Thanks to may­oral can­di­date Al Mansell for tak­ing the time to answer our ques­tions too.

1. You have 30 sec­onds to con­vince some­one to come to Welling­ton. What’s your pitch?

If they don’t know how grouse Welling­ton, is, maybe they’re not the sort of peo­ple we want. Pay more atten­tion.

2. How do you think traf­fic flow to the hos­pi­tal and air­port could be improved?

Make the bus­es and trains free. Extend the John­sonville line through New­town to the Air­port.

3. Where do you stand on the issue of open­ing up gov­ern­ment data?

Gov­ern­ment com­mu­ni­ca­tion, and leg­is­la­tion, needs to be in plain eng­lish. That’s the biggest obsta­cle to open­ness.

4. What plans have do you have to improve recycling/composting facil­i­ties?

Intro­duce com­post­ing scheme for inner-city busi­ness­es. Pro­mote com­mu­nal resources, to reduce resource use.

5. What is your pol­i­cy on street alco­holics?

Sup­port a wet house in the city. We don’t need liquor bans; police already have pow­ers to arrest peo­ple if they are being offensive/violent.

6. Do you sup­port pedes­tri­an­i­sa­tion of the Gold­en Mile? Why/Why not?

Yes. Move the bus­es to Jer­vois Quay. Use human/electric three-wheel­ers to link to the bus routes and to car parks.

7. What’s the last local mar­ket you went to? What did you buy?

Willis st mar­ket- peanut brit­tle. It’s my one weak­ness. Well, that, and metham­phet­a­mine.

8. Describe your bicy­cle, or your favourite bus route?

A red giant. Stolen from Wake­field st while I was dan­gling off the supreme court. I will find it, and I will have my revenge.

9. When did you last use the library, a com­mu­ni­ty cen­tre, or a coun­cil-run sports facil­i­ty?

The library, today. It is the most impor­tant thing we own. With the pos­si­ble excep­tion of water retic­u­la­tion.

10. Would you wel­come a cen­tral gov­ern­ment dri­ven “super-city” amal­ga­ma­tion of local author­i­ties? If not, why not?

No. Any­one who trusts Rod­ney Hide needs to learn to be more dis­cern­ing.

11. Do you think the coun­cil has a role in fos­ter­ing com­mu­ni­ty web­sites? If so, how?

Yes. Most impor­tant­ly, by adver­tis­ing their exis­tence. The coun­cil’s impri­ma­ture can give a web­site the crit­i­cal mass it needs to be suc­cess­ful.

12. Where do you stand on water privi­ti­sa­tion, and why?

Against. The argu­ments in favour of it don’t add up. And bring water ser­vices back in-house. Abol­ish capac­i­ty.

13. What city over­seas inspires your vision for Welling­ton? How?

Havana. In a city of about two mil­lion, half the fresh food is grown in the city.

14. Is the con­cept of demo­c­ra­t­ic rep­re­sen­ta­tion impor­tant to you? How so?

Yes. If we don’t use polit­i­cal pow­er, our ene­mies sure will. (I con­sid­er our ene­mies to be banks, and cor­po­ra­tions. And Rod­ney Hide).

15. What do you think about com­muu­ni­ty gar­dens on pub­lic land?

They are real­ly impor­tant, way too scarce, and will become invalu­able as the glob­al econ­o­my atro­phies.