Wellington mayor Tory Whanau claims she was “heckled and booed” by about 100 people at a residents’ association meeting to the point she said “f**k that was rough” on her way out.
Classy.
“They didn’t want to listen to me anymore because they didn’t like what I had to say,” Whanau told the Herald.
“That doesn’t mean I deserve disrespect and what it felt like to me is that like many other women, I was just being shouted down by a group of men.”
Yeah, sure. Play the woman card.
Whanau ended up telling the Oriental Bay Residents’ Association president: “I’ve had enough of this.”
Translation: Fuck youse fellas, I’m leaving.
[…] Residents’ Association president Andrew Meehan disagreed with Whanau’s characterisation of the audience.
[…] Meehan said 115 people were at the meeting this week to hear from the mayor and ask questions about issues they are passionate about.
[…] Whanau posted on her Instagram story that she was heckled and booed after describing her vision for the future of the capital with affordable housing, cycleways and climate resilience.
“At one point the majority of them sort of yelled back at me in frustration and anger – that to me is heckling and that to me was disrespectful, so I do stand by how I characterised that part of the meeting.”
So if someone yells at you because they’re frustrated and angry, that’s on them and not because you’re… I don’t know… not listening to them?
[…] People started making statements like “no one supports Let’s Get Wellington Moving” and “no one supports cycleways”, Whanau claimed.
How dare they!
[…] Whanau reminded residents there were people who supported her transport plans, like the 34,000 Wellingtonians who voted for her.
And thousands more who don’t.
[…] Resident Kevin Isherwood said the council was “blue sky gazing” over the reality of LGWM’s plan to remove private vehicles and car parks from the Golden Mile.
He told Whanau at the meeting it will bankrupt businesses.
“They are the beating heart of the city; if you kill them off, the city becomes a ghost town.”
[…] “If the mayor goes to a public meeting, a town hall meeting, and cannot handle challenging, relevant, highly pertinent questions without being rattled and losing her temper, well then she shouldn’t be mayor. She’s in the wrong job [and] she should get a back office somewhere out of the firing line.”
[…] Meehan said many people in attendance were from an older generation.
“They are hardly going to bike into town and with bus services the way they are, they’ll get in the car and they’ll go somewhere other than the CBD because you can’t park there.”
Don’t forget the disabled, those who have problems with using public transport, like some on the spectrum, and those with particular phobias.
Years ago, decades actually, I was at a meeting where then opposition leader Jim Bolger was giving a speech. In the audience was a group of women from some housing group trying to shout him down. Did he play the man card? Nope, he just got on the mike and said “I can shout louder than you can.”