Local residents in the UK town of Walsall aren’t happy about the 15 giant green planters that have recently been installed in the town center, with many pointing out how they look like the warp pipes found in Mario games.
As reported by Birmingham Mail, the pots were bought and set up in town using taxpayer money. This hasn’t gone over well with folks there who find the pots ugly, and question if these Mario-esque planters were the right way to spend funds during a difficult time for Walsall. Currently, the city is trying to cut £29 million from its budget.
“It beggars belief,” said local florist Andrea Loveridge. “It makes the place more like something from Super Mario Brothers. They look like those warp pipes Mario jumps down.”
Loveridge, along with others who spoke to Birmingham Mail, expressed frustration that the city was spending money on these warp pipes instead of trying to bring in more business to the local town center, badly affected by over a year of extended lockdowns.
Supermarket worker Sue Morrisson also explained that in “a vibrant, modern town” these Mario pipes might work. But currently, the city is “dilapidated and tired looking,” so these fun pots just look out of place. Morrisson also said that “Everyone is calling them Mario pipes, it makes us a bit of a laughing stock.” Apparently, most folks in Walsall are Sega fans.
Adrian Andrew, Deputy Leader of Walsall Council, explained in a statement that the planters were installed using money gained from the national government’s Accelerated Towns Funding project.
“The work in Walsall Town Centre is intended to deliver a range of improvements to promote a feeling of wellbeing and safety and enhance the town center environment,” explained Andrew. “And a key element of this work was to introduce more planting into the town center to create a more social space outside the Walsall Art Gallery.”
If they were going to do this, they should have done it properly, and taken notice of another English town’s approach. Woking, in 1998, installed a 23 foot statue of a Martian, to commemorate the town’s destruction in War Of The Worlds. That’s how it’s done. Start the petition for a giant Bowser sculpture to destroy the high street.
(h/t Eurogamer)
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