Dunedin city councillor David Benson-Pope voiced outrage after a vehicle was deliberately driven over the street's median strip last June, destroying $10,000 worth of toothed lancewood and native tussock, earlier planted by Delta contractors.
''This is just such a mindless waste of everyone's money,'' he said.
Cr Benson-Pope pointed out that the DCC had limited funds to spend and it was ''important to make the city look as attractive as we can for residents and visitors''.
Asked about progress on the planting work, DCC transport engineering and road safety team leader Hjarne Poulsen said yesterday that the planting had started late last week.
''We're expecting the work to be completed by the end of April''.
Orange sedge grass, mountain flax, toothed lancewood trees, and cabbage trees were being planted.
Asked what was being done to prevent the previous vandalism from being repeated, Mr Poulsen said kerbs had now been constructed ''which will protect the median''.
''Bollards will be installed by each tree and landscaping rocks will further deter any repeat vandalism,'' he said.
Asked if the addition of rocks and shrubs, and high external kerbs and some posts would protect against vandalism, he said ''that is the intention''.
The installation by contractors of new concrete kerbs and channelling was part of a $500,000 upgrade in upper Stuart St on behalf of the council, a council spokeswoman said.
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Although the new landscaping looks amazing. I think the City Council, should concentrate more efforts towards social housing, or flats.
Any gardener knows that NZ flax and cabbage trees have extremely tough long strappy leaves. The lower ones die off and end up on the ground. Seems a bad choice for a busy, steep and regularly icy road like Stuart St. Apart from that, the expenditure seems excessive. And still no pedestrian safety rail for pedestrians walking under the Roslyn Bridge where the footpath slopes steeply in two directions and is often slippery with moss and/or ice, DCC doesn’t uphold its own pedestrian strategy re Stuart St. Wastes money on an overkill median strip instead.
I seem to recall Benson-Pope pushing to get trees planted along the meridian strip of Portsmouth Drive. It was a stupid, dangerous idea then and this doesn't seem any wiser. Now a central crash barrier would make much more sense but we no longer expect that from our worn out council.