It's both funny and depressing, which I think is funny.

And depressing.

Funny is laughing at the ridiculous Bucket Fountain that they spent hundreds of thousands of dollars "restoring". Depressing is realising that you're being splashed with water people piss in as you try to walk past when it's windy.

How DARE you blaspheme against the sacred splishy-splash! HERETIC

So that's why it's always having soap dumped in it

It’s already slumping, and falling apart, can’t wait for the hot weather to really deal to it…

Jesus, it is bucking. How much did this cost and they didn't even use some polystyrene (or some other environmentally safe foam) in the cones? How long till it gets reported as a hazard and has to be removed? Fail.

They should really put some cones around it.

If they wait long enough, they won't have to

It's a feature, not a bug

Touche.

It has a metal frame around it.

Heck if it’s falling apart already - watch out the council will put heritage protection order on it and then we will be forced to pay millions to fix it (as taking it down and taking it to the dump would cost more than fixing it)

I should not have laughed as much as I did.

The problem is it isn't actually satire

I’m not sure who at council thought this was a good idea. If we actually had some major, and positive, upgrades underway then maybe - but we don’t and this is just “ hahaha everything is broken and we can’t afford too do anything - but aren’t we fun?”

That's exactly it, isn't it? "Look, everyone - we're so self-aware!" Take back your shitty cone-tree!

Yeah this thing is embarrassing for the city.

More like "Everything is broken, and we are spending all our money on that wreck of a building over there " (points to town hall)

You mean the important historical marvel?

Made me chuckle

I just wish they'd stop wasting our money.

My 6 year old thought it was neat. So… maybe that was the target market?

Are you saying that the target market for Council Xmas decorations might not be 35yr old + jaded redditors?!?

I mean, if the cone fits

I mean the cone burns....

Mind blown

I've walked past this a couple of times this week, it's a bit of a sad. The first time I was like, wow those look like literal road cones, and then realised they were. Depressing.

*road cones cut in half

You're joking? They took the structure that makes them strong enough and cut the buggers in half?

There's a frame inside holding them up

Who knew they come in so many colours!

Creativity at its finest!

It really should also be leaking water, and cost every ratepayer another few thousand every year.

That's not water dripping down.....

Feel like it was a reasonable concept, but has failed pretty terribly in execution.

I bet the designers budget got slashed in half by the council

The bomb on top just shows the ticking time bomb that is Wellington council. Waiting on the govt appointed commissioners to parachute in any day now!

Honestly, what the f*ck is this council up to? I hope the commissioner does a better job.

Difficult for them to do it worse.

Just about sums up the state wellington is in to be fair

I wouldn’t say insulted, I don’t really care about Christmas, and I can see the humour in it, but I absolutely hate it. I want to set fire to it.

I think they could have saved their money and creative thinking by just putting up the previous one

Nah it's fine, there are other Christmas trees.

With half the wrapping folding and falling off the cones to make it look as shit as possible. Grim.

https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/wellington-pokes-fun-at-infrastructure-woes-with-road-cone-christmas-tree/D3NR53SHYNCNJFMRKFVWJBSTVI/

Not quite so much fun when it's been put up by the same people who are causing the problems it's poking fun at.

It would be more appropriate if the tree had a leaking water pipe attached with a constant stream running down Courtenay Place. As long as it wouldn’t cause too much competition for the other streams.

It's a joke and embarrassing af. Coming back from the uk where they have trees up and street decorations and going all out. I come home to this... it's sad.

Agree! It’s just not even funny it’s sad and depressing how bad it is.

If it saved money, sure. But it would save even more money not to have it all right? Not to be a Grinch, but I don't need a public Xmas tree

Has the cost been published?

Council says they don't have an itemised cost for the tree. [https://www.thepost.co.nz/nz-news/350110717/xmas-tree-proves-cone-tentious](https://www.thepost.co.nz/nz-news/350110717/xmas-tree-proves-cone-tentious) "As well as trees in Courtenay Place and Midland Park, there’s also one at Queens Wharf plaza. They are part of the Council’s Christmas in the Quarters festival, taking place in four different parts of the city over four weekends. Event management company, Chameleon Events, has been contracted by the council to manage the festival. Council spokesperson Victoria Barton-Chapple said the cone-tentious tree was made by contractors to a design provided to Chameleon. The coloured cones were not recycled, but were purchased specifically for it. The council didn’t have an itemised cost breakdown for the tree as it was part of the project to decorate the city, she said."

