A new decade demands a new way—and a new mayor

I had a very insightful meeting today with one of the country’s leading information strategists, which put things into perspective for me regarding the mayoral race.
   His thoughts (though not exactly his words): Wellington has almost always voted for the right person at the right time. We needed someone like Mark Blumsky to give events and retail a boost in the 1990s. Some will argue that we needed his successor, the incumbent, Kerry Prendergast, to continue some of those policies in the early 2000s. As Wellington’s state sector grew, it could be argued that we needed property development, something intimately associated with the current mayor.
   But with a shrinking state sector and economy, the next stage is not more and more buildings. Nor is it more politics as usual.
   The reality is that the power is shifting to us—we, the people.
   The next stage in this new decade is entrepreneurship and building world-class businesses. It is about making Wellington a cosmopolitan, international city that’s a world player. It’s also about using the technology we have for greater transparency, increasing citizen participation. We all want a say in our city and our country.
   Of course I agreed with his thoughts about what we need next, as they form the cornerstone of my campaign.
   I firmly believe that most of us actually want to be engaged in local politics and reject that we under-45s are apathetic. We’re more aware of what’s going on in our world that we want to play a part.
   Regardless of for whom people vote, I think it’s important we hear from the other 60-plus per cent of Wellingtonians who have traditionally stayed silent during the local body elections. With this growing awareness we now have of our world, I believe we will.


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3 thoughts on “A new decade demands a new way—and a new mayor

  1. Apologies for commenting very off the subject, Jack, but I’m curious what you think of recent developments at Facebook, specifically Instant Personalization. Me, I’m getting out. I’ll miss out on keeping in touch with certain friends and family that I would not be otherwise, but it just looks like privacy is going downhill fast.

  2. Jak, I turn off everything that Facebook introduces the minute I find out about them. But I would not trust the Zuckerbergs at all as they are hostile about privacy and this culture is well internalized at Facebook, hence my vigilance.

  3. Anything particularly compelling to stay, then, other than being a public figure?

    (p.s. Please, is there any way you can implement e-mail notifications? I have difficulty keeping track here!)

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