Fast Buck$, Coorabell.
Cr Jan Hackett’s sad attempts to distance herself from the new wispy tinsel dick on Ewingsdale Rd reflect an equally sad truth about attitudes towards public funds. In her view the problem was that the panel was misled, kept in the dark in terms of what was promised compared to what was delivered.
The artist was ‘granted the job on blind faith’. Clearly this would never have happened if it had been Jan’s own funds at risk.
She goes on to tighten the noose around her neck by suggesting that the successful submission was the only one ‘that was not a cliché or banal’. Excuse me? What could be more banal than a model of a lighthouse in a town that already has a real, much bigger one?
‘There were no follow-up drawings or documentation, no design documentation which should be done before construction, no engineering specifications or certification’. There should have been expert engineering, safety and traffic reports plus public consultation.
The mayor cannot so easily avoid accountability for something that happened under his watch. The mayor is Green while Jan Hackett is Labor, so Simon could help avoid any suggestion that he has hung Jan out to dry by publicly explaining the evolution of the debacle and his role in it.
Fast Bucks, Byron Council have forgotten many things in their haste.
One is Maintenance. How is Council going to prevent the bird poop, the dust and the grime from car exhaust getting on it and making it worse. How is it to be cleaned?
The Council is awash with non-thinking since Cr Rose Wanchap has gone.
This public art is not really a shoo-in.