Its about being smarter

Smart cities attract smart people.

And information technology (IT) is the power engine of smarter cities.

From an economic point of view, cities have to rely on a smarter, more skilled workforce for competitive differentiation. Wellington cannot afford to have all its eggs in the “home of government” basket.

Think abut this. Shanghai’s IT sector is worth NZ$164 billion and is growing at 20% per year. This is something Wellington can aspire too. Something that will create real wealth for our city.

IT has to be a fundamental plank in Wellington’s future.

IT (eg, Wi-Fi) is no longer an option, it needs to be a basic service — and available to all citizens, so no-one is disadvantaged because of a lack of connectivity or speed.

Why do I support Jack Yan’s free Wi-Fi initiative?

Well, apart from the fact a large part of the population in our city can’t afford internet access, there are hundreds of benefits for local government and the wider community. More benefits, to more people, than investing in a $350k rugby monument.

For a start, if council invested in free Wi-Fi they would not need to invest in electronic bus timetables – people could just get the time of the next bus off their mobile – for free. And the beauty of redirecting council funding to free Wi-Fi is it can be used for other stuff too. Perhaps a quick posting to council about some graffiti that was spotted (or a water leak) so council can respond to it within the hour.

And the cost?

According to Jack Yan, the cost to ratepayers would be zero. Depending on the Wi-fi program adopted (eg, the cost could be recovered through selling advertising space, something zfree did years ago when it provided free internet). The boost to Wellington’s GDP could be huge. So even if the Council is landed with a bill for the upkeep of the network, it could be more than covered by the income generated from an expanding Wellington economy.

Interestingly, in the USA, there is talk of federal government giving away free radio spectrum to businesses who undertake to roll out free Wi-Fi on another spectrum. Free Wi-Fi could very easily be a central government initiative to stimulate our economy and catch up to Australia. Wouldn’t it great if our city was the first region to test if such an initiative could spark our economy.

Don’t you think its time we got smarter?

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/business/news/article.cfm?c_id=3&objectid=10665287, http://mashable.com/2010/08/13/open311-apps/

Changing our direction

I recently read with interest the mayor’s attack (7 June 2010) on Marie Russell’s opinion (27 May 2010) on the state of Wellington’s libraries. Marie raised some very valid points. All rubbished by the mayor, who clearly had not read the subsequent article on Scoop or heard Bob McKee’s discussion on the importance of libraries on Radio New Zealand (which I commented on some time ago, see my posts below about “investing in our communities, not centralising them” and “its our library“).

One could be helped from thinking that this attack was a poor attempt to deflect attention from the carnival fiasco which has erupted. Already support for the carnival has got above 1300 supporters on facebook and growing. A much stronger response than the survey on Stuff. Why is it that Grant Robertson (Labour MP for Wellington Central) can talk with the Wellington Chamber of Commerce to investigate if alternative funding can be found for the carnival, and our council has not? However, I digress.

Lets dig a little deeper into what the mayor actually said.

The mayor suggests Marie was cocooning libraries from budget cuts. After all, “we have been hit by a recession” and “cost-cutting in the libraries during the past couple of years has been mirrored right across all council services”. Not true. Cost cutting has not been mirrored across all budgets. As Marie (and Scoop) points out, the library budget was hit the hardest. And has continually been the focus of cuts in earlier periods. We no longer have a mobile library service, staff are restricted in traveling to smaller branches to cover for sickness, and more recently books for babies was terminated (Marie’s list goes on, it’s a good read).

The Long Term Council Community Plan for 2009-10 forecast the  library operational budget at $23, 356,000.  However, the Draft Annual Plan for 2010-11 period now forecasts the operational expenditure for libraries will be $21,551,000. That is a projected funding cut of $1,805,000.  A  7.73% funding reduction in a single year. By contrast, the Tourism Promotion budget is up 10.8% and the Events Attraction and Support budget is up 6.8%. Interestingly, for all the talk about tightening belts, the budget for City governance and Engagement is up 7.11%. On the other hand, the funding for city galleries and museums is down by 1.64%. How can the mayor rubbish the figures used by Marie, they’re written in black and white in the plan?

Does this sound like cost cutting being mirrored across all budgets? No.

The fact is, libraries are not like other council assets. Although this is lost on the mayor, which is very worrying, for someone holding such a high office. Studies have proven that during times of recession the use of libraries increase. In fact, studies have also proven that investment in libraries returns more money back to the community, than invested. Libraries, if invested in properly, have the potential to grow our communities, increasing foot traffic for surrounding businesses, and providing a real growth hub. We should be investing in our community resources (not cutting them). Especially during a period of recession.

Planning for our libraries to close and choosing not to invest in them is a sure-fire way to bring about their death. Which is why the mayor’s statement that “if traditional library usage declines in any significant way, we would have to consider closing seldom-used branches” is an ominous sign of what is to come and I would suggest reflects very poor stewardship of Wellington’s greatest asset and resource.

