Wellington Scoop, which broke the story of Chris Moller’s conflict of interest as both the chair of New Zealand Cricket and the chair of the New Zealand Transport Agency, is now reporting further developments in the affair. As NZTA Deputy Chair Patsy Reddy scrambles to put a lid on the issue, digging into NZTA Board meeting minutes is uncovering what appear to be notable inconsistencies.
Keep up with the latest developments here: http://wellington.scoop.co.nz/?p=51598
Chris Moller, who chairs both New Zealand Cricket and the New Zealand Transport Agency, has admitted that he has a conflict of interest over NZTA’s proposed Basin Reserve flyover, which will seriously affect the viability of the Basin Reserve as an international cricket ground if it goes ahead.
Lindsay Shelton of Wellington Scoop first drew this conflict of interest to public attention: http://wellington.scoop.co.nz/?p=51235
Now, as Lindsay reports: http://wellington.scoop.co.nz/?p=51558, NZTA has written to Wellington Mayor Celia Wade-Brown admitting that Moller, who is best known for his and his board’s disastrous mismanagement of the New Zealand cricket captaincy issue, has a conflict of interest, and saying that he will no longer be involved in discussions over Basin transport options.
This admission is a welcome development, but it begs some very big questions: Has Moller been involved in discussions so far when he and his Board surely knew of this conflict of interest all along? If his involvement is inappropriate from now on, then was it not inappropriate from the start?
Plus there’s the continuing question: why should a board chair who has made such a mess of New Zealand Cricket be trusted to make anything better than a mess of New Zealand’s transport system?
We eagerly await further revelations about this conflict of interest. In the meantime, it’s also notable in Wellington Scoop’s latest report that NZTA are now trying to sweet-talk Wellington City Council over its pre-Christmas vote to reject the flyover and explore alternative options, having failed to bully them into submission.
Here’s a helpful hint for NZTA’s PR flacks: you’re supposed to show the velvet glove before the iron fist, not the other way around.
What did the New Zealand Transport Agency do when it found out that Wellington City Council was holding a vote on the flyover yesterday? It rushed out a letter to the Council’s Chief Executive threatening to withdraw support and funding for other transport projects in Wellington if the Council did not support the flyover.
Well, it didn’t work. The Council voted to reject the flyover and investigate other options. And now we have obtained a copy of NZTA’s letter to the Council, which showcases NZTA’s characteristic mixture of bullying and petulance. See for yourself:
NZTA Letter to Wellington City Council Chief Executive (scanned PDF)
The Save the Basin Campaign has put out the following press release in response to yesterday’s Wellington City Council vote to reject the proposed Basin Reserve flyover and explore other options:
Save the Basin Campaign Applauds Wellington City Council Vote
The vote by Mayor Celia Wade-Brown and Wellington City Council has demonstrated again that the city won’t be pushed into accepting a terrible plan by NZTA to destroy the historic Basin Reserve environment.
Traffic and transportation design can be better managed than falling back on last century’s plans for a flyover that has no relation to the surrounding neighbourhoods and fails to integrate into the new War Memorial Park green span.
This vote will help to ensure that the Basin won’t sit beside an ugly, noisy concrete structure that intrudes onto the atmosphere of one of the world’s oldest and grandest cricket grounds.
Greater Wellington Regional Council has already withdrawn its previous backing for a Basin Reserve flyover and instead voted to take another look at transport options around the Basin. We call on Wellington City Council and the Regional Council to work together on the alternatives, to go to NZTA with the same message and to oppose NZTA’s flyover proposal if it progresses to a Board of Inquiry.
It’s time to listen to the thousands of Wellington residents and visitors who oppose the flyover, and for the government to instruct NZTA to scrap this outdated plan and look at better, more practical solutions to traffic at the Basin Reserve.
This vote follows other cities throughout the world which have rejected flyovers – Boston, New York, Melbourne, Toronto, Seoul, Boston, Milwaukee, Vancouver, Trenton, Portland, Chattanooga. And Auckland City Council is planning to tear down the Hobson street flyover.
The Save the Basin Campaign is a group of people working to stop the building of a traffic flyover which is planned by NZTA to curve around one of the most historic cricket grounds in the world, the Basin Reserve in Wellington New Zealand.
We advocate a better planned alternative which include a region-wide solution to transportation problems and would include light rail, strategic bus lines, and consideration of walking, biking, and the configuration of Wellington.
– Alana Bowman and Joanna Newman, Save the Basin Campaign Spokespeople
Our new campaign video shows what a flyover – a realistic flyover, not NZTA’s lighter-than-air design fantasy – would look like next to the Basin Reserve.
[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5-3JKaaw_iA&w=640&h=360]
Don’t like the look of it? Neither do we.
Want to do something about it? Share the video, and get involved in the campaign.
Stop Press
Did you know that Chris Moller, the chair of New Zealand Cricket who has overseen the recent PR disaster that has been Ross Taylor’s sacking as Black Caps captain, is also the chair of the New Zealand Transport Agency? On Wellington Scoop, Lindsay Shelton asks:
a) What Moller’s dreadful performance as head of New Zealand cricket says about his fitness to chair NZTA, and
b) Whether his chairing both bodies constitutes a conflict of interest.
You can read Lindsay’s article here:
http://wellington.scoop.co.nz/?p=51235
Please comment and share it – especially with cricket-minded friends.
The New Zealand Transport Agency doesn’t think the slopes of Mt Victoria make a good background for cricket. So they’d like to add their own unique brand of decoration:
We think the Basin, cricket, and Wellington could do without the NZTA’s ideas of what constitutes good urban design. We think the NZTA should join the rest of us in the 21st century, where cities are tearing down flyovers, not building them.
If you agree with us, here is what you can do about it – and here is something that needs doing right now.