A colourful way to clean up the city

The Rotorua CBD needs a spruce up.

Details of stage one of the Rotorua inner city revitalisation plan have been revealed and they include a "Scrub Rotorua Day" later this month.

Inner City Focus Group instigator and retailer Mike Steiner told a packed meeting of more than 130 retailers and business people in the Rotorua District Council chambers last night there was a "great sense of excitement in the community that something is going to happen" now the group, the council and other key stakeholders were working together to revitalise the "neglected" inner city.

Long-term options for the inner city space are being developed and will be out for public consultation after Christmas.

In the meantime, there were simple practical measures that could make a real difference in the short term, Mr Steiner said.

One of those is Scrub Rotorua Day on November 23, where business owners and landlords are encouraged to spruce up and make over their buildings and frontage.

"A little bit of paint goes a long way," Mr Steiner said, adding many retailers just no longer noticed things such as faded paintwork or signs or dirty verandas. Almost all those at the meeting indicated they were keen to take part.

Mr Steiner said the council had committed to replacing gardens in the city, was looking at murals and artworks, and had agreed to make this year's City Focus Christmas tree bigger and bolder than ever.

He said about half of the store veranda lights in the CBD had not worked for years but in the past month they had been fixed, making the city much brighter at night.

Safety and security were hot topics with issues such as graffiti, loitering and intimidating youths and pan-handling discussed.

The group's security expert, Brett Wilson, outlined a number of steps being undertaken, including redefining the role of City Guardians, better utilising security cameras and an impending appointment of a CBD-based community police constable.

Mr Steiner said the long-term inner city vision could involve anything from cycleways, green space, removing the City Focus, inner-city accommodation to perhaps "must see" attractions such as "a 30ft high statue" of Hinemoa and Tutanekai at the intersection of their streets.

New Mayor Steve Chadwick and council chief executive Geoff Williams threw their full backing behind the project, expressing excitement at the real changes being made. "The 'heart of the city' project is a symbol of a new beginning for Rotorua," Ms Chadwick said.