Ratepayers blow fuse about lights as council to cut power to Games legacy

The $2.1m Yatala light installation could be repurposed under a Gold Coast City councillor’s proposal to salvage parts of the controversial art piece.

RESIDENTS will cough up $255,000 for the Gold Coast’s controversial northern gateway sign to be dismantled and stored at a council depot.

The 97 poles and hundreds of bulbs from the $2.1 million eyesore could then be split up and used to light up city parks, but only if the New York artists who created the sign don’t want them back.

A majority of councillors at a transport meeting yesterday backed a recommendation to work with Main Roads to reduce the transfer cost from the median trip on the Pacific Motorway at Yatala.

Gold Coast City Councillor Cameron Caldwell.

Councillor Cameron Caldwell also successfully argued for the infrastructure to be considered for lighting in parks and public areas.

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The sign’s fate will be decided by all councillors at a full council meeting next Wednesday.

But veteran councillor Dawn Crichlow forecast ratepayers would be billed more than $255,000 as councillors debated the cost of moving the entire artwork to a new location.

“Then another million (dollars) to put it somewhere else. What a joke,” she said.

Colleague Peter Young said that under the artists’ contract with council, the city “can’t use part of the Gold Coast (sign) — we have to use the whole thing”.

The Gateway to the Gold Coast.

Given the structure was 100m long, it had been “a struggle” to find a suitable and cheap, low-maintenance site with access to electricity.

The first step would be to advise the artists that council had decided to dismantle the sign, officers said.

If the artists declined to take up an option within a 10-day period to buy it, the council could use the individual poles and lights.

The lighting would be placed in popular spots like the Broadwater Parklands, Paradise Point park, the pirate park at Currumbin and sporting areas like Pizzey Park at Miami.

“I think that’s where we can right what was clearly viewed as a wrong by some sectors of the community,” Cr Caldwell said.

LOCALS FURIOUS AT $2.1M GATEWAY SIGN

Deputy Mayor and Councillor Donna Gates. Picture: Jerad Williams

The 11m-tall artwork, jointly paid for by ratepayers and taxpayers, was supposed to be the Coast’s own Hollywood or Welcome to Las Vegas sign.

The council’s economic development and major projects unit secured the funding in consultation with the State Government.

Acting Mayor and northern-based councillor Donna Gates had sought a welcome sign but on seeing the design only she and colleague William Owen-Jones voted against the winning tender.

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Angry ratepayers have since demanded money be spent on road congestion-busting projects.

Created by New York-based LOT-EK artists Ada Tolla and Giuseppe Lignano, the project was named HI-LIGHTS.

By upcycling road-made items using poles to create the Gold Coast image, the artists hoped to “create the extraordinary from the ordinary”. But it could only be seen from the passing trains.

At the launch of two gateway signs to “bookend” the city ahead of the Games, Mayor Tom Tate said “together they will create a sense of arrival and welcome for locals, visitors and GC2018 athletes”.

Games Minister Kate Jones said the lights were “all about the transformation of the Gold Coast to a boutique, international city and that’s a great Games legacy in itself”.

Yesterday’s recommendation by Cr Caldwell was backed by transport committee chair Pauline Young, Cr Gates and Cr Paul Taylor.

Councillors Crichlow, Gary Baildon and Peter Young voted against, raising concerns about costs.

Outside the meeting, Cr Gates said: “Well, what we hope is the artist will buy it back. That would be a perfect outcome and we would happily give it to him.”