WAAGing the tail

The mayor of our one and only, thank God, eco city continues to get his knickers in a twist about the number one commercial Auckland Airport supposedly underhandedly funding a local nimby organisation (WAAG) against his pet project, a second commercial airport.

Waitakere City Council has reputedly spent thousands on consultancy re the airport, although we cannot yet ascertain how much, compared to the supposed 'tip of the iceberg' funding by Auckland Airport of WAAG to the tune of $19K.

It seems the said mayor, a close mate of the current corrupt government, who was a recent Labour Party President, wishes to continue spending ratepayers squillions on his pet project, which is being roundly opposed from many quarters, especially the adjacent nimbies in their highly priced waterfront mansions, not to says the thousands of people on the North Shore that lie in its flight path.

The company that stands to gain from the eventual closure of the Whenuapai Air-Force base (yes, that's what it was when we had a real combat air-force!) and subsequent passing from Defence ownership is none other than the council's incestuous business trading partner Infratil. I am sure any business decisions affecting rates are taken with the fullest impartiality...

Now it seems that WAAG has asked the council, in a tit-for-tat, under Official Info request procedures, how much the ratepayers have been stiffed to date and council has sent an initial bill back for a large sum deposit before starting said process. Now as I saw somewhere else, I thought a council that has about a $100M budget might have a half decent accounting system, but then given the track record on accounting of their political mates, anything is possible!

I can see this saga getting really dirty, this mayor has a long history of fighting many fights below the table (remember a certain marina, and also the Waitakere Ranges bill?) and would suspect these are only opening shots.

Ratepayers can look forward to their this year's yet again massive rates hike being well spent. The last thing they need as a ratepayer is the council to try running an airport.

Opening reports are here and here...

Hat tip to Gooner at Sir Humphrey's