Council defends 'disgraceful' road move after residents erupt: 'Haters gonna hate'
Cairns Deputy Mayor Brett Olds dismissed grumbles about the new look of the median strip.
There has been intense backlash after a stretch of road in a major Aussie city received a drastic makeover last week, impacting the "aesthetics" of the area. Despite there now being calls to "reverse" the move that has been described as a "waste of ratepayers' money", the council told Yahoo News residents simply need to get on board.
"Haters gonna hate."
That's what Cairns Deputy Mayor Brett Olds told Yahoo News when responding to backlash over shrubs and hedges being rooted out of the median strip on Trinity Beach Road and replaced with turf.
He argues that people have been "overwhelmingly happy" with the decision and, as a local himself, he believes it's for the best.
"I've had many phone calls from people saying that it's awesome... the shrubs make it really hard for traffic to see, especially on the roundabout down there, and we had to keep cutting it back as the maintenance cost was ridiculous," he explained. "There's always going to be people who are unhappy... haters gonna hate.
"There's some unhappy people if you give them a million dollars in a brown paper bag, they'll complain about the brown paper bag," he said.
Residents push back against road 'eyesore'
After the update was shared online, many residents questioned why an alternative that offered more biodiversity wasn't selected.
"An absolute disgrace in my opinion! A diversity of insects are now gone. Now it is an uninhabitable environment that requires far more water and costly maintenance," one resident said, calling the new road divider an "eyesore".
Others called it a "terrible" decision and said native shrubs or trees "would look much better".
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Not only was the vegetation restricting drivers' visibility, it also poses a deadly risk to native wallabies in the area, Olds said.
"We use the zoysia grass which the wallabies don't eat so they don't go across the traffic and get in the middle of the road," he said, explaining this was a major consideration when the council made the change.
"It looks softer than concrete and is better when it's hot. We put concrete down once nearby and the community backlash was huge... this slow-growing grass is better," he said. Trees will be planted at a later date to provide shade and add to the biodiversity of the area without causing safety concerns for drivers.
"I think overwhelming people are really happy with it."
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