- Economic growth and prosperity. Wellington has to retain its talent and attract more to stimulate investment and job growth
- Providing efficient and value for money council services. Making the city safe, attractive, and amendable to all its citzens is very basic stuff.
- More artificial pitches on council playing fields. This needs to come higher up the council's spending priorities.
- Review the parking policies to curb overzealous parking wardens.
- Build more infrastructure and better transport systems including making cycling safer.
- Water privatisation
- Buildings on the Waterfront
- The threat of Wellington becoming a supercity
- Poor traffic planning
- Support for community centres
- BUSINESS...
Over 80% of businesses in Wellington are small or medium sized. We need clearly defined incentives to ensure they can operate and develop successfully.
To achieve this we should have successful business people at council level to help create and implement effective and exciting incentives. - TOURISM...
Council needs to ensure Wellington continues to develop as a destination for domestic and international tourists.
We must continue to stimulate tourism growth and be known as THE "centre" of New Zealand – not just at Sevens Weekend. - PERSONAL RESPONSIBILITY...
People need to be responsible for their own actions. The majority of Wellingtonians DO NOT break the law and should not be burdened with by laws by the thousands that are developed to stop the few that continually offend! Reward the many that are reasonable and responsible and develop hard hitting penalties for regular offenders. - GROW SMARTER...
As more responsibility is shifted from central government to councils, we need strategic and financially smart approaches to the growth of our city. This needs business experience at council level to ensure strategies are smart, cost effective and GOOD FOR ALL WELLINGTONIANS.
This is not about just the next five years; this is about our kids' futures. This includes transport, technology and developing real reasons for business to do business, live and play in Wellington. - RATES & FISCAL RESPONSIBILITY...
To manage a business you need to make sure all the dollars are used in the most efficient way. How can this occur without a council with business and financial management experience.
Most candidates will use rates as a platform for election, but how many have ANY experience in good financial management? With several long term successful business ventures in Wellington employing over 100 staff, I can offer this experience and help make sure we spend our money wisely.
- INVEST IN INFRASTRUCTURE TO SUPPORT POPULATION GROWTH
We favoured citizens of the Lambton Ward are virtually within the inner border of the Town Belt which was established by the early settlers in 1840. We will need a continuous upgrading of existing services such as roading, drainage, tunnels, cycle tracks, lighting, increased reserve areas with much artificial turfing - and why - because inevitably and happily the population of our ward will increase dramatically within 20 years, as it has over the past 20. - SUPPORT BUSINESS GROWTH
Lambton Ward will accommodate an increasing number of businesses, mainly in the lobbying and IT categories and we should this city to continue to expand in these fields in the CBD section of our Ward. - ENSURE WATERFRONT ACCESSIBILITY
Our Ward adjoins th waterfront with Wellington Harbour. We should ensure that junctions remains accessible, unexploited with buildings near the inner harbour. Hopefully CentrePort Wellington will desist from exploiting its land with multi-storied office buildings to the detriment of the CBD. That policy is the alienation of working and container areas which will be required if CentrePort fulfills its real purpose and builds the port into an attractive and greatly increased maritime import/export centre. - ENCOURAGE EDUCATION INDUSTRY GROWTH
About the only industry left in Dunedin is the University. That does not apply in Wellington. Yet education is a growing industry here, particularly in the Lambton Ward. The expansion of Victoria University into the CBD is to be applauded. What a goat Canterbury University was to uproot itself from the City and rebuild in Ilam miles away. The Wellington City Council does well to encourage Victoria University and Massey University into the City. - ADVOCATE INFORMATION TRANSPARENCY
It should be made abundantly clear to citizens and WCC employees what policies the Council initiates and determines, and what costs or savings flow from such changes. Information about costs and salaries of elected persons and staff should also be readily available to interested persons.
I am also hopeful that Councillors, newly elected and re-elected, will act in groups, constructively and without rancour, and with a lessening of individual agendas to reach positive recommendations.
