Wellington Councils Need a Breathalyser Test
In the heart of Wellington sits a gravel lot. It was meant to be a $5.5 million park a decade ago, a little civic green to soften the concrete. Instead, it’s burned through $1.6 million in reports to propose a $42 million boondoggle. It’s not just a would-be park. It’s a metaphor for Wellington City Council. Welcome to the capital, where local politics is stuck in student union mode. The slogans are slick, the vibes are good, but the pipes are bursting with turds not even a large PR team and an army of outsourced strategic communications consultants can polish. Basic delivery of public services has been replaced by permanent consultation theatre. Now, Tory Whanau cops a fair amount of stick for WCC’s underperformance, but she didn’t break Wellington. Years of Green policy theatre left the basics to rot. However, under Whanau, delivery was parked while ideology took the wheel, hit the Pinot, and drove the city into a ditch. It’s fair to say that if WCC were a private car, it’d be fitted...