Councillor Kate Lempriere, while I can appreciate art in its various forms and am no stranger to a gallery or two, I was more than a little surprised to discover the plethora of art works being commissioned by Cardinia council.
Notwithstanding the hefty price tag of $35,000 for Camaraderie at the new council offices, there was also a list of other works like The Gift, Natural Balance and Toomah to name a few.
All with equally staggering price tags, I’m sure, and something your letter blatantly neglected to mention on any level.
What irks me is that this art is draining funds from the “capital works program”, monies surely better spent on, let’s say, for example, lighting for Pakenham Road from the Princes Highway to Balmoral Way.
It beggars belief that, arguably, one of the oldest roads in Pakenham is still without any street lighting but we can spend money on chiselled rocks outside an office building.
If certain councillors want to push their own art based agendas, that’s fine but may I suggest that they be funded by a beneficiary rather than the community at large which is already struggling under this council’s heavy debt.
I would even go as far as to suggest their next art project be a giant dollar sign to be placed at the entrance to council’s new offices and name it Solvency.
Then if things inevitably go awry, we can move it inside the new complex and rename it Insolvency pardon the sarcastic pun.
We can only speculate what residents “on struggle street” would say if you asked them what they thought of tens of thousands of dollars of their rates being spent on rocks in front of the council’s Taj Mahal?
Personally I will not be voting for any councillor pushing art based projects while so many in our community struggle to make ends meet.
The same can be said for other councillors who stand on their principals for no rate increases which realistically is akin to peeing into the wind, all while that individual allegedly furthered his education at ratepayers’ expense.
I will, however, vote for someone who is brave enough to rock the boat, ask lots of pointed questions and make matters of public interest, public knowledge.
Just to prove that this letter is not all gloom, doom and derision, I applaud the council contractors who removed all of the graffiti around Ron Andrews park last week.
They did an outstanding job of returning at least one community asset to its former glory.
David Connor,
Pakenham.
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