We offered to pub­lish the answers from any can­did­ates in the loc­al body elec­tions and Mar­cus Gangley 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?
Wel­ling­ton has the excite­ment of a big city in a com­pact, walk­able city full of pas­sion­ate Wel­ling­to­ni­ans who love mak­ing vis­it­ors wel­come.
 
2. How do you think traffic flow to the hos­pit­al and air­port could be improved?
Short-term: Bus pri­or­ity lanes and bet­ter walk­ing and cyc­ling facil­it­ies to reduce car and bus usage.  Long-term: Light-rail
 
3. Where do you stand on the issue of open­ing up gov­ern­ment data?
Gov­ern­ment data should be released free of charge, using cre­at­ive com­mons licences, with rare excep­tions.
 
4. What plans have do you have to improve recycling/composting facil­it­ies?
We need some bottle recyc­ling drops in the inner city and around the two uni­ver­sit­ies. Should look at green waste recyc­ling options for the sub­urbs.
 
5. What is your policy on street alco­hol­ics?
We need wet houses, prob­ably in the city. I don’t sup­port liquor bans. They seem to be an ‘answer’ driv­en by the hop­sit­al­ity industry.
 
6. Do you sup­port ped­es­tri­an­isa­tion of the Golden Mile? Why/Why not?
Not exclus­ively. There needs to be some pub­lic trans­port also. We also need more cov­er along the Golden Mile to encour­age walk­ing.
 
7. What’s the last loc­al mar­ket you went to? What did you buy?
The Wil­lis St Mar­ket. Oranges (I love cit­rus).
 
8. Describe your bicycle, or your favour­ite bus route?
I walk. It’s faster than catch­ing the bus.
 
9. When did you last use the lib­rary, a com­munity centre, or a coun­cil-run sports facil­ity?
This month I’ve been to the Cent­ral Lib­rary, Aro Com­munity Centre, Brook­lyn Com­munity Centre and the new Cross­ways.
 
10. Would you wel­come a cent­ral gov­ern­ment driv­en “super-city“amalgamation of loc­al author­it­ies? If not, why not?
No. John Key let Rod­ney Hide loose on Auck­land and we saw loc­al con­cerns ignored so an unac­count­able cor­por­ate mod­el could be imposed. No thanks.
 
11. Do you think the coun­cil has a role in fos­ter­ing com­munity web­sites? If so, how?
As a min­im­um link­ing to com­munity web­sites.  Pos­sibly look at host­ing, but not if it comes with a con­trolling atti­tude
 
12. Where do you stand on water privat­isa­tion, and why?
I am opposed to water privat­isa­tion in all its guises.  The eco­nom­ics are dubi­ous and I’m con­cerned about loss of con­trol.
 
13. What city over­seas inspires your vis­ion for Wel­ling­ton? How?
DC does a great job of mix­ing cul­ture and polit­ics, but is a bit ‘imper­i­al’. Min­neapol­is for its walkab­il­ity, des­pite worse weath­er!
 
14. Is the concept of demo­crat­ic rep­res­ent­a­tion import­ant to you? How so?
Yes.  Debates about loc­al gov­ern­ment can become techo­crat­ic.  They should be about val­ues and beliefs. We need pas­sion­ate rep­res­ent­at­ives, not just skilled admin­is­trat­ors.
 
15. What do you think about com­munity gar­dens on pub­lic land?
They’re a good idea. If there’s a com­munity that’s going to put the work in the coun­cil should give them all the sup­port it can.