Craft has turned bitter at the Wellington City Council, with Councillor Rebecca Matthews claiming her “f… Nimbys” post has turned into a “storm in a cross-stitch”.
The two protagonists in the bizarre spat are regular sparring partners: Matthews in the left corner and Diane Calvert in the right. The arena is Twitter; the medium: embroidery.
It was July 27 when Matthews – an ardent supported of housing intensification – posted a picture of an embroidery she was given: It showed Matthews, with her trademark red mane, and the words “f… Nimbys” emblazoned across her.
“My new campaign image just dropped – will this look good on a billboard?,” Matthews asked the Twittersphere, seemingly as a joke.
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Cue outrage.
“Nimbys” stands for “not in my backyard” and is usually a negative slight against people who oppose development, particularly in their neighbourhoods.
Ross Giblin/Stuff
Wellington city councillor Rebecca Matthews has no plans to apologise for the “F… Nimbys” embroidery post
Matthews confirmed she had since been approached by two residents’ associations – one of which said she should apologise to her fellow ward councillors and to all residents of her Wharangi/Onslow-Western ward.
She also said Calvert emailed her to say she should apologise and there had been “complaints from all over the city”.
ROBERT KITCHIN/STUFF
Diane Calvert would not comment on the Nimby spat
But Matthews, who described the spat as a “storm in a cross-stitch”, was not planning to apologise for posting somebody else’s embroidery on her Twitter page.
“It is a long, long, long bow to say it is my comment or a particular insult to anyone,” she said.
If she was to apologise to the entire ward, as one residents’ association asked, the logical assumption was that she thought the entire ward population of the ward were Nimbys.
“I have seen harmful stuff on the Internet and this is not it.”
Calvert, who also represents the Wharangi/Onslow-Western ward, declined to comment. But she confirmed that she, among others, asked Matthews to apologise.
