The $550,000 bike rack!

The Post reports:

Wellington ratepayers have shelled out out more than $550,000 on the upgrade of a 32m laneway to accommodate a new designer bike rack and two extra motorbike parks.

The Council has increased rates by almost 20%, and the Mayor is telling everyone there is no waste, and the big increases are all due to infrastructure underfunding and then we learn they spent half a million dollars on having a bike rack near the council office!

The total cost of the upgrade came to $562,942 with the cycle rack sucking up $136,000 of that – eclipsing the $85,000 spent on a similar bike rack alongside Freyberg Pool in Oriental Bay by $51,000.

So the bike rack only cost $136,000 but the total cost of upgrading the street to fit it was $563,000. Is that a must have or a nice to have?

Councillor Diane Calvert blasted the spend as an “unbelievable waste”.

“And especially when there is an empty bike rack 50m up the road outside council. This highlights yet again a troubling pattern of council spending decisions made without adequate oversight or insight into the real needs and concerns of our community.”

I bet you this bike rack also is near empty most of the time.