Letters: Councillors respond to sculpture criticism

An artist's impression of the sculpture. Photo / Rotorua Lakes Council

Congratulations Rotorua!

It was reported (Rotorua Daily Post, January 12) that Rotorua has been listed by the New York Times as one of the top 52 places in the world to visit in 2018. Rotorua is the only New Zealand destination to make the list.

I wish to give my heartfelt congratulations to all of the Rotorua businesses, tourist operators, artists and others who work so hard to make this city the fabulous, vibrant and internationally popular destination that it has become. There is no doubt that such a profile is key to the increasing prosperity of our city, by attracting visitors and new residents from all over the world.

Accordingly, Rotorua is lucky to be the recipient of substantial funding from the NZ Transit Authority to undertake the construction of a landmark sculpture to grace the new roundabout at Hemo Gorge. Transit's Urban Design Policy has been developed to integrate major infrastructure such as this with the natural character and identity of the area and has been shown to significantly increase safety for all road users.

Our Southern Gateway will certainly become a city landmark that people are already driving, riding and walking to admire. Once the vision of tangata whenua from Te Puia is realised by groundbreaking technology from local company Killwell, Rotorua will be home to yet another major cultural asset.

KAREN HUNT
Rotorua district councillor

I'm responding to Kevin Barker's 'please explain' letter to Cr Karen Hunt regarding the Hemo roundabout sculpture (Letters, January 12).

What concerns me about this letter is that it is personalised at one councillor, in similar vein to a letter to elected members just before Christmas declaring that Cr Hunt should be 'held accountable' for various aspects of the inner city revitalisation.

Kevin should be well aware that decisions of council are made by majority vote of 11 elected members, as was the case for the collaboration with NZTA and Te Puia to fund this sculpture for this intersection.

I agree with him that art is a matter of opinion, but its value in place-making has been proven time and again. A full explanation was made to council on the cultural significance of this sculpture in this place and it is entirely consistent with the MFE's design guide for urban New Zealand; entitled 'People+Places+Spaces'.

In chapter two, under the heading 'A culturally responsive approach' I share this excerpt: "In addition, cultural images and symbols can be incorporated into the design of
spaces, helping to tell the story of the history of the place and it's importance to a
community."

In a workshop with one of the authors of this design guide he highlighted research that shows the economic return on appropriate public art can be many times the return in roading investment.

DAVE DONALDSON
Rotorua district councillor