Wellington - What's first: Lively or Liveable?

There are a growing number of decisions by Wellington City Council that expose a rift between encouraging outside visitors to the benefit of the businesses and meeting the needs of local residents in a caring and cost-effective way.

Take the brand shift from the Karori Wildlife Sanctuary to ‘Zealandia’ as a case in point. What started as a wholly laudable attempt to create an urban refuge for native wildlife, to the benefit of both birds and residents has become transformed into an ‘attraction’ to lure high-spending outside visitors - accompanied by a $10 million interest free loan funded by ratepayers and a rise in fees from $28 for adults, $14 for children and $70 for family passes.

And the ongoing shift in the rates burden from commercial to residential rate payers makes it much more difficult to justify for shifting spending away from community facilities to ‘attractions’. In the coming year, homeowners are likely to see a 6.5% real increase in their rates while rates in the commercial sector will be close to zero.

Equity alone suggests that gold-plating costs should lie primarily with those that they benefit in the business sector - and that greater care in spending is due to homeowners who are being co-opted as funders and guarantors.

Not only that, the market for ‘attractions’ is limited and often a matter of beggar-thy-neighbour politics that only benefits a limited number of local businessmen. Wellington steals the Wearable Arts Show from Nelson; Auckland tries to steal the Rugby Sevens from Wellington. And so it goes on, there is no overall gain – just a reallocation of spending.

As for international visitors, there is increasing evidence that events like the South African Soccer World Cup and the forthcoming London Olympics put frightening amounts of public money at risk for very uncertain and sporadic returns. In fact one recent study has cast doubt on the possibility of any net benefits from these kinds of shenanigans in most cases, particularly in a world economy with tightening travel budgets.

So let our outside visitors share what we can reasonably afford to provide for our residents – investments that reflect community values and that meet local needs and aspirations. After all, this is probably what most outside visitors are seeking – the possibility of sharing something local, real and thoroughly Kiwi – which of course also includes Zealandia’s native birds.

Also give residents a break from funding big ticket ‘attractions’. It is time in the current economic climate to close off the wish-list for the while in favour of making sure that our local communities can work together and thrive. Let’s park any talk of a $26 million Marine Education Centre or the current Mayor's favourite an Ice Rink, until we can properly fund libraries and integrated public transport.

And please, we don’t need a statue or work of art in every nook on the Waterfront when communities like Berhampore are desperate for Council assistance in tidying up leaky and derelict buildings that tear the heart out of local enterprise and community self-confidence.