IS CORE BUSINESS JUST THE NANNY STATE IN A YELLOW JACKET

Defining the core business of local government to leave out the very things that give cities and communties their edge - that make them places worth living in - is just the concept of that "Nanny knows best" in its crudest form. Beats barmy light bulbs any day. Communities might do weird things - take W(h)anganui for example and Invercargill owning Lotto shops - but that is what makes communities communities rather than a collection of tarmac and pipes full of pooh. Just wind Auckland back a century and apply that formula and what a mean city it would be - it struggles to be civilised now - but under the Hide plan there would be no Civic Theatre, no Central Library and no City Gallery no Town Hall auditorium and a concrete line of wharves from Mission to St Mary's Bay. We have those things and we will keep them and the grumpy troll in the yellow jacket under the bridge is a wake up call of sorts. Neighbourhood government is about the quality of neighbourhood life not just about some tight arsed balance sheet.