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.