We offered to pub­lish the answers from any can­di­dates in the local body elec­tions and Mar­cus Gan­g­ley who is stand­ing in the Lambton Ward has stepped up.

1. You have 30 sec­onds to con­vince some­one to come to Wellington.What’s your pitch?
Welling­ton has the excite­ment of a big city in a com­pact, walk­a­ble city full of pas­sion­ate Welling­to­ni­ans who love mak­ing vis­i­tors wel­come.
 
2. How do you think traf­fic flow to the hos­pi­tal and air­port could be improved?
Short-term: Bus pri­or­i­ty lanes and bet­ter walk­ing and cycling facil­i­ties to reduce car and bus usage.  Long-term: Light-rail
 
3. Where do you stand on the issue of open­ing up gov­ern­ment data?
Gov­ern­ment data should be released free of charge, using cre­ative com­mons licences, with rare excep­tions.
 
4. What plans have do you have to improve recycling/composting facil­i­ties?
We need some bot­tle recy­cling drops in the inner city and around the two uni­ver­si­ties. Should look at green waste recy­cling options for the sub­urbs.
 
5. What is your pol­i­cy on street alco­holics?
We need wet hous­es, prob­a­bly in the city. I don’t sup­port liquor bans. They seem to be an ‘answer’ dri­ven by the hop­si­tal­i­ty indus­try.
 
6. Do you sup­port pedes­tri­an­i­sa­tion of the Gold­en Mile? Why/Why not?
Not exclu­sive­ly. There needs to be some pub­lic trans­port also. We also need more cov­er along the Gold­en Mile to encour­age walk­ing.
 
7. What’s the last local mar­ket you went to? What did you buy?
The Willis St Mar­ket. Oranges (I love cit­rus).
 
8. Describe your bicy­cle, or your favourite bus route?
I walk. It’s faster than catch­ing the bus.
 
9. When did you last use the library, a com­mu­ni­ty cen­tre, or a coun­cil-run sports facil­i­ty?
This month I’ve been to the Cen­tral Library, Aro Com­mu­ni­ty Cen­tre, Brook­lyn Com­mu­ni­ty Cen­tre and the new Cross­ways.
 
10. Would you wel­come a cen­tral gov­ern­ment dri­ven “super-city“amalgamation of local author­i­ties? If not, why not?
No. John Key let Rod­ney Hide loose on Auck­land and we saw local con­cerns ignored so an unac­count­able cor­po­rate mod­el could be imposed. No thanks.
 
11. Do you think the coun­cil has a role in fos­ter­ing com­mu­ni­ty web­sites? If so, how?
As a min­i­mum link­ing to com­mu­ni­ty web­sites.  Pos­si­bly look at host­ing, but not if it comes with a con­trol­ling atti­tude
 
12. Where do you stand on water pri­vati­sa­tion, and why?
I am opposed to water pri­vati­sa­tion in all its guis­es.  The eco­nom­ics are dubi­ous and I’m con­cerned about loss of con­trol.
 
13. What city over­seas inspires your vision for Welling­ton? How?
DC does a great job of mix­ing cul­ture and pol­i­tics, but is a bit ‘impe­r­i­al’. Min­neapo­lis for its walk­a­bil­i­ty, despite worse weath­er!
 
14. Is the con­cept of demo­c­ra­t­ic rep­re­sen­ta­tion impor­tant to you? How so?
Yes.  Debates about local gov­ern­ment can become techo­crat­ic.  They should be about val­ues and beliefs. We need pas­sion­ate rep­re­sen­ta­tives, not just skilled admin­is­tra­tors.
 
15. What do you think about com­mu­ni­ty gar­dens on pub­lic land?
They’re a good idea. If there’s a com­mu­ni­ty that’s going to put the work in the coun­cil should give them all the sup­port it can.