City icons scrapped for Apec

By Warren Gamble

Two faded icons of downtown Auckland - Queen St's orange street-light poles and the stone-chip rubbish bins - are being ditched in a multimillion-dollar facelift for the Apec summit.

The poles and their cluster of four globe-lights have been criticised for giving the city's main street a 1970s look. The city council has yet to decide on replacements but promises that the orange will be painted over and the globes replaced with more modern fittings.

Painted metal bins will replace the stone-chip clad concrete receptacles, described by council millennium activity manager Ann Townsley as "something out of the Fred Flinstone era."

The improvements are part of a $450,000 budget for Queen St and Queen Elizabeth Square included in a $5.2 million council programme of works scheduled before the September summit.

Many of the central business district's roads and footpaths are being improved, graffiti are being removed and gardens replanted for the event.

The council plans to bill the Government's Apec task force $5.2 million for the revamp and other costs, arguing that the city has an obligation to look its best for the benefit of the nation.

Backbench MP John Banks believes the council will struggle to get that money, and other Government sources think councillors are trying it on to lower a hefty rates rise this year.