Who owns Wanganui?
I don't mean the land on which it sits, for that will be here long after we all cease to exist. I don't mean the bricks and mortar, the wood and steel that give temporary material substance to the name. I mean the spirit; the humanness that makes
Wanganui a place in which to live and work. The people who live here - and want to continue to live here - should be the people who form the future and decide how our city will look and feel in years to come.
Sadly, this is not the case. Right now it is the people who own the buildings and have temporary custodianship of the land who are determining the future of Wanganui, and frankly, it's not looking too bright.
Our front page lead story is about Wanganui business people struggling to survive under the onslaught of the rent collectors. They are still here, for now, but others have fought and lost and gone elsewhere. For some, the move may have been to cheaper rent in another part of town; for others, the move was to cheaper rent and a fresh start in another part of the country. We lost them because the rent collectors asked for too much. And it's still happening.
The future of Wanganui is being decided by people who obviously have no regard for the soul of the city. They are willing to sacrifice local businesses for a few dollars more, imposing ridiculously high rents at a time when the world is in recession. Are we looking at another Queenstown scenario where rents got too high for the locals to live there?
This is Wanganui. A provincial city with a hard-working populace and a low average wage. We seldom get angry and we hardly ever pick up pitchforks and protest. But if there's a way to get our dander up it is for people already rich to threaten our existence with demands for more filthy lucre. Have they not noticed that we're already hurting? Do they not understand the consequences of their rent hikes? Or do they not care?
Whatever their motives, the wrong people own Wanganui.
