WTF: Divisive Daz, illegal campers, long-lasting debris and art critics

This week’s instalment takes a look at the mixed response to the catch up between Geelong’s mayor and a colourful City Hall character, illegal campers along the coast, and car debris on one of Geelong’s busiest roads.

Darryn Lyons and Stretch Kontelj enjoyed each other’s company at the Geelong waterfront. Pictured with Paula Kontelj.

They’re the little – and sometimes not so little – things that can really irk us. We’ve asked the people of Geelong to point out the problems that irritate and exasperate and have us all saying, woah, that’s frustrating!

DIVISIVE DAZ

Darryn Lyons and Stretch Kontelj admire the floating Christmas tree that debuted in 2014 when the pair served on Geelong council.

It seems not everyone was too pleased with Geelong’s recently minted mayor Stretch Kontelj’s Christmas catch up with his former council colleague Darryn Lyons.

Everyone has an opinion about the flamboyant paparazzo and, shock horror, our story – Daz back to share his city vision– generated a flurry of comments.

As expected, some were favourable, others not so much.

One camp saw the meeting of minds as proof that all would be OK: “If anybody can fix Geelong, these 2 can do it.”

Then there were those who thought it was far from a good look for the city’s civic leader to be chewing the fat with someone whose mayoral term ended abruptly in 2016 amid allegations of bullying and general dysfunction.

Sarah Hathway is unimpressed with Stretch Kontelj’s first few months as Geelong mayor. Source: Facebook.

Recently ousted Geelong councillor Sarah Hathway fell firmly into the latter bracket.

The Socialist Alliance firebrand took to social media to not once, but twice, call out Kontelj’s judgment in meeting the man he calls a “mate”.

But Geelong’s first lady, Paula Kontelj, she of Bay FM fame, was having none of it.

Former Geelong councillor Sarah Hathway weighed into a recent catch up between Stretch Kontelj and Darryn Lyons. Source: Facebook.

While her point was not lost, technically it was incorrect, because there was an 11-week period during Hathway’s stint at City Hall where monitors (not administrators) were absent.

STOP YOUR PITCHING

Illegal campers at Torquay are not even trying to hide, setting up in plain sight despite large warning signs.

Last week this column detailed the surge in summer seaside selfishness and while the tide of coastal craziness has subsided slightly, waves of bad behaviour are still washing over our shores.

In this week’s instalment we turn our sights to the scores who continue to show blatant disregard for the rules about where you are allowed to camp.

There are more people staking illegal claims than during the gold rush and some of the nuggets being left behind are far from glittering.

At Torquay, dodgy campers aren’t even trying to be sneaky, simply pitching tents and swags and sleeping in cars and caravans in plain sight in some of the most well-known and well-visited seaside spots.

There are warning signs, but little action it seems.

Many have set up directly behind a giant sign warning that camping and sleeping in cars is banned.

Others are turning their overnight stays into extended drinking sessions, with early morning beachgoers greeted by empty cans and unconscious travellers.

A hard earned thirst? VB appeared to be this illegal camper’s drink of choice.

What’s worse is the authorities appear to be enforcing the rules with all the rigidity of wet tissue paper, which is also what some of the campers are leaving in nearby bushes.

CAN WE CRASH HERE FOR A WHILE?

Large crash debris on the side of Latrobe Tce, where it has sat for weeks.

It appears there was a nasty collision on Latrobe Tce near McKillop St a little while back.

How do we know?

Because great big chunks of damaged vehicle are littered across the nature strip and footpath. Where they’ve been for … weeks.

Yes, the large sharpened and twisted pieces of metal and plastic have sat menacingly on the side of the heavily used thoroughfare day after day.

From another angle.

We aren’t exactly sure who is responsible for their removal, but perhaps they’d like to take action soon because, with cars zooming past at high speed and the debris rocking dangerously in the wind, we might soon find ourselves dealing with even more twisted metal.

ART CRITICS

Is it a bird? Is it a plane? No, it’s an abstract fish.

Picture this: a can opener, a giant pac-man or a screaming cockatoo.

It’s not everyone’s cup of tea, but the sculpture that Geelong council has installed at Rippleside Park has sparked the imagination of local art aficionados, alongside a batch of others with less creative tastes.

Since WTF reported last week that the public artwork is actually an abstract fish, dozens of other interpretations have flooded in, some positive, others not so kind to the creation named Momenta, a nod to the entry to Corio Bay.

Others quip that it looks like the work of a kinder kid, a self-portrait of Mayor Stretch Kontelj or lawnmower blades after hitting a rock.

But with household and council budgets increasingly feeling the pinch, the bulk of comments online were that it was a monument to wasteful council spending.

Originally published as WTF: Divisive Daz, illegal campers, long-lasting debris and art critics