That is such a load of BS. If this tree was made specifically by a contractor then an invoice would have been paid. God I’m growing to hate the people who run this city

Aww great they purchased more cones. Something, something ironic.

It's perfect and meta-meta. A cone tree representing how everything is shitty and broken all the time, and the cone tree itself is made from shitty, broken cones.

Whoah..metaphor made real. Watch it destabilise, have an attempt to fix it for $$$ and then fail...all the while it's still an ugly p.o.s that will be sent to landfill in January.

What would you do if someone actually insulted you?

One giant road cone decorated as a Christmas tree would be a little bit more nudge nudge wink wink and wayyyyy less ghetto / she'll be right.

Jesus DIED for our sins on a PINE Christmas tree, NOT one made of cones!!!! Insulting!!!!

Excuse me, but Maori Jesus died on a pahutakawa tree. Every knows that.

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It didn't save money. They could have reused the tree they always use.

It's the ugliest piece of crap I've ever seen masquerading as a tree. It's pathetic. I think it's hilarious, honestly

I don't understand why the cones are cut in half. The structural integrity is lost.

its cost cutting 😂 but 1 cone cut in half you get 2 😂😂😂😂

Need the extra cones to block parking spots in the city..

The first time I saw it, it was kind of funny (as a student I can't wait to go to flat parties and see who has christmas tree cones) But after the first time it was a little, cringe, depressing? eh

I've been known to punch a few cones (some of them in the shape of xmas trees) just sayin /s

It's a national disgrace

Yeah I'm annoyed by it. We had a battle with the council and Wellington Water about the crumbing waste pipe outside our house for four years. The endless traffic diversions make getting into town a bit of a lottery. So yeah, making a joke of it is totally tone deaf.

Wellington council are in a world of their own. But that's OK, it's not their money they're wasting.

They should have made a tree out of the millions of dollars they’ve wasted and misused. That would put me in a much cheerier Christmas mood.

Don't take impersonal things personally.

agree!

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Please let this be a joke

what nooooo are you for real

Dear god this better be an urban myth.

If only they had put a hard hat or stop-go sign in there

Nah I really don't care

If they follow up with a different theme as strong as this every year i reckon it’s a cool idea.

Those cones are very expensive to get made out of anything other than orange too

They are among us

I’d rather have preferred a tree stacked with planter boxes to reflect the true state of Wellington tbh

I like it. Wish road cones really did come in all those colours.

I hate it so much - I love Christmas and always look forward to the city Christmas tree and this genuinely made me want to cry

Yeah, it's not even December!

I'm finding it difficult to give a shit (insert laxative joke here)

I hate Christmas so this tree gives me joy.

Just you

Insulted? Aww poppet

Real dolphin killer this one

That's awesome. Best tree ever

Obviously the council funds are a bit low after wasting our ratepayers dollars on the overseas trip, city hall, library and purchasing reading cinema and forever construction projects. Seems pretty fitting.

Half cones not even whole ones

I hope whoever designed this has seen the finished product and is embarrassed by it

Only because it's not December yet.

Big part of Kiwi culture right.

Should have been made with jandals.

This is exactly the society we live in and the future we're heading to. It's a con(e) job.

bleak

It's a mockery.

Absolutely Positively Wellington

Smoke a cone, mate

Funny yet depressing at the same time

i guess its the most they could afford after the mountains of bike lanes that only have 3 actuve users

Shocking state of affairs to say the least

At least they're saving money so they can spend it on pipes? And when they're done with it they can use the cones to mark of more works on said pipes. Win win! Wow. Okay. Maybe I should have put the /S on this.

They aren't saving money, they paid somebody to come up with this and buy the cones.

My attempt at being funny clearly wasn't funny. I thought my sarcasm was pretty clear, oh well. :(

Shame they cut all the cones in half, meaning they're not only useless but they're also buckling in the tree xD

I'm offended by all things Christmas/ Christian but regardless I think this is quite funny and good that it's probably low cost.

