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.

Here’s Steve Pre­ston who is run­ning inde­pend­ently in Lamb­ton Ward.

1. What should be the city council’s role in help­ing home­less people and beg­gars?

The Coun­cil should act­ively encour­age and sup­port social sup­port ini­ti­at­ives that provide for con­stitu­ents in the lower socio-eco­nom­ic sec­tor of our loc­al com­munity.

2. What would you do to make Wel­ling­ton more cycle and ped­es­tri­an friendly?

More and easi­er options for, and bet­ter qual­ity of, pub­lic trans­port; Wider foot­paths; more cycle lanes; and bet­ter edu­ca­tion of motor­ists, cyc­lists and ped­es­tri­ans.

3. How do you think traffic flow to the hos­pit­al and air­port should be improved?

Increase bus pri­or­ity, ser­vice and qual­ity; make pub­lic trans­port easi­er; provide more altern­at­ive pub­lic trans­port oppor­tun­it­ies; and, encour­age high­er util­isa­tion of these options.

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?

Wel­ling­ton already is much more than that! Wel­ling­ton, the city with a soul – the people, envir­on­ment, and oppor­tun­it­ies make Wel­ling­ton the best city in NZ.

5. What will YOU do to get more invest­ment, busi­nesses, and busi­ness con­fid­ence in Wel­ling­ton?

I strongly sup­port the liv­ing wage concept; agree with air­port exten­sion plans in prin­ciple; and would pro­act­ively work to sup­port growth in busi­ness oppor­tun­it­ies.

6. What does Wel­ling­ton need more of, and what does Wel­ling­ton need less of?

Wel­ling­ton needs more pos­it­ive action and less wind and words. More focus on sus­tain­ab­il­ity and social and envir­on­ment­al sup­port and less divis­ive­ness.

7. What would your city coun­cil provide for chil­dren and young people?

Stronger and more avail­able lib­rary ser­vices; recre­ation­al facil­it­ies that encour­age growth and devel­op­ment; wider options in com­munity edu­ca­tion; and, sup­port of student/youth pub­lic trans­port fares.

8. What steps would you take to encour­age civic engage­ment?

Provide more oppor­tun­it­ies for people to feel heard and have their mes­sages acted upon; devel­op a wider plat­form for com­munity edu­ca­tion and dis­sem­in­a­tion of inform­a­tion.

9. Tell us about your per­son­al earth­quake plan / What’s unusu­al about your earth­quake kit?

I am well pre­pared with an earth­quake kit which includes cat food for my cat… I believe that earth­quake strength­en­ing is a pri­or­ity in Wel­ling­ton.

10. Why should we vote for you?

I care about the city, people and envir­on­ment and have the com­mu­nic­a­tion and lead­er­ship skills to ensure your voices aren’t just heard, but acted upon.

11. Where can we find out more about what you stand for?

Web­site: http://preston4lambton.co.nz
Face­book: http://www.facebook.com/preston4lambton
Twit­ter: http://twitter.com/Preston4Lambton
Linked­In: http://nz.linkedin.com/pub/stephen-preston/22/a71/324