- Bringing back the buzz
Wellington is a great city to live in and Lambton is the vibrant heart of the city. In the last four or five years the sense of excitement around Wellington has started to wane. The most obvious example of this is the loss of the Cuba Street Carnival. The Carnival was not only a fantastic asset in itself, it was an embodiment of the excitement, fun and diversity of Wellington. It is almost unbelievable that the Council could allow the Carnival to jeopardised. We must bring it back. We also need to make sure that the other fairs and festivals around the city are supported. But the Carnival should not be set against these fairs and festivals. It's not either or. We need all of them. Let's have a council that sees a sense of excitement as an community asset and key part of our brand and strives to protect it. Supporting our Carnival along with the other fairs and festivals needs to be given higher priority than sister city visits and some of the other low quality spend we’ve seen in recent years. If elected I'll make sure this happens. - Protecting the community assets we have and building the ones we need
The assets owned by the council belong to the Wellington community. I will oppose sale of our assets and privatisation of our water. But it's not enough just to stop the sale of assets. We need to build more community assets to make sure the needs of Wellington's diverse communities are met. Our inner city lacks good facilities for young families – especially mothers and young children. We also need to look seriously at more all weather pitches for kids to play soccer and rugby in our wet winters. This is not just a council responsibility – we need the codes to partner with us. But the council should show leadership. The Brooklyn and Wadestown (used by Thorndon residents) Libraries need to be protected. The move to designate them “Resource Centres” puts their future at risk. Libraries are important community centres. I will fight to protect our libraries. - Promoting walking and cycling
Those of us who live and work in Lambton should be able to walk around our city safe from cars and, as much as possible sheltered from the elements. We need more covered walking zones on the major walking routes. In the lead up to the Rugby World Cup next year we need a safe and dry walking route from Courtney place to the stadium. On Council I would push for walking to be seen as a major part of the transport portfolio. I also find it amazing that as more and more Wellingtonians cycle, both for transport and for recreation, the Council seem to have done little to make cycling safer, for cyclists and motorists, in the Lambton ward. - Openness and Transparency
We need to bring more openess and transparency in our council. It's not enough just to make information available to those who request it. Information about council operations should be accessible for all Wellingtonians. We should take advantage of changes in technology. Meetings of council and committees should be webcast live and archived so Wellingtonians can see what is happening and how decisions are made. There are wonderful examples of open local governments internationally. We need to catch up with them. We also need to be more transparent about Councillor attendance and total Councillor remuneration for all their Council activities. This information should be readily available to all. Another aspect of openness that the Council needs to consider is use of opensource software. We have some great opensource developers our city. We should look at how we can save costs and support our own businesses. - Sweating the small stuff
We need a Council with a vision, but it also needs to sweat the small stuff. We need to improve our rubbish and recycling systems. Our beautiful city, especially the inner city, is too often marred by rubbish. The recycling system doesn't work for those in the inner city. We need a better approach. We need to recognise that it rains in our city and make sure that our storm water systems are up to scratch. Our footpaths need to be walkable. It’s great to have a strong vision, but it’s the small stuff that we notice day to day and I want to be part of a Council that does sweat the small stuff.
- Listening: A council that listens to all the communities it’s suppose to represent - not just a few. 74% of 722 submissions opposed the Manners mall redevelopment and council ignored them. Johnsonville's medium density housing proposal is a more recent example. Do we need another example, after this election? It's time council heard you. Vote for change.
- Water: Improving our water supply to avoid implementation of meters and charging. We can't afford any more inaction. Time is running out and water police is not the answer. We require investment in infrastructure to fix leakage and encourage grey water use. Once we have fixed our water supply, then we can invest in transport. Its about priorities.
- Sensible spending: No more $11 million Manners Mall debacles. Our debt of $280 million has been wasted on unnecessary expenditure and its projected to climb substantially after the leaky homes bail out. We can't afford to continue to waste anymore. Lets spend our money where it is needed (like water, sports fields, libraries, and infrastructure). Selling assets, adopting new debt raising techniques, or increasing rates is not the answer to our debt problem, unless we want to burden our children with our excesses.
- Our environment: We need to protect our waterfront and the Basin reserve. Lets repeal Variation 11 and start again with some collaborate dialogue. I do not believe council should allow the development of taller buildings on the waterfront edge without open consultation. The Basin reserve redevelopment has the potential to be a real scar on our landscape. We need to ensure any roading development around the basin is sympathetic to its environment and provides a higher level of safety for schools nearby, while improving traffic flow for public transport.
- Youth engagement: We need council policies for youth that provide positive outcomes, not bans that will get them into trouble with the law. Our council needs to invest in our libraries and be pro-active in assisting local clubs to grow their memberships. Council need to be actively collaborating and supporting local clubs to enable them to be attractive options for our youth. We need to develop activity based social inclusion programs for our youth (and their families). Steering kids away from crime, graffiti,and alcohol misuse.
- AFFORDABLE WELLINGTON: for ratepayers, community groups and businesses.
- VIBRANT WELLINGTON: for good jobs, good services and good fun.
- ACCESSIBLE WELLINGTON: for pedestrians, cyclists, motorists and public transport users.
- RESPECTED WELLINGTON: for residents free from rubbish, graffiti and antisocial behaviour.
