Editorial: No new life for bolt?

The White Lightning sculpture was gifted to Rotorua in the 1980s and placed in the middle of the city, before it was removed. Photo / Ben Fraser

Beauty, they say, is in the eye of the beholder.

Though I'm not sure many would say Rotorua's controversial White Lightning sculpture is beautiful as such.

Striking, perhaps. The white and blue-tiled lightning bolt, which shot back into the headlines this year, is destined for a new home in Ngongotaha.

But not if more than 500 locals have their way. A petition has been circulating to keep the sculpture out of the township.

Petition organiser Ann Henderson says the sculpture is ugly and that a lot of people, including the Maori community, are up in arms and don't want the sculpture in Ngongotaha.

With such fervent feeling among locals, it's hard to imagine moves to relocate it from its home in storage will be successful.

The sculpture has been sitting in a Castlecorp yard since it was removed from the, then, Tutanekai Mall in the late 90s.

Given its unceremonious retirement at the time, it was never going to be easy to give it new life, and published images of its current state - dirty and cracked with tiles missing - will do nothing to help its cause.

But White Lightning was a product of its time. Gifted to the city in 1987 by the Rotorua Area Electricity Authority, the electric symbol made sense at the time and was certainly a talking point in the central city (though its white and blue tiles earned it the nickname "the urinal").

Ngongotaha locals could be forgiven for questioning the relevance and suitability of the sculpture for their village.

They could certainly be forgiven for questioning whether it's worth spending $15,000 on repairs.

This lightning may never get the chance to strike twice.