Angry Wainuiomata residents are turning to Facebook and YouTube to vent their frustrations about the state of their local shopping centre car park.
DRIVEN POTTY: Potholes in the Wainuiomata Mall carpark. Photo: Nicole Bennik
The Facebook page “Fix the potholes down the mall car park please” has 540 members and the YouTube video was viewed by 369 people within 24 hours of it being posted.
Local resident Jody Bell posted the YouTube video ‘Wainuiomata Mall fix the pot holes please’ hoping the power of social networking would result in action.
“I hoped that the video would make its way around our fellow community Facebookers so that they would join the group.”
The land is privately owned and Wainuiomata Mall manager Delly Ranginui is waiting for approval from the property owner to fix more than 60 potholes in the car park.
It has been four months since RCG Management, the Auckland-based company which owns the land, was sent a quote of $250,000 to reseal the car park.
At the time the quote was sent there were fewer than 50 potholes and since then the number has more than doubled due to the weather.
While waiting for a decision from RCG Management, more than $11,000 has been spent to repair the three worst affected areas in the car park.
Creator of the Facebook page, Julie Ayres, says the problem needs fixing properly.
“And not just a patch-up job otherwise it just ends up the same a few months down the track,” she says.
“I’m sure some kind of funding can be arranged or even maybe the township itself could maybe have one huge fundraising gig to raise some money for it if funding can’t be looked at.”
Comments on the Facebook group which has over 540 members show mall users are concerned that there will be no long-term solution to the problem.
Examples of comments include:
Tony Bognuda: “[The] length of time the car park has been left in such a sad state of repair and the complete lack of maintenance it has received over the years, I doubt very much patching will do anything long term.”
Helena Ward: “Please fix the pot holes I can say they are not at all pleasant driving over especially when you [are] 28 weeks pregnant. I truly think this is a great cause and the mall should be seeing all these posts thanks to the creator let’s hope our voices are heard.”
Mall users have attributed the potholes to needing frequent wheel alignments and are concerned elderly people may trip in the holes and seriously injure themselves.
Mr Ranginui says he welcomes any calls from the shopping centres users to discuss the issue further.
Hutt City Council has received numerous calls from concerned and annoyed residents who are fearful people may get hurt, have their vehicles damaged and are worried that shoppers may decide to go elsewhere due to potholes.
Work on the worst areas was due to begin Monday August 9, but contractors were delayed due to poor weather conditions.