- EFFECTIVELY MANAGE POPULATION GROWTH IN THE INNER CITY
- Smart transport solutions
Wellington is a perfect plan for light rail given its compact size and strong public transport spine. With its higher carrying capacity, light rail is a much better alternative to building more expensive and economically inefficient roads such as the Basin Reserve flyover. We must also invest more in walking and cycling.
- Protecting our heritage – now and forever
I have worked hard to protect the waterfront, city’s green space and our heritage buildings over the last three years but think we need to do more. I oppose the construction of more buildings on the waterfront and think we need to provide more protection to our heritage buildings through stricter District Plan rules and by providing more incentives to building owners. Creating more green space in the inner city is also a priority for me. - Greening the economy
If we are to meet our sustainability goals, we must also prioritise greening our economy. We need a plan on how to do this and we also need to assist business to be sustainable. From encouraging businesses to use water more efficiently to incentivising people to produce less waste, there are many things that we can do to achieve our sustainability goals whilst saving people money. - Keeping Council honest about our greenhouse gas targets
The Council has made a significant commitment to reducing our greenhouse gas emissions by 80% over the next forty years. I strongly support this goal, but believe that we have a long way to go before we reach this target. We must stop committing to expensive roads and invest in light rail, buses, walking and cycling and provide incentives for people to green their buildings and to reduce their waste amongst other initiatives. - Putting Lambton first
I have worked hard for the Lambton Ward as a first term councillor but there remains much to be done. From continuing to find resources in Kelburn for community space to a heritage audit in Mt Victoria to ensuring the community’s interests are protected in Mt Cook over roading issues, my priority is to continue to advocate for this ward – the best part of the city.
- Development of Pipitea and the rail yards. It took decades of battling to put in place a half decent framework for the Waterfront, but there is no such framework or master plan guiding the development of Pipitea and the rail yards further north. This will be Wellington's biggest area of completely new developments over the next few decades. The recent completion of a hideous office park here (Harbour Quays) has already put us behind the ball. Without quick action from the Council to put in place a proper long term master plan, we will lose our only opportunity for a well considered expansion of the city, and we won't like the mess of cheap big box retail and office park buildings we will end up with.
- The abysmal planning of State Highway 1. The lack of a proper long term plan has left us with the flawed Inner City Bypass and now threatens to give us a flyover at the Basin Reserve. These very expensive "improvements" offer negligible benefits, and the ad-hoc planning of this route is building us into a corner, from where we will never be able to realise the end goal that most Wellingtonians want: a tunnel under Te Aro. We need to be less compromising with Central Government and NZTA, and present an proper long term plan for State Highway 1 in the city.
- Public transport and cycling. Public transport is congested. We have over 250 busses, each carrying 50 passengers, all trying to traverse our Golden Mile during peak hour, and amazingly they’re forced to fight for space with single occupant cars. It is going to get much worse in the decades to come as we need to triple the capacity of our public transport system in response to growth. This leaves only one choice: Light Rail. We need to recognise this and properly plan for it so that when money is spent on projects like Manners Mall it is ready for the future. But our Council is refusing to see beyond just what's happening today when it comes to transport. And how is it that our Council finds it so easy to run roughshod over public feedback and spend $11 million on a major reconstruction of Manners Mall, but it's too scared to simply close Courtenay Place to cars during peak hours for 1/100th the cost (some measly paint and a few signs)? Regarding cycling, it's a no brainer. You simply shouldn't have to risk your life to ride a bike in Wellington. We need to make cycling safer and more attractive.
- Quality of developments. It's far too rare that I hear someone praising the quality our new buildings (particularly apartments). Why do we think that's acceptable? Why aren't we being bolder about raising standards? These buildings have a long lifespan, they will be with us for over half a century, and with the massive intensification coming to our city there are a lot of them to come. Let's recognise the critical role the built environment has in our quality of life and be bolder about requiring world class buildings.
- Planning for growth. Wellington City is set to absorb the majority of the region's growth as people come to enjoy our wonderful urban living, with over 100,000 new residents by 2050 under medium projections, and possibly twice that depending on how successful our city becomes.* But our city won't continue to be a great place to live if we fail to recognise and properly plan for all of these new residents. We need to decide on population targets, where we will house them, and then properly plan our infrastructure to suit. The reality is some land needs to be purchased as it becomes available (and before it is built on) so that we can widen some roads, build new lanes, parks, playgrounds, and squares, etc. Our already congested public transport will have to find a way to triple its capacity along the growth spine. Our water and waste infrastructure will need to be sized to cope. And so on.
* Some predict considerably more under scenarios where climate change brings about a large influx of migrants.
