Some quick fixes for disfigured cityscape

I am disappointed the view of First Church has been obscured by the extra floors being added to the building on the corner of Princes St and Moray Pl. It was a pity that the city planners did not decline the addition to this rather ugly black box, which is totally lacking in visual merit.

I consider there are three other disfigurements on the cityscape which could readily be improved.

The first is the eyesore between Speight's and St Joseph's Cathedral in Rattray St - an upholstery warehouse which has become a slum after 50 years' lack of attention.

Its gutters may be too expensive to be changed, as this will need scaffolding, but the broken glass and filthy walls could easily be fixed with a coat of paint either end to tidy it. As it is on a tourist route, it detracts from the city's image.

I also think a brickbat should be given to Cadbury's striated white concrete wall in Great King St, an example of peculiar blankness.

A quality mural - not a piece of lollipop advertising - could enhance this wall and encourage visitors to take the chocolate tours.

Lastly, the entrance to the city from Caversham passes the disfiguring metal yard (already commented on by another correspondent).

The owners could easily block this and at the same time beautify the highway by putting in half a dozen elegant yew trees so that drivers do not feel they are coming into a dump of a city.

This would be an inexpensive solution.

If the city is as much defined by the quality of its buildings and how they are cared for, with a tired old post office and a burnt-out structure in Jetty St, then Dunedin's image is losing its distinction.

Murray Hanan
Dunedin

- In recognition of the importance of readers' contribution to the letters page, the newspaper each week selects a Letter of the Week, with a book prize courtesy of Dunedin publisher Longacre Press.

This week's winner, Murray Hanan, of Dunedin, receives a copy of Penelope Todd's Digging for Spain, Longacre Press, $29.99.