WCC Watch / August 2013
Welcome to WCC Watch. The idea is pretty simple. Basically, the coverage of the upcoming (Sept-Oct) Wellington City Council elections are going to be sporadic at best. There are a multitude of personalities at play, some smart, bold, dynamic candidates, and some total fruit bars. I’ll be trying to cover everything I can to follow the election.
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Points to Morrison as he announces Rings museum
- WCC Watch
- Reports in the Dominion suggest mayoral candidate, John Morrison, has had a points win over Celia Wade-Brown. Earlier this week we highlighted that an internal tussle was unfolding around the Lord […]
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Mayor scrambles to patch relations with government
- WCC Watch
- We are hearing that Mayor, Celia Wade-Brown, has realised that her poor relationship with central government will likely be her downfall when the votes are counted this year. We’ve been […]
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Young and Pannett leading Lambton?
- WCC Watch
- We have had word that there have been at least two polls in the hotly contested Lambton ward, and while the results haven’t been made public, we have been told […]
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Tug o’war over Rings museum causes angst
- WCC Watch
- We understand that Wellington is set to get a permanent Lord of the Rings/Hobbit museum which has the potential to boost tourism numbers and further build on the reputation of […]
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Game of Thrones – Wellington’s Golden Crown
- WCC Watch
- One of our readers, Notorious DLB, sent this amusing post in yesterday. For all the Game of Thrones fans out there, this is for you. As anyone who has read […]
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Council slashes jobs, pumps up managment salaries
- WCC Watch
- Katie Chapman at The Dominion Post reports: The Wellington City Council has cut 110 fulltime jobs since last year – while the number of managers in the top pay bands […]
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Meanwhile in Hutt Valley – Wallace rolls on
- WCC Watch
- After covering Porirua I got asked if we were going to do anything on the Hutt… naturally my immediate response was, uh why? But then I found Mayor Ray Wallace’s Facebook page – and boy has he been busy.
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Porirua, Wellington Region, New Zealand (OpenStreetMap)
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Sarah Free: Graffiti takes a financial and emotional toll
- WCC Watch
- Green Party candidate for the Eastern Ward Sarah Free has proposed 3 solutions to curb tagging in Wellington.
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Our friends in the north: a look at Porirua
- WCC Watch
- The announcement that Porirua Mayor, Nick Leggett, is standing for the DHB in an area that creeps into Wellington, provides the opportunity to take a closer look at what’s happening over the border.
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Porirua, Wellington Region, New Zealand (OpenStreetMap)
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City Watch #12
- WCC Watch
- The twelfth round up of recent news and events around Wellington.
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Get hitched
- WCC Watch
- Freshly minted Northern Ward candidate Jacob Toner wants to foster resilient communities to make sure Wellington is ready for many risks it faces by introducing Hutt Valley inspired ‘Hitching Posts’ around the city.
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Lower Hutt, Wellington, New Zealand (OpenStreetMap)
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Wade-Brown does a Boris and renames Mayoral twitter
- WCC Watch
- On the back of a story on this blog, Nicola Young complained to the Auditor General over Celia Wade-Brown’s use of the @WellingtonMayor twitter account during the campaign period.
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Poll has Celia 6 points ahead
- WCC Watch
- Newstalk ZB have done a poll on the Wellington mayoralty, which shows things are quite competitive.
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Serial complainer standing for Southern Ward
- WCC Watch
- Not to be outdone by the Eastern Ward, the good people of the Southern Ward will have their fair share of oddball candidates with the news Donald McDonald is standing for council.
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Naughty Morrison
- WCC Watch
- Here’s reason #32 branded candidate cars are not always the best idea. Mayoral opponent and Lambton Ward candidate Nicola Young snapped this “irresistible‘ photo of John Morrison’s monster truck flouting the Council’s own parking rules on Thursday evening. According to Young he was parked up for more than 45 minutes on her first sighting in the 10 minutes zone.
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Wade-Brown officially nominates
- WCC Watch
- Celia Wade-Brown today finally joined Jack Yan, Nicola Young and John Morrison as official mayoral candidates.
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Will Lyn of Tawa end Pepperell’s political career?
- WCC Watch
- Ginette McDonald’s surprise entrance into the Southern Ward race is a real game changer and finally breathes some life into an otherwise boring sausage fest .
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Tawa, Wellington, New Zealand (OpenStreetMap)
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Morrison’s tache borrows Blumsky’s brow
- WCC Watch
- Here’s an idea for the next ‘Things Wellingtonians Never Say‘ YouTube clip – “John Morrison has really original ideas” lol.
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City Watch #11
- WCC Watch
- The eleventh round up of recent news and events around Wellington.
