Volunteers attack mess

DOING THEIR BIT: Volunteers Daniel Lynch, Virigina Kunz, Tricia Cosgrave, Janice Chappell, Mary Mason and landowner John Broeren help clean up the courtyard of the abandoned Chapelli's building.

Virginia Kunz isn't one to sit idly by when her hometown needs a spruce up.

Last week, Featherston resident Mrs Kunz and good friends braved the icy temperatures, dusted off their gardening tools, and headed for the former Chapelli's building on Fitzherbert St. Their objective was simple: to tidy up the courtyard, which had become overgrown with weeds and was looking "quite unsightly".

The building, once home to popular pizzeria Chapelli's, has been empty for five years -- and is one of many abandoned properties in the Featherston central business district, drawing the ire of residents. Fed up with hearing complaints about "eyesores", Mrs Kunz took matters into her own hands.

"There are two types of people: talkers and doers," she said.

"So many people were saying how ugly the place was looking, but not doing anything about it -- and all it takes is a little initiative. So I talked to a group of ladies, and we decided it was time we cleaned it up."

The Chapelli's building was built by landowner John Broeren in 1995, and was originally home to Burlings Restaurant and Bar.

The property was occupied by Wellington restaurateur Steve Chapman in 2004, who opened the woodfire pizza joint Chapelli's -- which Mrs Kunz said was "extremely successful".

The restaurant was later taken over by new tenants, who re-named it Cindyz, but customer numbers dwindled and the tenants vacated in 2010.

These days, the building is a shadow of its former self -- with windows either "full of cobwebs", boarded up or broken, graffiti covering the exterior, and rude words scrawled in the dust around the front door.

"I'd walk past it every morning, and it was quite upsetting," Mrs Kunz said.

"It's not a good look -- that kind of thing does drag the town down."

But it was a strongly-worded description of the building in one of food critic David Burton's reviews which galvanised her into action.

"That was the catalyst -- it hurts when people make these kind of comments."

Last Thursday morning, Mrs Kunz and a small group of volunteers got to work in the courtyard, pulling weeds, washing windows, sweeping debris and pruning trees. Their work was finished within about three hours.

"You should have seen it before -- you could barely see the cobblestones underneath," volunteer Mary Mason said.

Mrs Kunz said she hoped the property would eventually be leased.

"It's a lovely space -- it's a business begging to get going again."

Mr Broeren, who turned up to lend a hand, said he was grateful for the volunteers' help.

"When you see graffiti everywhere, you do wonder about our community," he said.

"But this restores your faith in human nature."