Ray Chung says when he goes out into he community he is constantly confronted by ratepayers frustrated by a perceived lack of genuine consultation over projects and issues. Photo: Supplied / Facebook
Wellington City Councillor Ray Chung has thrown his hat into the ring for next year's mayoralty race saying the city's economic, social and cultural state is the worst it's ever been.
He said the current council was doing little to help Wellingtonians to weather hard economic conditions.
"Wellington ratepayers are struggling with the rapid rise in the cost of their rates and know that the failing infrastructure from years of neglect through under-investment is having a catastrophic impact on their income and their savings. Many people feel that they're just not being listened to by council," he said.
In 2022 Chung came fourth in the race for the capital's mayoralty - earning 12,670 votes - despite his opinion that his campaign was largely ignored by media coverage of the election.
He said he hoped - by announcing his candidacy early - voters would have time to consider what they wanted to see in the city beyond the hoopla of the electoral campaign.
Chung said he was shocked "everyday" by a lack of fiscal understanding on the council as rates continue to climb and project budgets blow out by millions of dollars.
"We've got absolutely runaway costs but it seems like 'it's ratepayers money' we can just go on and spend it," he said.
Mayor's handling of Reading review fuelled council divisions
Chung's frustration with current Mayor Tory Whanau sat close to the surface when he spoke of the motivation behind his second shot at the top seat.
Chung was one of several councillors found to have breached their code of conduct policy for failing to observe confidentially and criticising council staff when discussing elements of the scrapped $32 million plan to purchase land beneath the dormant Reading Cinema complex on Courtenay Place.
He said the controversy had never been dealt with in direct discussion between "the Reading four" and the mayor and led to a "toxic environment" in council chambers.
"We need to discuss these issues, we need to find out where we can actually work together but none of this has happened. There's been no approaches from the Mayor and the staff to actually work together. So this is how its going to be. It's just the Mayor on her side and us being opposition. Despite coming out and saying she wants council of unity they're all just words. There's no meaning to them, no substance to any of these things," Chung said.
"So what is the answer? Do we just continue on like we are? I believe Wellingtonians don't like to see this sort of friction in the council," Chung said.
But a spokesperson for Mayor Tory Whanau disputed this and said all four councillors involved in the code of conduct review had refused an offer of external mediation.
"It is ultimately up to them whether they take up this offer or not. They have also been offered fortnightly catch ups but we have yet to hear back from them. There is currently a councillor-only session with the mayor every second week which all councillors currently attend, and time for one on one slots in the alternate weeks. Ray has not yet taken up these one on one opportunities," the spokesperson said.
The spokesperson said the review was important to show what improvements could be made and to ensure everyone across the council "was delivering for Wellington".
"Political disagreement is extremely normal, but it is really important that we have a robust and collaborative working environment. That is critical for a healthy democracy and what our city deserves. We will continue to follow recommendations outlined in the review to ensure there are improvements to how everyone works," they said.
Genuine consultation a key issue.
Chung says when he went out into he community he was constantly confronted by ratepayers frustrated by a perceived lack of genuine consultation over projects and issues.
"We've got to include everybody in the decisions that we make. You look at Karori for example, 71 percent of people put submissions in to say they didn't want the cycle-lane, they didn't want the changes and yet we went ahead and did it. We're not engaging with people, we're not engaging with businesses. We don't listen to what businesses have to say, we don't listen to their problems," Chung said.
Even from his position in council chambers - Chung said he struggled to access information behind council projects.
"We keep asking who actually runs this city? Is it the council or the mayor who runs it or is it the council officers? I ask for information because I need to understand how to we get to the position that we're in? If I can't understand that then how do I know we're not going to repeat the same mistakes again? I'd been asking for information about the Reading deal since we first heard about it last October but none of it was forthcoming," Chung said.
Council no place for political influence
Chung said the Green Party's endorsement of Whanau's 2022 campaign underpinned the ideology behind many of the council's initiatives.
He said the mayoralty needed to be freed up from party politics and agendas to allow the council to move forward with Wellingtonian's best interests at heart.
"We're making decisions that seem to come from a smaller group of people to cater for a smaller group of people but certainly not for all Wellingtonians.
"I don't believe that having party politics in council actually benefits the people in Wellington. We're not here to change the world, to tell people how they should be living but this seems to me what we're trying to do. I believe we should be giving everyone the choice of where they want to live and how they want to live. It's not up to us to be telling people how to do these things and saying that this is your only choice."