TARADALE BLOKE REPORTS NEIGHBOUR'S KID'S CHALK RAINBOW AS "UNLICENSED ROAD ART"
The artist is seven. The complainant has a tape measure and a printout of the wrong bylaw.
A chalk drawing on a Taradale driveway has copped a hand-delivered letter from the neighbour describing it as "unlicensed road art" requiring "immediate removal pending council approval".
The drawing, a rainbow with a wonky sun, was done Sunday by Mia Whitmore, 7, on her own family's driveway off Gloucester Street. The letter arrived Monday, single-spaced, with a highlighted section of the Napier City Council nuisance bylaw stapled to the back.
"He's measured it," said Mia's mum, Kirsten Whitmore, holding up the letter. "There's a diagram. He's written 'approx. 2.4m x 1.8m, encroaching aesthetic'. Encroaching aesthetic. On my own concrete."
The neighbour, who signed the letter only as "a concerned ratepayer of 22 years", told The Daily Yarn he stood by every word. "It's the principle. Today it's a rainbow. Tomorrow it's hopscotch. Then where are we? Hastings."
A Napier City Council spokesperson confirmed there is no bylaw covering chalk on private driveways and that the highlighted section referred to abandoned vehicles. "We did get a follow-up email," she added. "He's citing the Resource Management Act now."
Mia has since added a second rainbow, a cat, and the words "HI BRIAN" in pink chalk facing the fence. Rain is forecast Thursday.
The drawing, a rainbow with a wonky sun, was done Sunday by Mia Whitmore, 7, on her own family's driveway off Gloucester Street. The letter arrived Monday, single-spaced, with a highlighted section of the Napier City Council nuisance bylaw stapled to the back.
"He's measured it," said Mia's mum, Kirsten Whitmore, holding up the letter. "There's a diagram. He's written 'approx. 2.4m x 1.8m, encroaching aesthetic'. Encroaching aesthetic. On my own concrete."
The neighbour, who signed the letter only as "a concerned ratepayer of 22 years", told The Daily Yarn he stood by every word. "It's the principle. Today it's a rainbow. Tomorrow it's hopscotch. Then where are we? Hastings."
A Napier City Council spokesperson confirmed there is no bylaw covering chalk on private driveways and that the highlighted section referred to abandoned vehicles. "We did get a follow-up email," she added. "He's citing the Resource Management Act now."
Mia has since added a second rainbow, a cat, and the words "HI BRIAN" in pink chalk facing the fence. Rain is forecast Thursday.