We’ve provided a set of ques­tions for the may­or­al and coun­cil­lor can­did­ates to answer. First 25 words to an answer get pos­ted. Check our 2013 Elec­tion cov­er­age for all responses as they come in.

When we con­tac­ted can­did­ates with our ques­tions, we asked them to email a spe­cif­ic email address that all the ‘ista could access so that answers could be pos­ted faster. This can­did­ate did­n’t use that email address. Hence the late post­ing.

After the jump, Simon Marsh for East­ern Ward.

1.    What should be the city council’s role in help­ing home­less people and beg­gars?
We all have a respons­ib­il­ity to care for the vul­ner­able. Coun­cil should con­tin­ue to sup­port spe­cial­ist agen­cies City Mis­sion, Sal­lies, Pres­by­teri­an Sup­port

2.    What would you do to make Wel­ling­ton more cycle and ped­es­tri­an friendly?
Avoid cross hatch­ing in the centre of streets, share exist­ing ped­es­tri­an ways with bikes. In new road pro­jects allow for sep­ar­ate cycle/ ped­es­tri­an ways.

3.    How do you think traffic flow to the hos­pit­al and air­port should be improved?
A second Mount Vic­tor­ia tun­nel, improved Goa street and Wel­ling­ton road and Rua­hine street inter­sec­tions, Sep­ar­a­tion of East/West and North/South basin reserve traffic.

4.    What are your views on the sug­ges­tion Wel­ling­ton needs to be “more than just Weta and Gov­ern­ment” – what do you think are Wellington’s strengths?
Pub­lic ser­vice fluc­tu­ates in size depend­ing on the gov­ern­ment. Film is a fra­gile industry need­ing sus­tain­ab­il­ity. I see poten­tial in a digit­al, IT, film edu­ca­tion­al hub

5.    What will YOU do to get more invest­ment, busi­nesses, and busi­ness con­fid­ence in Wel­ling­ton?
Focus on remov­ing or min­im­ising the bar­ri­ers that pre­vent pro­duct­ive busi­nesses set­ting up in Wel­ling­ton (or the region).

6.    What does Wel­ling­ton need more of, and what does Wel­ling­ton need less of?
Cham­pi­ons that tell the world that this is a great city, more people with a pos­it­ive atti­tude, less people that want to stop almost everything.

7.    What would your city coun­cil provide for chil­dren and young people?
A safe excit­ing city that has its chal­lenges and oppor­tun­it­ies. Ulti­mately coun­cil must encour­age busi­ness so the young will have a job.

8.    What steps would you take to encour­age civic engage­ment?
Per­son­ally I take the “Swampy Cara­van”  into the com­munity to engage. In coun­cil we need to con­tin­ue the work to bring com­mu­nic­a­tion and engage­ment togeth­er.

9.    Tell us about your per­son­al earth­quake plan / What’s unusu­al about your earth­quake kit?
The “Swampy” cara­van” is our emer­gency shel­ter, our cars are equipped with emer­gency back­packs, our garden shed con­tains emer­gency sup­plies. Remem­ber your garden­ing gloves.

10. Why should we vote for you?
I can do the job! Dur­ing my first term I’ve learned plenty and achieved suc­cesses. With a second term I can get on with it.

11. Where can we find out more about what you stand for?
simon@swampymarsh.co.nz or phone me I’m happy to talk with you 021–922-196