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It's enough to make one bang one's head against a railway embankment brick wall. The Heathcote Valley Community Association's attempts to tidy up, nay, even beautify the area surrounding the Martindales Road railway underpass have been fraught with setbacks.
It started when thieves and vandals stole what they wanted and trashed the rest. We knew that was always a possibility. What we hadn't anticipated was that the biggest threat to our project should come from an entity that would benefit from the work we did, at no cost to themselves (and believe me, we asked), Ontrack.
The first piece of vandalism from that quarter was when one of their
contractors put a chain across the road beside our garden. They dug two deep holes for posts and threw the extra soil over
our plot smothering three of our plants. Thanks to the sharp eyes of
Peter McKie, we were on the spot quickly enough to recover one, but the
other two will have to be replaced. The same perpetrator, took the new
padlock from its cardboard and plastic packaging and dropped said
casing onto our garden.
The second piece of vandalism was when an Ontrack contractor was sent to cut the long grass on the embankment and
did so with such enthusiasm that he managed to behead nearly $500 worth
of native trees. Ontrack were contacted and said that
they didn't know anything about our lease to plant on their land, that
all paperwork was held in the Wellington office and that whoever
organised the lease was long gone from the organisation, which itself
had undergone several changes.
 However, they said that now they were
aware of it, they would instruct contractors to be more careful in future.
That sounded good, but when I went to weed there two days later a gang
of workers were doing repairs to the line immediately above our
plantings which had obviously been recently run over by a very large
truck. The workmen appeared surprised and claimed to be innocent of any
involvement, accusing the contractor who had erected the posts and
chain a couple of weeks earlier.
When the site was visited the next
day (the railway workers still on the track overhead) more truck marks
were found on the garden, three plants were badly crushed and one
cabbage tree had been beheaded by a very sharp instrument. One plant on
the embankment had been pulled out by its roots and discarded.
Because
of the lease we have, allowing us to plant and beautify this area, we
also have a responsibility to keep it tidy and fire-hazard free. This
proves difficult when so few of the local residents are willing to help
out. What is a huge job for five or six people could be very
comfortably managed by ten to twelve especially if they had a little
more youth on their side than the current loyal band of workers.
Is it
really too much to ask of people to give a couple of hours about four
times a year? We know that when our plants are a little larger they
will act as a natural weed suppressant and will really enhance the area
and lessen the need for much maintenance. Do Heathcote residents really
want to see this spot return to a grave yard for broken bottles and
unwanted television sets? If we are not able to keep the area safe and
tidy, then Ontrack will do it for us, but do it their way and not ours.
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