We offered to pub­lish the answers from any can­did­ates in the loc­al body elec­tions and Simon Marsh 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?
It’s a city with a beat­ing heart and good people. You’ll love WOW, The Sev­ens, Te Papa, City Gal­lery, shop­ping and busi­ness oppor­tun­it­ies.

2. How do you think traffic flow to the hos­pit­al and air­port could be improved?
Safer cyc­ling routes, wider roads, con­veni­ent and reli­able pub­lic trans­port, pro­gress on Basin Reserve/Mt Vic bot­tle­neck.

3. Where do you stand on the issue of open­ing up gov­ern­ment data?
All data? We com­pete in a glob­al mar­ket, why tell the world our plans before we imple­ment them.

4. What plans have do you have to improve recycling/composting facil­it­ies?
Roll on house­hold recyc­ling wheel­ib­ins. Offer each house­hold one annu­al free dump pass for green waste only.

5. What is your policy on street alco­hol­ics?
Sup­port the Sal­va­tion Army and oth­ers that have the skill but few funds to help.

6. Do you sup­port ped­es­tri­an­isa­tion of the Golden Mile? Why/Why not?
No, it’s imprac­tic­al for an age­ing pop­u­la­tion and also will incur major flow prob­lems with pub­lic trans­port on the adja­cent roads.

7. What’s the last loc­al mar­ket you went to? What did you buy?
Chaf­fers, Broc­coli.

8. Describe your bicycle, or your favour­ite bus route?
Two wheels, grey and No 11.

9. When did you last use the lib­rary, a com­munity centre, or a coun­cil-run sports facil­ity?
Tues­day.

10. Would you wel­come a cent­ral gov­ern­ment driv­en “super-city” amal­gam­a­tion of loc­al author­it­ies? If not, why not?
No, how­ever I do believe there is duplic­a­tion of ser­vices across the region that could save money.

11. Do you think the coun­cil has a role in fos­ter­ing com­munity web­sites? If so, how?
“Com­munity Web­sites” needs defin­ing. “Yes” as part of coun­cils com­munity respons­ib­il­it­ies. Through free inter­net and provid­ing a site design tem­plate or setup assist­ance.

12. Where do you stand on water privat­isa­tion, and why?
Water is vital to our exist­ence, we do not need to sell off what will become an increas­ingly valu­able resource.

13. What city over­seas inspires your vis­ion for Wel­ling­ton? How?
Many, each with a magic ingredi­ent. Mel­bourne, art and events, Sydney tun­nels that whisk you from air­port to the city.

14. Is the concept of demo­crat­ic rep­res­ent­a­tion import­ant to you? How so?
Yes, if you want to have your say. That being the case don’t whine if you can’t be bothered vot­ing.

15. What do you think about com­muunity gar­dens on pub­lic land?
If the coun­cil provides the land and they are run and fun­ded by a users co-oper­at­ive.