Thanks to Ker­ry for send­ing in her answers to our ques­tions. As you can see, we were seri­ous about only pub­lish­ing 25 word answers. 

1. You have 30 sec­onds to con­vince some­one to come to Welling­ton. What’s your pitch?
 We have it all — great food, great recre­ation and art, and great nightlife. It’s the cul­tur­al hub of New Zealand. 93% of Welling­to­ni­ans rate our…

2. How do you think traf­fic flow to the hos­pi­tal and air­port could be improved?
 We need to com­plete our plan­ning for and imple­ment a rapid trans­port sys­tem on ded­i­cat­ed lanes from the Rail­way sta­tion to the Air­port and the…

3. Where do you stand on the issue of open­ing up gov­ern­ment data?
It’s impor­tant to under­stand it isn’t the Coun­cil’s job to deal with Gov­ern­ment data. I have always tak­en the view that the major­i­ty of local…

4. What plans have do you have to improve recycling/composting facil­i­ties?
We recent­ly announced a new recy­cling con­tract which will see Welling­to­ni­ans con­tin­u­ing to use their cur­rent green bins (used by 85% of res­i­dents) but with improved…

5. What is your pol­i­cy on street alco­holics?
 We need to pro­vide care and shel­ter for these peo­ple and I sup­port the Night Shel­ter. I drove a May­oral Task­force on this issue which…

6. Do you sup­port pedes­tri­an­i­sa­tion of the Gold­en Mile Why/Why not?
This is and should remain the pre-emi­nent pub­lic trans­port artery, along with ser­vice vehi­cles and taxis. It is a nar­row por­tion of Welling­ton CBD and…

7. What’s the last local mar­ket you went to? What did you buy?
Chaf­fers mar­ket last week­end. I tend to buy the fresh veg­es, cheese, oil, bread, and fresh fish from Yel­low Brick Road Dis­trib­u­tors. No mat­ter how…

8. Describe your bicy­cle, or your favourite bus route?
 Trusty old com­fort­able Avan­ti which I use fre­quent­ly around the water­front. Did the Ota­go Rail Trail over East­er with friends.

9. When did you last use the library, a com­mu­ni­ty cen­tre, or a coun­cil-run sports facil­i­ty?
 Use Frey­berg gym 3 times a week for an hour and I try to keep up my swim­ming — it’s great for fit­ness and think­ing time.

10. Would you wel­come a cen­tral gov­ern­ment dri­ven “super-city” amal­ga­ma­tion of local author­i­ties? If not, why not?
 No. Welling­ton region’s pop­u­la­tion should choose its own form of gov­er­nance and if there is to be change we will ask the Gov­ern­ment to meet…

11. Do you think the coun­cil has a role in fos­ter­ing com­mu­ni­ty web­sites? If so, how?
 I am com­mit­ted to con­tin­ued sup­port where we con­tract Welling­ton Com­mu­ni­ty Net to deliv­er free web host­ing for com­mu­ni­ty groups.

12. Where do you stand on water privi­ti­sa­tion, and why?
I’m against pri­vati­sa­tion and will con­tin­ue to sup­port the cur­rent leg­is­la­tion that for­bids this hap­pen­ing. Welling­ton has invest­ed heav­i­ly in our water infra­struc­ture and we…

13. What city over­seas inspires your vision for Welling­ton? How?
San Fran­cis­co because of its archi­tec­ture, its water­front, its food and wine, its walk­a­bil­i­ty, its pub­lic trans­port, its tol­er­ance and diver­si­ty, and its sup­port for…

14. Is the con­cept of demo­c­ra­t­ic rep­re­sen­ta­tion impor­tant to you? How so?
Yes — it is very impor­tant. NZ was the first coun­try to give women the vote. Giv­en the impor­tance of this, and our lat­er moves into…

15. What do you think about com­mu­ni­ty gar­dens on pub­lic land?
 I sup­port these. The coun­cil has just opened one in Brook­lyn and we are work­ing on one in Hataitai. I’m pre­pared to sup­port any com­mu­ni­ty…