We offered to pub­lish the answers from any can­did­ates in the loc­al body elec­tions and Mark Green­ing 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?

Wow, a cap­it­al city with the heart of a vil­lage. Water­front vis­tas, green hills, amaz­ing: cof­fee, food, art and cul­ture!

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

Improve road main­ten­ance man­age­ment. Reduce bottle necks. Reduce park­ing along primary cor­ridors. Provide ded­ic­ated pub­lic trans­port cor­ridors. Reduce vehicle num­bers.

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

I sup­port open trans­par­ent gov­ern­ment. I col­lec­ted and pub­lished tax inform­a­tion. But our Coun­cil prefers to close its doors?

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

Not char­ging for it. Will all recyc­ling bags be free or just the first 40 under Council’s pro­posed recyc­ling ini­ti­at­ives?

5. What is your policy on street alco­hol­ics?

The meas­ure of a city is how well it treats those less for­tu­nate Unfor­tu­nately, Coun­cil has let us down.

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

Yes. But it needs to be mixed with pub­lic trans­port. Not every­one can walk long dis­tances.

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

Cent­ral har­bour city mar­ket. Brought some “blue nose” (a great fish) from the boat moored nearby – its hard to get.

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

Mon­goose. In pieces and without wheels. I stripped it down com­pletely to clean thor­oughly and someone stole both my wheels.

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

Every week­end, to avoid the dvd fines. My son loves Zac Power books and TMNT (and Star Wars) dvds.

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

For­tu­nately we can watch how Auck­land goes first, before mak­ing any rash calls we might later regret.

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

Yes. But that need not always be deliv­ery. There are lots of free ser­vices. I’m using Word­Press (eg,
http://greeningwellingtoncity.wordpress.com).

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

No meters. No char­ging. So that means no privat­isa­tion. Some can­did­ates are silent on meters. We need to increase sup­ply.

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

Each city has a strength based on its his­tory and geo­graphy. We are com­pact and sur­roun­ded by water and hills.

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

Yes. People deserve to be heard and con­sul­ted. Some­thing this coun­cil has for­got­ten (eg, Man­ners Mall, Vari­ation 11).

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

The UK has these. I’m all for fos­ter­ing a com­munity spir­it – and com­munity gar­dens can help that.