Judy Russell (83) read about the state of Dunedin’s footpaths in the Otago Daily Times recently.
The Maori Hill resident knew the backlog in weed maintenance in the city was expected to be cleared eventually, but she often rode her bicycle to the St Clair Hot Salt Water Pool and was affronted by the weeds next to the footpath at the end of the Cliffs Rd parking lot.
So Ms Russell picked up her trowel and started digging the weeds out.
Unfortunately, the dandelions there had grown to such a "robust" state her trowel broke, she said.
Nevertheless, she received help from a friend, and from a passerby, and over two days — on Wednesday and Christmas Eve — she cleared the weeds to beautify the footpaths in front of the St Clair pool.
The ODT has continued to receive emails from Dunedin residents who say overgrowth problems span the city from Mosgiel to Ravensbourne and Warrington.
Dunedin City Council transport group manager Jeanine Benson said last week the council had hoped to have the backlog in weed control under control by Christmas, but wet, windy weather had delayed vegetation control work.
Contractor Fulton Hogan and subcontractor Whitestone were working hard to get on top of the problem, she said on Christmas Day.
Some sites were treated as a priority because of safety, she said.
Efforts had been bolstered and weeds that had been sprayed were starting to die off.
Ms Benson conceded the weed control programme had not been where it should be and she said a lot of resources were going into resolving the problem.
"We’re certainly not ignoring this."
In 1998, Mrs Russell was behind a petition, which gathered 2500 signatures, urging the Dunedin City Council to keep the St Clair pool open.
She took up the campaign at the suggestion of then mayor Sukhi Turner, who told her the council would only act on the wishes of the residents if those wishes were brought to the council's attention.
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The streets of Dunedin are a damn disgrace, I am going to need a machete to get down my street soon.
Coincidence. I've just been out weeding the new school 'safety crossings' opposite Arthur St School. Imagine putting in new plants and then letting the weeds take over. Come on DCC and contractors. BTW wet weather is the best time to weed. I too notice those weeds at St Clair. Well done Judy Russell.
So the DCC is at last acknowledging failure on the part of the contractor for this situation. This is after attempts to blame a wet spring and a backlog of work due to COVID lockdown. I suspect they have realised that the public wasn't buying it and that, perhaps, honesty might be the best policy . Ultimately, the failure is the council's. Surely they have DCC officers out in the field inspecting the work being performed under the roads maintenance contract? Why didn't they identify this failure months ago and seek remediation? The DCC is predictably silent on this. And has anyone noticed the filthy gutters and blocked mudtank covers all over the city? That will be the next failure that DCC staff won't have noticed until crisis point is passed.