility the wider community needs to embrace and has suggested community “tidy-up days” as a possible option.
At a council meeting on Tuesday, Cr Allan Arnold questioned if enough was being done to clean up rubbish in Invercargill - particularly in road verges.
Council group infrastructure manager Erin Moogan responded: “It’s absolutely not lost on us that there is an issue there and we are not doing well enough.”
“[We want] us to look like a city that has pride in its appearance, and we are not really at the mark where we want to be at the moment.
“That does go down to both that rubbish in the garden and as well as glass in the kerb and channel, things like that.”
Dermody did not believe it should be solely left to the council to ensure the city was rubbish-free.
He believed the council should engage with the community about “taking care of their own little village, or part of their village or park”.
He suggested a ‘Take Care of the Park Day’ as one option.
“It could be Thomson’s Bush, it could be Seawood Bush, where we might put on some coffee carts and a sausage or something and we as a community take care of our areas.
“Just get a sense of pride back, as opposed to council just putting on more services that cost us money.”
Cr Trish Boyle suggested engaging service clubs who might want to be part of taking on such projects.
Mana whenua representative Evelyn Cook pointed out the collection of rubbish was something South Alive have successfully implemented for quite some years.
It was something everyone could be doing, she said.
“Instead of, ‘it’s somebody’s job’, it’s actually all of our jobs. Communities could be engaged more than they are, it’s not for me to say how a particular community should respond.
“But if you see the need, perhaps you should be talking to neighbours and [ask], ‘can we do this one every three months, or something’?