The America’s Cup is Auckland’s Cup and the mayor must be its champion By Simon Wilson | Auckland editor July 10, 2017 Where’s Phil? Eight months into his first term as mayor, Phil Goff hasn’t had any spectacular embarrassments and he hasn’t blown the budget. Is that good enough? Simon Wilson doesn’t think so, and each day this week he’s got a challenge for the mayor. Here’s the first. W hy isn’t Phil Goff a champion for the defence of the America’s Cup? He’s excited that Emirates Team New Zealand has won the Cup – he told us so when he spoke to the crowd at the homecoming parade. And he authorised the parade. That was good. He’s also made it clear the council is not just going to start handing out cash – either to ETNZ itself or to whoever’s involved in building infrastructure for the Cup defence. That’s good too. The America’s Cup will be an enormous boon for Auckland but it doesn’t follow council should be an easy touch. But it was a shame Goff allowed his financial prudence to make him sound like a killjoy. Despite the parade, Goff hasn’t positioned himself as a champion of the Cup defence and a cheerleader for Auckland as host. Why hasn’t he done this? Does he not understand that this is the most important job of the mayor? Goff, by now, should have announced that he’s setting up a taskforce: a high-powered group from the government and private sector to lead and coordinate the city’s preparations. It’s not that we need a special new group to work out where and how the defenders and challengers will be based, although this group should oversee and help with that. The real challenge is to ensure the city makes the most of the opportunity. Because that’s what this is. An opportunity to transform Auckland for the better. - thespinoff.co.nz