Nappies, needles, glass - who cares?

Kaitaia woman Sharleen Edmonds doesn't know whose job it is to maintain the between-streets walkways in Kaitaia, and she isn't waiting to find out.

She said the walkway near her home, which runs between Tangonge Crescent and Pukepoto Road, had reached such a disgusting state that she got stuck in herself.

She's taken to it with a weedeater, collected rubbish and sprayed, but she's still not prepared to let her daughter use it as a shortcut when she visits a friend.

"I'm worried that she'll get a puncture in her bike tyre with the amount of broken glass in there," she said, although glass wasn't the only worry. She had also found hypodermic needles.

Ms Edmonds recalled using various walkways when she was growing up in Kaitaia, and was sure they weren't so abused and neglected in those days. She had weeded, picked up half a sack of rubbish and pruned overhanging trees growing on neighbouring properties, then taken the weeds, rubbish and prunings to dispose of at her cost.

The rubbish had included dirty nappies, "untold" alcohol bottles, broken and intact, and (so far) three hypodermic needles.

"It's not like the council is using our rate money to create better living spaces for residents in Kaitaia. They put our valuations down and raise our rates. Where is all that money going?" she asked.

"I keep finding all this rubbish and it worries me. Kids could walk on those needles. It's dangerous. And I always think that if you create something that's nice then people will respect it and keep it nice. So whose responsibility is it to keep the walkways safe?

"Recently I rode down two other walkways close to schools [Kaitaia College, Anne West Kindergarten and Pompallier Catholic School] and they were in terrible condition too. I have began paying attention to who uses them, and it's our school kids. Is it just me or is it crazy to create walkways for our children to access educational institutes but not maintain them?

"The one by us needs new metal on it, and so do some of the others around town," she added.

Last year Te Hiku Community Board closed the walkway between Eden Terrace and Dominion Road in response to on-going problems with anti-social behaviour.