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Farcical Alternative Giving Fund costs revealed
- WCC Watch
- Thanks to an official information request by rumoured-almost-Lambton-Ward-candidate Jackson Wood we now know that Wellington City Council invested wasted almost $40,000 in to its “Alternative Giving Fund” campaign that raised $452 in its first two weeks.
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Peck launches first video
- WCC Watch
- Labour’s Lambton Ward candidate Mark Peck has released his first (very well made) campaign video focusing on park, rates and the Living Wage. Check it out.
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Just call me Witi – Morrison borrows again?
- WCC Watch
- John Morrison’s bold new policy looks to be another borrowed piece of work from Kevin Lavery.
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Morrison’s earthquake strengthening bond proposal
- WCC Watch
- John Morrison is starting to drop big policy ideas, with his latest garnering the support of key National ministers: A bond system to help Wellington building owners strengthen their properties is being touted by mayoral candidate John Morrison.
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Slow trickle of Greater Wellington Regional Council nominees
- WCC Watch
- Just like Wellington City Council’s list of nominations to date, the Great Wellington Regional Council list is pretty sparse less than a week before nominations close.
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Things Wellingtonians Never Say
- WCC Watch
- Not quite a Hitler parody, but no offense to Celia Wade-Brown or any other mayoral candidates .
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Cooperative Council Candidates Collide
- WCC Watch
- From open invite candidate campaign bus rides, candidates signing each others nomination forms, liking their opponents Facebook pages, earnestly dispensing policy and campaign tips, to cross party billboard trailers, 2013 is shaping up as (for the time being) a cooperative love-fest rarely seen in political campaigns.
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First council candidates revealed, convicted blackmailer standing
- WCC Watch
- With just over a week until nominations close, Wellington’s Electoral Officer Charlie Inggs has helpfully released a statement with the 11 people who have officially been nominated and reminding other candidates to get their nominations in on time.
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Yan pushes innovation to protect economy
- WCC Watch
- Mayoral candidate Jack Yan believes his policies on creativity and innovation are needed more than ever in light of the recent Fonterra disaster and has released a statement and a new video (speaking in English, te Reo, French and Cantonese, no sign language sadly) highlighting the need for the next mayor to be able to bridge cultures at a global level: Wellington’s innovation can be a safety net when Fonterra-level scares hit If mayors aren’t part of this dialogue, talking to the top 40 cities in the world and opening doors for our exporters, then we’re going to be affected terribly when our nation brand is damaged,’ he says. ‘We have seen real evidence of this week.’ ‘In the meantime, Wellington is the home of companies like Weta and Xero, along with numerous independents¬ has a reputation that can stand head and shoulders above this scandal.’ Mr Yan, who issued his manifesto for the Wellington mayoral election in April, months before his opponents, has remained on message throughout about the need for Wellington to become a global hub for innovation and identifying export champions. Given Wellington’s urban base, those champions were likely to be outside the primary industries. ‘New Zealand is a primary products’ nation and I recognize the sector’s importance. However, this scare shows just why it’s important for cities to back up national economic activity and to have strong brands themselves.’ ‘Wellington is in an enviable place to deliver greater innovation, with high-growth firms and strong creativity, which will be more rigorously grown if I am elected,’ he says. Mr Yan has authored books on branding and has practised in the area since the 1980s. His work at the Swedish branding think-tank, the Medinge Group, has seen him lead the way on international brand thinking, making him better equipped to develop a proper city brand, get Wellington businesses exporting, and being an advocate for them globally. He agrees with earlier commentators, including Prime Minister John Key, that the scare has harmed New Zealand’s national brand. As he predicted in his 2010 and 2013 campaigns, strong city brands will have to come to the fore to promote economic activity in export markets. Mr Yan says, ‘There is a certain level of pride in saying something comes from Wellington, but we haven’t recognized this properly. We have export earners here and by promoting a diverse economy, we can ensure that we have more of a safety net when scandals in our primary sector occur. ‘I have long been concerned since the days of the “New Zealand Way” brand in the 1990s that we were missing the mark on promoting our nation. Even then, I was outspoken on saying that the likes of Karen Walker and Tait were being excluded. Yet Kiwi innovation is unique: it comes from a sense of isolation and independence,’ he recalls. ‘We have export markets criticizing our “100 Per Cent Pure” campaign again. I have to say we deserve every criticism and it is time for cities to step up.’ As they say, never let a serious crisis go to waste. You can watch here.
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City Watch #10
- WCC Watch
- The tenth, and very delayed round up of recent news and events around Wellington.
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Pre-election council report sparks fly
- WCC Watch
- Wellington City Council CEO Kevin Lavery’s pre-election council report is causing a bit of fuss, with everyone finding something in it to make a scene over.
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Another Lambton contender
- WCC Watch
- As reported earlier, businessman John Dow has entered the Lambton Ward race.
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