Three-term Christchurch mayor Lianne Dalziel last day as Mayor is this Friday. Photo / Martin Hunter
OPINION
As I have been packing up my office, I have been reading through some of the correspondence and reports that I received in the early days of my mayoralty.
It seems a lifetime ago as much has happened in Christchurch since I took on the role nine years ago.
Fortunately, I will not be leaving behind several unwelcome surprises for the next Council, like the ones we received in 2013.
A $400 million hole in the budget, disguised as savings to be found, was just the start. The Cost Sharing Agreement with the Government included massive, unfunded financial commitments, explicitly made regardless of our insurance settlement, which, as it turned out, was two years away and considerably less than anticipated.
This meant we faced huge public expectations of what our city was building, without the means to pay.
Over the weekend, I attended a gala evening celebrating 50 years since the Christchurch Town Hall opened. I still cannot believe the pressure we were under to demolish this important part of our heritage.
But we stood firm and on Saturday night, I knew again that we made absolutely the right decision.
My other memory jog was that the Council had lost its accreditation as a building consent authority in the midst of the biggest rebuild in our country's history. There were significant unbudgeted costs associated with putting this right as well.
Those issues, however, paled into insignificance when Christchurch faced three major flooding events in a row early in my mayoralty.
It was heartbreaking, literally wading into people's homes and experiencing first-hand the impact of the floods. It was not just the physical damage – it was the psychological trauma caused by flood after flood.
One of the early decisions I made was to set up a multi-disciplinary Mayoral Taskforce on Flooding to address the issues and prioritise the work. Pulling key people away from their business-as-usual roles and getting them to work together to problem-solve and engage directly with the affected communities produced an amazing result.
The taskforce's final report provided an invaluable framework for making major decisions on flood protection and mitigation works, including a voluntary buyout scheme for the most vulnerable homes. It has stood us in good stead. The fact that people's homes were not flooded in the recent storm events made me feel proud of what we achieved.
One of my biggest regrets over the years is that we were unable to get the Government to agree to work in a partnership with the Council on the post-quake recovery and rebuild. If the Government had invested in building the city's capacity, rather than in setting up its own agencies, imagine how much better positioned we would be as a city.
Of course, my time as Mayor will always bring back reminders of the tragic mosque terrorist attacks of 15 March 2019 and the 51 shuhada whose lives were lost, those injured and those who witnessed the events of that day.
However, my abiding memory will be the way the city came together to offer our love and compassion to our Muslim communities. I have never felt more pride in being the city's Mayor than I did then. The ongoing support that has seen our Muslim communities grow their own strength makes me feel good about our shared future.
In my final report to the Council last week, I referred to TIME magazine including Ōtautahi Christchurch in their list of the world's top 100 places. They said:
"In many ways, our third annual list of the World's Greatest Places is a tribute to the people and businesses at the forefront of those industries who, amid extraordinary circumstances, found ways to adapt, build and innovate. It shines a light on ingenuity, creativity, revitalisation and re-openings in destinations across the world."
That is exactly how our city feels to me right now. We have definitely turned the corner. And we have become a city of opportunity for all, open to new ideas, new people and new ways of doing things – a place where anything is possible.
It is that sense of possibility that gives me the same optimism about our future that I brought to the role with me.
We have facilities of a far greater scale than a city our size would have, we have fantastic schools and tertiary and research institutes, and we have the best environment that nature can offer on our doorstep – the Port Hills, beaches, parks and ski fields just over an hour away.
And we have shown as a city that, no matter what, we can face up to whatever lies around the corner together.
Motorists are being warned to expect hazardous driving conditions.