If anyone harboured any doubts that the Marlow Park dinosaur slide was much-beloved, the messages flooding in to the Otago Daily Times since news broke that the dinosaur might be an endangered species would soon have dispelled them.
When it became apparent that a long overdue refurbishment of Marlow Park — or, as it is popularly known, the ‘‘dinosaur park’’ — could imperil the concrete reptile, readers rushed to the ODT Facebook page to defend a beast which has transported generations of Dunedin’ites from its tail to its snout.
Marlow Park has undergone minor tweaks and modifications over the years but at its heart are pieces of play equipment — such as the dinosaur — which have been clambered over for more than half a century.
Some have not worn their years well. Parents and grandparents, understandably, have many fond reminiscences about watching children play at the park, but even the most robust of reptiles will find themselves worn down by constant use.
DCC officials have said that while the dinosaur was probably salvageable, the structure was not in great condition.
A dispassionate, dollars and cents analysis of the situation would probably brook no argument; the old slide has served the city well and it is time to replace it.
But this is not a dispassionate situation. Either through nostalgia or kitsch appeal, the 57-year-old dinosaur has a place in the heart of Dunedin residents.
While many would be prepared to surrender Marlow Park’s boot, the tunnel mountain and maybe even the whale — a water play feature which has been rendered dry for years — feedback has been almost unanimous that the dinosaur should stay.
There is a risk that this tide of public opinion is being driven by adults rather than by the children who, after all, are the people who will be using the park’s equipment.
Playground technology has moved on in leaps and bounds since the dinosaur slide opened for business, and while its thrills and spills were novel and exciting in 1969 a brave new world of climbing frames, slides and swings awaits the children of today.
The draft design for the proposed Marlow Park upgrade include a new pump track, an expanded street-style skate area, a purpose-built parkour zone and a nature play using rocks and storm-felled logs.
The plans are for a safe, entertaining and interactive space, and it looks like a well thought out attempt to exhaust future generations of Dunedin’ites before bed time.
Quite how well a dinosaur slide would fare against such diversions and distractions remains to be seen, but given that it has endured two generations so far and children still queue every day to slide down it, it seems likely it would survive very well.
Dollars should always be a consideration, of course, and ratepayers have expressed their dismay at councillors spending money on things perceived as ‘‘nice-to-haves’’.
But cities are not just about adults and grown-up things. Marlow Park is jam-packed most sunny days and the city’s younger residents are just as entitled to have rates money spent on their needs.
Nor are cities purely about practical things such as pipes and lampposts: skate areas and dinosaur slides have their place too.
If restoring the dinosaur slide will not break the city’s bank, that would seem the option that planners, and ultimately councillors, should sign off on.
The public have spoken, and this hardy survivor deserves the chance to be climbed upon and slid down for many years to come.
