It began with the lifting of the cordon around central Christchurch. The streets belong to pedestrians at least, again.
It was a week in which we learnt that the the council had not learnt from the communications issues highlighted in 2012, in which the CEO did not pass on the seriousness of the consents crisis and the Mayor admits he did not read a vital report. The CEO got sent home on indefinite leave.
It was a week in which the city council lost the ability to give out building consents and the quality of the consents given out over the past year has also been called into question. A week when insurance for those consents was also withdrawn. A crown manager has since been employed to make sure the consents can be issued and to help get the council back on track.
It ended with an exhausted Bob Parker announcing he would not stand for Mayor in the forthcoming elections. The end of what has been called the Bob and Tony Show.
Just another week in the broken city of Christchurch.
Let’s hope that the city has hit its lowest peak and will bounce back. The only way is up.
