Kerry Gibson is calling on the council to provide better upkeep and maintenance in Mount Maunganui. Photo / Andrew Warner
Kerry Gibson is calling on the council to provide better upkeep and maintenance in Mount Maunganui. Photo / Andrew Warner
Overgrown weeds, unmown grass and "barren" flower beds.
A Mount Maunganui resident has spoken out saying parts of the suburb are looking like a "third-world country" due to a "general lack of maintenance".
Kerry Gibson has lived in the area for 66 years and says it has become "unkempt" and "scruffy". In his view, it has never looked so bad.
The Mount Maunganui Ratepayers, Residents and Retailers Association agree and say walkways to the beach are a "mess" and there is "high grass areas everywhere".
They are calling on the council to provide better upkeep and maintenance.
However, Tauranga City Council said in a written statement its maintenance programme had been hampered by recent wet weather and it expected contractors to tidy areas once ground conditions improved and it was safe to do so.
Kerry Gibson is calling on the council to provide better upkeep and maintenance in Mount Maunganui. Photo / Andrew Warner
Gibson, 70, has raised his concerns ahead of cruise ships returning to Tauranga this month.
"You've got the buses travelling out of town over to Rotorua or to Hobbiton... these people sit on these buses driving down the main road looking out the window thinking 'where the hell are we. Bangkok or some Third World country?' Because that's what it looks like."
Having lived in Mount Maunganui for the majority of his life and climbing Mauao up to five times per week, Gibson had noticed the suburb becoming more untidy.
"I walked out past Mount Drury and... there's branches that have fallen off trees that have been there for months... grass not being mowed."
Towards the Hewletts Rd/Golf Rd roundabout, "the grass is over a foot and a half high and... I've seen it worse".
And at the end of Hewletts Rd: "There's weeds growing probably a metre high".
In downtown Mount Maunganui, he said there were weeds which needed to be tidied or sprayed, and flower beds there were "pretty much empty" and looked "barren".
"You go through Otorohanga... and they've got all the hanging baskets. For a little town, the place looks quite vibrant. There's a lot of colour. We used to have those sort of things here but not anymore."
Gibson said there was a "general lack of maintenance" in Mount Maunganui.
"The town looks scruffy and for a tourist town, it's just not acceptable."
"What are we paying our rates for? This is what our rates are supposed to be going towards."
Gibson said someone from the council should "drive all around the city with a notebook and just write down areas that needed a bit of a tidy up and then passing that onto the contractors and making sure it was done. And that's not being done".
He said he complained to the council last year about the "length of weeds and grass" around the Mount Maunganui library area.
"The funny part about it is you phone the council and complain... it's tidied up within two days."
Mount Maunganui Ratepayers, Residents and Retailers Association president Michael O'Neill. Photo / George Novak
Mount Maunganui Ratepayers, Residents and Retailers Association president Michael O'Neill said he had "absolutely" heard similar concerns from members.
"All the new works that they've done in front of Blake Park and they've put these wires up to stop cars parking on them - they just haven't bothered to mow them and the weeds are like a metre high," he said.
"It's like that throughout the Mount at the moment - there's just high grass areas everywhere.
"It's all the walkways down through to the beach... they're just a mess as well. Very unkempt - it's the worst I've seen it actually to be honest."
O'Neill said he was speaking with commission chairwoman Anne Tolley in November about the issue.
"It's the time of the year when everyone starts coming to the Mount - it should be looking lovely."
O'Neill said he also raised his concerns with the council last year and nothing had been done.
In response, Tauranga City Council spaces and places operations manager Warren Aitken said it had a maintenance programme carried out by "hard-working contractors" across the city.
"This programme includes mowing and arborist work, which has been hampered by recent wet weather.
"When ground conditions improve, when it's safe for our contractors, and when they're able to gain vehicle access to these areas, we expect these to be tidied up as soon as possible.
