Wellington.Scoop » The honeymoon is over

by Ian Apperley
The newly-elected Wellington City Council is now two months old, which is more than enough time for a honeymoon. This Council gives me a really itchy feeling regarding transparency and its public relations capability. It feels like the wrong priorities are still being brought to the table.

For some reason, this new Council seems to have hyped up the PR a few notches while lowering the transparency quite a few notches.

The Mayor has deleted her Twitter account. She has absolutely every right to do that but she has left her Facebook pages up. They are filled with selfies and feel-good posts, while the problems the city faces don’t appear to be getting much attention.

Frankly, it looks like several councillors are still on the campaign trail rather than tackling the issues they promised to fix. Like transparency. Or lack of it. And, you know, that whole lack of trust thing. For god’s sake, no one mention the 12%.

It surprised me that this week’s Council meeting excludes the public from five debates of keen interest to all residents. The online agenda also excludes the five relevant reports. The officers are citing commercial or privacy issues but I call nonsense on that excuse. Commercial and privacy issues can be debated in publicly excluded sessions. Still, the material information should be in the public forum. It doesn’t take much to separate them.

Especially when we have a Council heading to send Wellingtonians’ rates through the ceiling again. And we know what Council PR will be focussing on, because the Mayor told us in the NZ Herald, in a very roundabout way, couching it behind security concerns:

“Wellington mayor Tory Whanau’s office is working on a security plan for her that includes having a minder at events, an unmarked car so people don’t know where she is, and a clean-up of her social media. Whanau is concerned future decisions on “trigger” topics such as Three Waters reform, climate action and rates increases could result in aggressive behaviour. Whanau believed it was the first time such a security plan had been required for the mayoral role.”

I find this a bit sensationalist if I am entirely honest; however, as I have commented before, the abuse on social media is real. I find it a fascinating choice of words, a “clean-up” of her social media. That will stop any challenge from the election period where the Mayor had some very strong views on things like the airport, of which she is now a board member.

Interestingly in the last Council meeting, the report on Three Waters progress could have been better received. There was confusion about the content, and a couple of the Councillors, both sides of the house, basically said it was poor without saying it was poor.

Back to transparency, though. Two topics were publicly excluded in the first Council meeting, and five are on the secret list for this week’s meeting. They are City Car Parking, the Sludge Minimisation Facility, the Frank Kitts Playground, “land acquisition” in Aotea Quay, and CCO Board appointments.

Really?

I get the land acquisition, but given the Council leaks like a sieve, everyone already knows what that is about.

And, of course, people read this, and the first question they ask is, “what are they hiding?”

Behind the scenes, the old guard and the WCC machine desperately fight for survival. CCOs and WREDA are in the gun and should be; they cost an extraordinary amount for what is perceived as very little in return. The WCC machine is poorly performing in several areas, housing consents being a classic example. It will be worried that changes are on the way. Pet projects will be under threat, and the sheer size of the WCC staff footprint will stick out like a sore thumb.

Economically the city is in trouble. Let’s not sugarcoat that. Recession or not, people are not spending as much, and when you pay $8 for a coffee and $14 for a glass of beer, people aren’t spending. It’s not just that; the tech sector looks wobbly, and traditionally that’s been a powerhouse.

As a remote tech worker, I can take gigs from anywhere in the world, and I don’t need to be in the CBD. My customer is a Wellington company, but they are happy for me to work remotely. Right now, people’s movements to Australia and remote international work are significant. The gaming industry in Wellington is about twelve months from picking up, packing up, and going over the ditch.

And the government, of course. Again, the work-from-home stance has become routine. You’d be lucky if people went into the city two days a week. House prices aren’t crashing; they are burning far more than in other areas, and the cost of living in Wellington is extreme due to being on the end of a very long supply chain.

There is now serious demand in the Wairarapa from what local real estate agents call “Digital Nomads.” People who can work from home who are looking to move here. House prices in Wellington have dropped around 27%, but in the Wairarapa over the same period, no significant change.

So, what does the Council machine do? I am talking about the actual Council, as opposed to the Mayor and Councillors. They paint an incredibly rosy picture about the future, continue with their cargo cult planning, and ensure low transparency while gagging Councillors with the process and putting out nothing but feel-good “press releases.”

During the election campaign, many councillors were outspoken about these issues and what needed to be done about them. Many of them engaged with Wellington.Scoop and brought some ideas (albeit a few crazy ones) to the debate. Where are they now? Warned off social media, forbidden from talking to the press, told that they risk breaching the code of conduct by writing public opinion articles, and hauled into line like meek lambs. By the way, there is no such thing as a meek lamb, speaking from experience.

What we are seeing, I think, is the 2016 Wellington City Council that went full Emperor’s New Clothes in their first year. It’s an old strategy.

It is good to be aspirational. It is good to have a vision. But often, the problem with visionaries is that they have no idea how to turn those into reality and run the risk of ending up with a coterie of sycophants who just shout “yes!” and clap rather than figure out how to turn the Titanic.

Sure, they are only a few weeks in, but the signs aren’t looking great, and that transparency issue is a kicker. If the Council wants to rebuild trust, they need to get that right; the problem is that many in the Council machine wish to avoid engaging with the residents. They want to keep the cargo cult going.

At its heart, the true Council is neo-liberal, something the last CE well and truly entrenched. It will not go well with a progressive group of Councillors and a potential government change next year.

It’s time for truth, transparency, hard pills, and a good plan. Transport, infrastructure, liveability, safety, cost, business support, community support, truth, honesty, and trust. At the very least, in the first two months, I would have expected to see working groups of Councillors and Community for each area to drive out ideas for planning next year. Instead, we are spending more on the library, which is less and less a library each iteration and more of a Te Papa version II.

I can dream, right? We all can. I’d like to hear what you think. What is it that Wellington does? Focus on the city as a place of education with our universities and institutes? Wait for the tourists to return? Rebrand as a “city of film” and culture? Create a welcoming environment for tech workers?