When talking to the Mayor it’s clear the years of wrangling with the media and local government have left their mark, her answers are focused, constructed and detailed to a point, leaving little room for debate. Effectively within minutes I’m a captive audience in the conversation. With practised ease she talks with about her vision for the future of the city, on the need to be internationally competitive, carbon neutrality, infrastructure, quality of life, attraction & retention of business, the innovation capital and the list goes on. She obviously has conviction in her goals, but we wanted to find out what her future plans were after being Mayor at the end of her last term.

Surprisingly in Wellington’s history Prendergast is only the second woman to have served as Mayor – the first being the iconic Fran Wilde in 1992. Prendergast was first elected Mayor in 2001, again in 2004 and her current term started in 2007. With the clock running on her last term, she allows herself a brief moment to be reflective on past, present and future projects for herself and Wellington. With over twenty years in the local political arena, starting in 1986 as a Tawa Borough Councillor, she has been at the centre of some of the most challenging issues facing the development of the city.

It’s easy enough to find her fingerprints on landmark projects such as the Wellington Waterfront, city by-pass, and the rejuvenation of various city precincts. But, the largest mark Prendergast hopes to leave on the face of Wellington is a carbon foot print. To date she has been the strongest advocate of sustainability and the greenest Mayor the capital has seen, her election promises included the goal of Wellington becoming the first truly green, ‘carbon neutral capital’. She has few qualms about using the cities green credentials and incentives to attract and retain businesses.

“Carbon Neutrality just makes good economic sense. Being carbon neutral and managing emissions reduction efficiently, is attractive for businesses. This is a message that’s comes strongly from CEOs, in order for them to attract and retain quality, smart staff to any city in the world, is partially the environment in which they work. CEOs tell us this as they are the ones trying to attract staff to Wellington. [Wellington] gets a big tick on infrastructure, quality of life and job opportunities, but we need to continue ensuring the quality of the environment for working in. We also need incentives to encourage Green Star Rated buildings in our city. – which are those with significant energy saving, and efficiency initiatives built into them like the Meridian and Telecom buildings, if we are going to make the difference in attracting and retaining quality staff.”

When it comes to Wellington attracting new businesses, Prendergast is adamant it’s about being competitive. “I think any city has to be internationally competitive. We are not actually in competition with the rest of New Zealand; we’re actually in competition with the world. Everything we do should be really clearly focused on making sure we’re internationally competitive. You also have to have a city that’s an attractive place for people have career enhancing job opportunities, people need to feel they can move up a career path that isn’t up a ladder anymore, but can move sideways and ever upwards.”

She discretely slips into the conversation that Wellington’s current state of growth, despite not being competition with each other – is at the expense of Auckland. “Our biggest migrants are domestic migrants out of Auckland. Wellington had the biggest population growth of anywhere in New Zealand in the last census period. So for a city that in 2000 was losing people and businesses, we now have population growth of ten percent and more full time employment and new businesses. It’s all a huge plus for this city going forward”. It is predicted in the next twenty years Wellington will see the population increase by 50,000. Of those 70 percent will be in Wellington City and 33,000 of those people are going to work in the Central Business District (CBD.)

We ask for just one example of an outstanding achievement from her seven years as Mayor, it takes a retrospective moment followed with a contemplative expression. Prendergast admits she is reluctant to pin-point just one project or achievement as the ‘pinnacle’ of her time in office. “I don’t want to hang my hat and say my greatest achievement is around a sculpture or a building”. Arguably Creative Wellington – Innovation Capital has been one of the most significant achievements during the Prendergast’s mayoralty.

As some businesses will testify the Creative Wellington – Innovation Capital has contributed to some of Wellington’s greatest success stories. The programme is aimed at enhancing and developing Wellington’s reputation as a centre for creativity and innovation. And Prendergast is quick to name the film and production industry – with WETA at its core, as standout examples of Creative Wellington on the international stage. She also points out the IT Sector, Earthquake engineering and heritage restoration as just some of the other areas the city has gained recognition in under Creative Wellington.

However, not all projects like Creative Wellington have been as warmly received. There has to mention of the opposition to some aspects of the Prendergast vision for Wellington. Opposition in the form of protest against projects such as the Waterfront, Waitangi Park and the city by-pass, from what Prendergast calls the ‘vocal minority.’ These are just a few examples of the ‘tough’ patches that Prendergast has coped with in opposition to her vision for the development of the city.

“I have dealt with [opposition] with some difficultly, but you don’t stand-up as a politician or community leader without accepting that sometimes you have to be really clear about the direction you want to go and sticking to it. With the waterfront and by-pass it was a process of listening and understanding to both expert advice and the community. I think people respect leaders who clearly articulate what they believe in more than those who vacillate depending on the current popular view. I had a view on the by-pass which had been developed over years of information and understanding a range of different perspectives. But, even then it would have still been easy to give up when listening to a very vocal minority.

So with just over a year left in office for Prendergast there is an underling sense of determination and a hint of urgency to leave the mayor’s office and Wellington in the best shape possible to weather what lies ahead. At this stage Prendergast has no clear career path to take for herself after vacating office, although she openly talks of taking a much needed break between this and the next project.

“I need a bit of space and some time to clear my head between this job and taking on a new challenge. I’m not going to return to the health sector, I’ve worked 80 hours a week for a long time. Before I was mayor I was doing those sorts of hours as an independent midwife and then as deputy Mayor if fact I’m doing those hours now. I need to allow someone new with fresh ideas to take over the city and take it in their direction. But I’m looking at a number of initiatives that would keep me occupied, somewhere between 20 to 30 hours a week,” she says showing a hint of enjoying a quieter life to come, one that is out of the lime-light.

To look back on the Prendergast years, you can begin to see how much has been accomplished and with one eye turned to the future how much more is still to be achieved. Prendergast is not one to rest on her laurels and coast out of office with a ‘mission complete’ attitude. It strikes me as slightly humble, when I finally pin her down to name what she thought would be her greatest mayoral legacy, the considered answer was not as I would have expected but, simply “there will be more trees and parks.”