We offered to pub­lish the answers from any can­di­dates in the local body elec­tions and Mike Mel­lor who is stand­ing in the East­ern Ward has stepped up.

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

A small and per­fect­ly-formed walk­a­ble cap­i­tal city — arts, cul­ture, cui­sine, sport, nature, sea, beach­es…
2. How do you think traf­fic flow to the hos­pi­tal and air­port could be improved?
 
Now: bus pri­or­i­ty with walk­ing and cycling; future: light rail.
3. Where do you stand on the issue of open­ing up gov­ern­ment data?
Make it pub­lic.
 
4. What plans have do you have to improve recycling/composting facil­i­ties?
 
Encour­age ini­tia­tives like Tar­get Sus­tain­abil­i­ty http://www.targetsustainability.co.nz/ and Ter­ra­No­va http://terranova.org.nz/, both in Christchurch; increase land­fill charges so that recy­cling makes eco­nom­ic sense (and keep on top of ille­gal dump­ing).
5. What is your pol­i­cy on street alco­holics?
 
Wet hous­es, not indis­crim­i­nate liquor bans.
6. Do you sup­port pedes­tri­an­i­sa­tion of the Gold­en Mile? Why/Why not?
 
With pub­lic trans­port and lim­it­ed access for ser­vic­ing, yes. The Gold­en Mile is the region’s busiest pub­lic trans­port route — and light rail and pedes­tri­ans mix per­fect­ly.
7. What’s the last local mar­ket you went to? What did you buy?
 
In Dunedin — does Quil­ter’s Book­shop count?
8. Describe your bicy­cle, or your favourite bus route?
 
24 Mira­mar Heights, described by a vis­i­tor as the most scenic bus route in the world.
9. When did you last use the library, a com­mu­ni­ty cen­tre, or a coun­cil-run sports facil­i­ty?
Library: today; com­mu­ni­ty cen­tre: last week­end.
 
10. Would you wel­come a cen­tral gov­ern­ment dri­ven “super-city” amal­ga­ma­tion of local author­i­ties?  If not, why not?
 
No — major and cost­ly dis­rup­tion for lit­tle (if any) ben­e­fit.
11. Do you think the coun­cil has a role in fos­ter­ing com­mu­ni­ty web­sites? If so, how? 
 
Yes, by using its con­sid­er­able buy­ing pow­er to allow com­mu­ni­ties to pig­gy-back on its IT facil­i­ties.
 
12. Where do you stand on water pri­vati­sa­tion, and why?
 
No — a pub­lic good.
13. What city over­seas inspires your vision for Welling­ton? How?
 
Welling­ton is its own inspi­ra­tion — but Lyon, Mel­bourne and San Fran­cis­co inspire, too.
14. Is the con­cept of demo­c­ra­t­ic rep­re­sen­ta­tion impor­tant to you?  How so?
 
Absolute­ly — no ques­tion.
15. What do you think about com­mu­ni­ty gar­dens on pub­lic land?
 
Good idea.