Dim view of light show

By Shaun Inguanzo
VISITORS to central Dandenong would have to brave dark, dingy and potentially unsafe laneways to view parts of a $91,000 lighting-art project that is part of the central Dandenong’s $290 million revitalisation, according to the Dandenong Retail Traders Association (DRTA).
The organisation’s chairman Roy Aspinall this week said what should have been a remarkable lighting project was instead tucked away in dark and dingy laneways that had typically fostered underage drinking and graffiti.
Mr Aspinall said the DRTA was initially supportive of the Vessels of Light project that aimed to inject life into the city at night with a series of LED lights in coloured perspex sculptures created by a team of artists.
But he said the DRTA was under the impression the works were to be placed in more prominent positions.
“With all due respects (to the council and VicUrban) I think the idea is great but my understanding is that (the lights) would be out on streets,” Mr Aspinall said.
“But at the moment they are hidden away, there is one in Ewart Lane (behind Walker Street) that is right down the end that you are very lucky to see.”
The council said in a statement that ratepayers had contributed $68,000 to the project, and VicUrban $23,000 as part of the Revitalising Central Dandenong project.
Funds were allocated in the 2005-6 budget.
In a separate statement promoting the project’s launch next Tuesday, the council said the Vessels of Light project “provided visually tantalising works for the public to enjoy as they walked through the city’s streets”.
“Seven Vessels of Light occupy four different sites across the city in locations that will require pedestrians to seek them out,” it reads.
But Mr Aspinall said he failed to see how, without adequate safety lighting, the laneways would attract visitors who still perceive Dandenong’s ‘dark and dingy’ laneways as being unsafe.
Mr Aspinall owns and operates the Walker Street-based Highway Bowls retail store and said that he often found empty alcohol bottles at the back of his shop, where Ewart Lane is.
Mr Aspinall called on the council to install adequate lighting in laneways to ensure people could enjoy the $91,000 project without fearing for their safety.
“I do congratulate the council on doing a wonderful job bringing this to Dandenong, but they (the lights) are either in the wrong place, or need the laneways to be lit up.”
The Vessels of Light project will launch on Tuesday.
The council has revealed that businesses to which the Vessels are attached will pay $6 per year to power them, with electricity for the two pieces located at the Walker Street car park being paid for by the council.
The project was commissioned in 2006 and design, fabrication and installation was completed within 12 months.