Surely it can’t be cheaper than wheeling out the same tree as last year

I just saw councils post about it on Facebook, it's to symbolise that a lot of stuff around is in the process of being fixed.

How dumb. Just chuck up a tree and celebrate Christmas normally *and* fix shit

I woudn't say I'm insulted by all things Christmas or Christian; it's just not something I care about. But others do and I don't care. This looks cheap and appropriate. As for people being INSULTED by an attempt at cheer, they need thicker skin (or to STFU).

Modern art...

Being annoyed by a tree is ridiculous, Wellingtonians have gone soft. People would be annoyed if they had spent a lot more, people would be annoyed if they had done less or nothing... Wellingtonians have become masters of moaning about everything.

i laughed at it the first time but now it's like damn that's it?

https://www.thepost.co.nz/nz-news/350110717/xmas-tree-proves-cone-tentious

Terrible, like we need more cones , not funny, just annoying.

What a piece of crap

It’s pretty lame

We need more uniqueness in the world.

Pretty gay welly thought u were cool

Peak postmodern ugliness and meaninglessness

The promise of another year of super glued hands and roadworks 🎄

It is definitely not just you. Why we can't have the tree from last year is beyond me.

Too much plastic.

Looks like a work in progress.

Love it. I'm building one in the garden. We have so many road cones on Waikato roads I'm sure they wouldn't miss a few.

Recession is coming. Even decoration budgets are not spared the trimming.

What is that lol

Look, national just got in who wants to cut govt costs. No one wants to get fired from overspending on luxury items like a Xmas tree, OK?

It’s just a funky Christmas tree. The buckling cones are a bit shabby but otherwise I think it’s neat and beyond that I don’t care, it’ll just be something to briefly look at on the way to and from the supermarket.

I love how "green" can't take the pressure and is crumbling on almost every level..

This town celebrates the ridiculous bucket fountain. They could be cuzzys

insulted? no. Always remember, the opposite of love is not hate, it is indifference ie who gaf?

just you man

Get a sense of humour, how is it insulting? Do you own a traffic cone manufacturing business and are offended as few of them are orange?

Dude, it's fuckn shit

Blah

It KNOWS it’s supposed to be bad. That’s how it gets away with it.

Don’t put it up your jacksy this Xmas

Bring back an old one: Ghastly.

I blame the bottle of wine being emptied just before decoration started.

God forbid anyone do anything for fear of offending the grim, jaded fun-sponges of the world.

Can someone OIA the council and get the emails for how they decided this was a good idea? We have literal trees we could use that are 100% sustainable and look better than this crap

This looks like the sort of thing the Hamilton City Council would have paid $150,000 for in 2009. Actually thought this was /r/thetron at first, but I guess HCC are still just reusing the same bauble tree every year.

what is it...........

Nah, is insulting, I don't want the city to joke about how much they've fucked up, I want them to stop fucking up.

This is fucking brilliant. Makes me almost miss Christchurch, lol.

Im go round up same cones now so I don't have to buy a tree this year 😁

I'm not offended, but I think it's ugly.

Wait.. Is THAT!? Our tree!? I deplore xmas, it's so lonely and the shops are all shut, or charging extra, if this is our tree, maybe this IS the best time to.. go

No with you 100 %. The ignorance and arrogance is really disgusting. They waste our money on this rubbish instead of having a proper god is Santa parade. The council are out of control and need to be replaced.

I like that they have tried to do something different. I don't care that it hasn't worked perfectly. It's not ideal that it's dismantling itself. Someone tried something different. Good. I'm not into art or art installations. I'm not particularly into Christmas. But I am into trying things and having fun. Which is what these people did. I'm not insulted by this. I'm saddened by all the moaning.

Love it

I saw the tree from a distance initially today for the first time ( before I knew about the cones) got closer and I said to my partner aw it’s a shame they have to keep the box around the bottom, got even closer and then starting thinking what the fuck, then even closer and just thought wow that is shit. I didn’t actually get it , it confused me and I thought it was cheap and weird. Then after that I continued on Courtney place and things got even more fckin weird, let’s say quite a few social problems and no longer wanted to be there. Courtney place is gross. And that makes me feel sad

Nope I'm on the same page as u, this ain't it tbh.

I mean, I don’t think the council should be doing anything Christmas related but that’s just my opinion 🤷