Anthony Phelps/Stuff
A contractor for Downer paints the skate park walls grey again, after a mystery painter added some unauthorised colour.
A pop-up paint job that added a splash of colour to Blenheim’s otherwise grey skate park has been for nothing.
A mystery painter got creative with his or her brush, presumably over the anniversary weekend, painting the walls of the Sinclair St skate park in bold and bright colours; from blue to green to yellow to purple.
But his or her work has been in vain.
The Marlborough District Council sent a contractor out on Thursday to paint the concrete walls grey again, a move that’s been grinding a few gears on social media.
Jason O’Donnell, who posted about the council’s “class act” on Facebook, told the Express he tried to “pop past” the skate park every day.
Anthony Phelps/Stuff
A random do-gooder painted the walls of the skate park in bold and bright colours. It didn’t last long.
An old-school skater from the 1980s, the 45-year-old said he liked to “keep an eye on things, and pick up any rubbish” at the park.
He said he had been involved with the skating community at a national level, previously working on park designs and fundraising in other regions. He moved to Marlborough a couple of years ago.
O’Donnell said he was amazed when he saw the bright colours, and the quality of the work.
He assumed it had been done by the council, given there were “so many colours in such a short space of time”. He was wrong.
Giving the skate park a bit of a revamp was actually on his to-do list for the summer. He had started sourcing paint and brushes from worksites and “people in the industry”.
“But somebody, unbeknown to me, took the initiative and got it done. They’ve done a better job than I would have,” he said.
Anthony Phelps/Stuff
A skater quizzes the contractor on the council’s second coat.
His next job was to speak to a few of the young skaters around town to find out who did it.
He thought painting the walls grey again “didn’t make sense”.
“There’s graffiti and there’s street art and there’s stuff like that [at the skate park] … no-one would look at that and say that’s bad.”
A council spokesperson said they would like to support a colourful mural-type paint job at the skate park, but the site suffered from a “consistent graffiti problem”.
The graffiti was often “highly offensive in content”, and the park had a “high visual profile beside State Highway 1”.
“It is very expensive and time-consuming to maintain when it’s graffitied every week. Dark grey is a good colour for lessening the impact of any new graffiti,” the spokesperson said.
Anthony Phelps/Stuff
Almost back to normal.
O’Donnell said he maybe should have gone to the council but, “I hate to say it, sometimes you have to go to social media and let the rabble get their pitchforks out”.
So that’s what he did and the rabble responded.
Here’s what they said.
”Oh, that’s sad!!! My 10-year-old commented on how cool it was.”
“I am happy to donate colourful paint to the artists for a do-over once the council have made it boring again.”
“This whole town needs new paint and maybe some glitter to liven it up. A kids’ skate park should be vibrant and inspiring, inviting and exciting.”
“Come on Marlborough District Council, you can do better than that. Why, why, why???”
“Council, seriously. There wouldn’t have been the 100 consults [sic] and fees paid.”
“You will enjoy grey until we tell you what colour you will like!”
“Maybe, just maybe, we should teach the kids not to graffiti, then there would be no grey-out.”
STUFF
It’s cool, it’s fun, it helps “liven up” the CBD. For the most part, people in Blenheim are enjoying the Banksy-esque street art popping up around town.
