A boring endorsement
Auckland is, as it often is, at a crossroads. On 12 October, we will choose our next mayor — a stark choice between two very different candidates offering two very different approaches to governing our city, and two very different visions for our future. As seems to be increasingly common in elections around the world, the choice is between a pragmatic, buttoned-down bureaucrat and a freewheeling, loose-lipped populist.
In his column on page 30, Matthew Hooton lays out the failings of Phil Goff’s mayoralty to date: housing revisited’ on page 64); there’s been no progress on his plan for a second harbour crossing; rather than begin the process of moving the port and opening up the inner-city waterfront, his council has allowed the building of a five-storey car park for used imports. But perhaps worst of all, according to many of his critics — he’s boring. Grey. Invisible. Or, as Hayden Donnell reports (turn to page 50 when ready), Goff is considered “a skilled Wellington politician who’s unused to making the compromises necessary to steer a council”, a technocrat who lacks the passion to sell his vision to his fellow baby boomers who are mad at cycleways going past their driveways and the bus stop outside their local cafe that used to be car parks.
