Would we rather have a new library or a minority stake in the airport?

Georgina Campbell reports:

A deputy mayor is yet to be announced but it’s clear the left intend to have the final say, with Sarah Free increasingly looking like the most viable option.

If you were to have a Mayor from the left, Sarah would be the best bet.

Unluckily for Foster, out of all the policies on his list, it was floating the idea of selling the council’s share in the city’s airport that hit the headlines.
There was swift pushback with terms like “asset sales” and “privatisation” being thrown around.
But this idea of asset recycling didn’t come out of the blue.
It’s an idea clearly mooted in both the council and Wellington Chamber of Commerce chief executives’ pre-election reports.
Essentially it means divesting assets and recycling the proceeds to other priorities.
The council has a growing list of projects on its hands like the closed central library and the massive $6.4b Let’s Get Wellington Moving transport plan.

It is almost amusing how kneejerk some people are. They seem to think money grows on trees, and they can rarely explain what benefit there is to ratepayers from holding a minority stake in the airport. A minority stake means we have no control, and are at the mercy of the majority shareholder. Whatever expansion plan the majority shareholder decides on, the minority has to fund.

And would ratepayers rather have a new central library or keep a minority stake in an asset they don’t control?