Nick Mills: Can the Wellington City Council cope with their new office?

EDITORIAL: I just want to talk about something this morning that, honestly, feels like a perfect snapshot of where Wellington City Council is at right now.  Office space.  Not rates. Not pipes bursting. Not businesses struggling. Not the Moa Point mess. No, no — they’re concerned about office space.   Who’s on what floor, who’s got the view, and who’s looking out at a car park.  Now, I’ve got to ask — who actually cares?  If you’re a city councillor, if you’re the mayor, aren’t you there to do a job? Getting paid for that job by us.  Aren’t you there to serve the city, make decisions, fix problems, and represent the people of Wellington?   Since when did the quality of your harbour view become part of your job description?  Because I’ve worked a long time, and I’ve never once walked into a workplace and thought, “Gee, I hope I’ve got the penthouse today.” You go to work to work. If you want a view get one at home.   And here we’ve got reports of councillors grumbling, talking of a boycott of a blessing ceremony, and frustration that council executives are sitting upstairs with the nice outlook while elected officials are on level one.  Level one!  It’s convenient.  One flight of stairs and you’re there. You’re accessible. You’re close to the public. You’re not hiding away at the top of a tower somewhere, disconnected from the people you’re meant to represent.  Are you supposed to look down and look down at your people?  And if the mayor’s looking out at a car park — frankly I don’t give a damn.   You should be out in the city – or if you're at your office you should be looking at your computer, your emails, your meetings, your city’s problems. That’s the job.  To me, this is a mountain out of a molehill.   But worse than that, it’s symbolic. It tells you something about priorities of our council.   Because while all this noise is going on about who sits where, Wellington still has massive issues that actually matter.  And I’ll give credit where it’s due — some councillors have said exactly that.   Turn up, do the job, don’t worry about the furniture. Do you care where your office is when you go to work? And should we expect more focus — and be a little bit more humble — from the people running our city?  Because right now, this just feels like a small, small deal, when we have bigger issues.  LISTEN ABOVE See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.