A trail of destruction has left numerous billboards promoting east Auckland candidates in this year’s local elections in pieces and looking like a tornado has blown through the area.
The billboards are located adjacent to Barry Curtis Park in Stancombe Road, Flat Bush.
When the Times visited the scene on Tuesday morning, about half a dozen large billboards were on the ground along with their snapped supporting timber framing.
Only a couple of the billboards were still standing.
Several of the candidates impacted by the damage say they suspect it was caused by the storm that blew through Auckland on the weekend.
“I’ve been out to the site today [Monday] and they looked like they were blown down by the high winds over the weekend,” Howick Local Board chairperson and Auckland Council Howick ward candidate Damian Light says.
“It would be disappointing if they were vandalised. They’re expensive and candidates pay for them out of their own pocket.”
When the Times pointed out to Light that winds strong enough to break timber framing would also likely have blown the signs away from the area, he replied: “Possibly.
“Mine was mostly still attached to the pegs in the ground so it couldn’t move.
“It appeared one of the legs had come loose and the structure fell over.”
Another of the damaged billboards, belonging to Auckland Council Howick ward candidate Barry Jensen, appears to have been cut horizontally, leaving about two inches of the top of the billboard still attached to the framing, but the rest is missing.
“From the look of it, we suspect it could be vandalism,” Jensen says.
“The straight cut certainly raises questions. At the same time, it may have been storm damage, and we can’t say for sure either way.
“What matters most is public safety, so we’ll be tidying up the site and resetting the frame properly.
“If it was vandalism, then I’d simply say this: let it be a message.
“Are some people threatened by change? If so, that just reinforces why I’m standing to bring fresh energy, cap rates, and stop waste at council.
“Either way, a damaged sign won’t slow down my campaign or distract me from the real issues that matter to east Auckland.”
Jensen says locals have told him it appears the weather damaged most of the billboards, rather than targeted vandalism being responsible.
“Any fallen boards that obstruct the footpath or visibility should be removed quickly.
“My team and volunteers have already been out today [Tuesday] again checking sites and re-securing what’s safe to fix as we had to fix other areas’ signs that went down too.
“We’ll keep co-ordinating with council and the relevant contractors on anything that needs proper removal.”
And Howick Local Board member and experienced campaigner David Collings, who’s standing for re-election to the board in the Flat Bush subdivision, says it’s normal for billboards to be impacted by strong winds.
“From memory we always seem to have some sort of storm with particularly high winds.
“Some signs could be up for over two months until the polling day on October 11, so there’s bound to be some weather incident over that period.
“While it can be a pain having to resurrect a sign, I think the hardest part is asking people to put a sign up on their property.
“We politicians might seem all confident, but it is embarrassing seeking support from residents in this way, so I think I can say on behalf of all candidates that we really appreciate it when you allow us to do so.
“One concern I have is I have been hearing some candidates are not asking homeowners for their permission when putting up hoardings.
“Residents need to be reassured that it is their property, and no one has the right to put something on their property without their permission.”
Collings asks if a candidate cannot respect another person’s property, how can they think they will be a good representative.
“I’ve come across many senior residents for whom English is a second language and they’re quite distressed and don’t know what to do.
“I would encourage anyone that has had a sign put on their fence without their permission to call the owner of the sign, as it’s required by the Electoral Act to have a contact number on the sign.
“If they don’t feel comfortable to report it to council on 09 301 0101, there are enforcement officers that will contact the candidate directly.”
A police spokesperson says police are unaware of any reports related to the vandalism of billboards in the local community.