To reconfirm the council’s decision to cut funding the mayor goes onto say that “we have been hit by a recession and have had to find savings everywhere”. If that is true, why is there still enough money for a $350k rugby monument and a proposed $5 million Chinese garden. Not to mention funds for a trip to china, and various other pet projects. Seems to me there is ample room to move and it is the misguided priorities of council that is resulting in our most valuable asset getting prioritised below a rugby monument.

The mayor goes on to state that “we have also listened to ratepayers who have no appetite for large rates increases”. But didn’t rates just go up by 5.75%? Isn’t this higher than the announcement a month ago that it would be 5.5%? And what was the councils earlier forecast? Apparently an average 3.27%. Add this year’s 5.75% cent to last year’s 4.1%, the previous year’s 6.4%, and 5.9% the year before. That’s an increase in rates of more than 20% cent in 4 years. Talk about budget blow out. Is this good stewardship of our finances? And didn’t the mayor just sign us up to even more increases once the leaky homes debt kicks in? If the council is listening, why does it spend so much on litigation defending its decisions?

And to complete the mayor’s rose-tinted glasses on the priorities council have to make, we learn that “we invest in such events to bring people into the city to spend money – money that our local economy needs to survive.”  Apparently, she’s not aware how much foot traffic libraries can generate for local communities. But if the focus is on generating money, why is there no action on the carnival?

“Libraries are facing change just as fast as everything else in the city”. The problem is that the changes that should be made (eg, investing in our resources to generate growth and well-being in our community) are not being made. Bad decisions are being made, and I do not see that as very go stewardship of our resources at all.

However, I do agree change is coming. But not in the manner that the mayor quite expects. There is a growing rumble of discontent with the lack of vision our council has and the degree of financial mis-management that has occurred. Its time for new voices, with fresh ideas and new perspective. Not to revive an old Obama pledge, but “its time for change.” Because I’m not sure we can afford much more of this.

http://www.stuff.co.nz/dominion-post/opinion/3783473/Libraries-are-facing-change-just-as-fast-as-everything-else-in-the-city, http://www.stuff.co.nz/dominion-post/opinion/3744116/Future-of-free-libraries-hangs-in-the-balance, http://wellington.scoop.co.nz/?p=25463, http://www.stuff.co.nz/dominion-post/national/politics/3782754/Homeowners-rates-rise-but-business-rates-fall, http://werewolf.co.nz/2010/05/closing-the-books-on-libraries/

Investing in our communities, not centralising them

Tonight I, and about 100 other people, turned out to hear Bob McKee speak about the importance of free public access to library services. I and others share his concern (see item below on losing Brooklyn library).

Library services should be free and that includes no backdoor revenue grabs through fines. In the UK they just stop issuing you books until you return the old ones. An example of a different way of meeting the same goal, without penalising people. But his speech also confirmed for me that there was another way to grow our communities.

You may have recently read in the CityLife Herald (19 May 2010) that Khandallah village is dying. A similar fate may be lurking in WCC policy for Brooklyn. Unfortunately there is deafening silence from the WCC.

In fact in all likelihood it is probably current WCC thinking and policy (and myopic vision) that has strangled the life out of Khandallah and many other similar communities. But perhaps, there is a solution. Although it is totally counter to the current thinking at WCC which looks to maximise its resources by increasing pricing and cutting costs by centralisation.

Perhaps the answer is to look at investing in our community resources (not cutting them). And here I come back to Bob’s speech. Bob spoke about how the UK experience had enabled businesses and communities to grow together. Libraries need not be quiet spaces (have they ever?) tucked away in the back and left to suffocate and wither.

Rather, they can be community hubs that include cafes, bookshops, indoor childrens play areas, start-up businesses, community facilities, law centres, pharmacies, and other like minded businesses. Co-operating and partnering with business in order to create vibrant hubs that draw people into the community, thus enabling other businesses in the community to also flourish as the foot traffic increases.

It seems to have worked in the central library, and if McDonald’s can create children’s play areas and cafes to grow their business, why can’t we apply a similar strategy to our libraries, in order to grow our communities. And if communities grow, then WCC will have created a bigger revenue pie to fund all the things it wants to fund, without having to make cuts.

Sounds like its to good to be true. Well, according to Bob, the UK experience has proved it. Its time to think outside the square.

Lets grow our communities, not centralise them.

http://www.radionz.co.nz/audio/national/ntn/2010/05/25/are_the_days_of_free_public_libraries_coming_to_an_end

Its our library

Brooklyn library could be lost as the WCC proposes to scale back its focus to the central library (and 2 library hubs in “growth areas”). This could mean that Brooklyn residents (and schools in the area) will have diminishing access to library services.

Who is speaking up for Brooklyn residents interests on the WCC?

Sounds like no one?

http://wellington.scoop.co.nz/?p=23921