Baysiders unhappy with ‘embarrassing’ Christmas decorations

A COUNCIL’S embarrassing attempt at sprucing up its shopping strips with costly but tacky Christmas decorations has come under fire.

Dodgy Christmas street decorations cost $150k

FURIOUS ratepayers have declared Bayside Council’s $153,000 Christmas decorations an embarrassing failure.

The council has attempted to spruce up shopping strips across Bayside by wrapping gold ribbon around street trees and securing it with cable ties, and sticking stars to fences and bins.

RELATED: Bayside Council admits Christmas decorations are a festive failure

In September the council trumpeted its new three-year festive project to brighten up shopping areas, with this year, the first year, costing $153,000.

At the time, Cr Michael Heffernan said the council was “getting a lot of bang for our dollar” from the contractor employed to design and install the decorations.

HAVE YOUR SAY: What do you think of the Christmas decorations in Bayside? Tell us in the comment section below.

Cable ties hold the gold ribbon wrapped around trees.

Stars stuck to a fence and gold ribbon wrapped around a tree in Brighton.

But some residents, including Sandringham trader Emily Perkins, said she disagreed.

She said the “amateurish” decorations were “disgusting” and an “embarrassment” to the shopping village, and several other residents have expressed similar sentiments.

The company contracted to install Christmas decorations in Bayside shopping strips has refused to comment on residents’ views that their work is an embarrassment and a failure.

Xmas-Mil Display Products, based in Bayswater, has been employed by Bayside Council for a one-year contract to supply, install and store decorations, with an option to extend for a further two.

Managing director Rod Miller said he wouldn’t discuss Baysiders’ comments that the decorations were of poor value to ratepayers.

“That’s people’s personal opinions,” Mr Miller said.

He said the contract with the council was open-ended.

“We are hopeful of working with them next year,” he said.

Mr Miller said there were more than 650 items used in the nine shopping strips in Bayside.

Some of the Christmas decorations Bayside Council spent $150,000 on.

Hampton’s Kelly Poland said the community was very disappointed with the decorations, and the council needed to look at the value for what they got from the contracted company.

Rodney Apcar said the decorations in Brighton “were a joke” and the funding allocation needed to be reviewed.

Anita Balmer said it was “ridiculous”, and “a very poor attempt at Christmas adornment”.

Several people have expressed their views on the disappointing decorations by posting comments to Bayside Council’s Facebook page.

Post by Rosie McLean.

Post by Martine Jolly.

Rosie McLean described the decorations as “woeful, tragic and very tacky” while Rachel Cowell questioned why the council had even bothered with decorations this year.

Martine Jolly‎ said there were “no words” to describe the Christmas decorations in Bayside.

“It is so ... embarrassing, lacking in creativity and certainly lacking in creating a celebratory Christmas vibe,” reads her Facebook comment.

But Bayside Mayor Felicity Frederico defended the project.

Trees in Sandringham have been wrapped with gold paper, held on with cable ties.

“All the Christmas decorations being installed in Bayside have been custom-made to last in external environments,” Cr Frederico said.

But Cr Frederico said only 40 per cent of the $152,900 first-year budget was actually spent on the decorations, with the remaining money being used for their installation, storage and traffic management.

“Council is already working with its contractor to ensure that the types of materials used in 2015 and the spread of decorations across the municipality are more in-line with community expectations.”

She promised the displays would become more elaborate each year.