Current City councillor.

 I have approached the role of representative for Upper Hutt City’s economic, social, environmental, and cultural well-being with honesty, integrity and pride. It has been a pleasure to interact with various sectors and individuals in the community as we strive to meet the community’s needs.

 Due to the current economic climate a conservative approach has been taken with fiscal management yet Upper Hutt needs to position itself for the recovery, providing an attractive and accessible environment for new business and industry.

 As a school teacher I am heavily involved in education and leadership. In the past three years this council has supported programmes and entertainment for our youth, and this must continue. Let’s ensure our young people grow up with pride in their city and environment, and make responsible family and community based decisions, keeping Upper Hutt a great place to live.

 Local man, local loyalties, local solutions.         

Top 5 Issues

1. Robust fiscal management - using rates to meet the needs of the city while keeping increases in check.
2. Provision for youth - providing amenities and structured activities to encourage youth to develop pride and loyalty to their community.
3. CBD revitalisation - Council don't own the shops but must pressure owners, and offer incentives, to lift their game regarding the presentation of our city.
4. Make Upper Hutt attractive for business and industrial investment - create an environment that offers opportunity for a lucrative return on investment.
5. Protect our natural and social environment - this should be here for future generations. Ensure Greater Wellington Regional Council understands Upper Hutt's needs, as well as the needs of the region.

Personal Profile

I was born and raised in Upper Hutt, attending Te Marua school (which changed its name to Brown Owl School while I was there), Maidstone Internediate and Heretaunga College. Finishing school i studied at Massey University (PN) before working in the thoroughbred horse industry in the Waikato, Australia and Japan.

After 13 years out of the valley, I returned to qualify as a secondary school teacher and have been teaching Japanese language to students at Hutt international Boys' School since 1997. Other responsibilities at HIBS include developing and maintaining an Internationalisation programme from Year 7 - 13, being in charge of Overseas students and group exchanges and managing the International Service programme. I have also been involved in coaching Smallbore Rifle Shooting, Badminton, Touch Rugby and Rugby.

Having spent time outside of New Zealand I was able to see how much New Zealand, and Upper Hutt in particular, has to offer our community. Many things, however, have changed since I was a boy in Upper Hutt. The youth of today have different interests, different ways of amusing themselves, even different ways of speaking. Many of these changes have come about through global influences, what they see on TV and on the internet, and they are not always in the best interests of the family or the community. Being a school teacher I am exposed to this daily, and have an interest in seeing our youth grow up with an understading of right and wrong, and what is responsible behaviour. To this end the council has provided some very good initiatives over the past three years.

I was successfully elected as a Councillor for the first time in 2007 and have been only to happy to return something to my community. Councillors are responsible for how the money collected through rates is distributed. There are many costs involved in running and maintaining a city and its infrastructure, and not always a lot is left over to meet the wish lists of the public. Fulfilling everyone's wishes needs more money which means rates increases. This current council has worked dilligently to keep rate increases down meaning we have had to be very selective with what proposals get the green light.

The CBD has deteriorated as the global downturn has bitten. Shop owners have lost clients and with no income have not been prepared to spend money to tidy up their shops, or petrol station lots. Many of the owners don't live in Upper Hutt so don't care about their presentation. We need to continue to challenge them to clean up their act, or at least let us clean it up for them. This will however cost money.

We need to create an environment in the CBD and industrial zones to make Upper Hutt an attractive investment opportunity, a place to set up business with the opportunity of a lucrative return.

Upper Hutt City boasts beautiful scenery, hills and mountains, native and exotic forest and a river, all of which provide residents and visitors an environment to enjoy. Further development needs to be managed so as to avoid further degradation of this environment. Much of this management is out of our hands, controlled by Greater Wellington Regional Council. We need to ensure that our voice is heard and our needs are met as we are the residents who depend on this environment for our family and livelihood. We should not be dictated to or taken for granted.