Headline: Let’s Get Wellington Moving was a giant waste of time
Authored by: Joel MacManus
Published on: 19 December 2023
Published by: The Spinoff
Link:
https://thespinoff.co.nz/politics/19-12-2023/lets-get-wellington-moving-was-a-giant-waste-of-time
Archived Link:
Summary:
Wellington Editor for The Spinoff, Joel MacManus, writes a highly critical opinion piece giving an overview of the eight years of the Let’s Get Wellington Moving organisation.
“Let’s Get Wellington Moving was a giant waste of everyone’s time. It was expensive, slow and unaccountable. It was a sick joke at the expense of everyone who hoped that better things were possible in Wellington. What was the point? Why did we put ourselves through this?” Joel MacManus
According to Joel MacManus, Let’s Get Wellington Moving was…
- Intended to overcome the “bureaucratic barriers” between Greater Wellington Regional Council, Wellington City Council, and central government (New Zealand Transport Agency / Waka Kotahi).
- A new organisation that became the “fourth head of the beast” instead of helping the situation of coordinating between the other three organisations.
- Achieved very little except write many reports and install one very controversial pedestrian crossing.
- An employer of 37 staff who were paid an average salary of $148,746.
- Dissolved by the new coalition government in December 2023.
- Was handling Wellington CBD’s Golden Mile upgrade as well as light rail projects and various roading redesigns.
[Editor’s note: The Golden Mile upgrade is a controversial plan to exclude most private vehicles from an inner-city Wellington area and convert the street space so it can be used by buses, pedestrians, cyclists, scooters, and people sitting around.]
