for Mayor of Wellington
Vote Alex Baker
Fresh thinking, future focused
I am a former Director Sustainability from Kāinga Ora and former Chartered Accountant from KPMG. I am running for Mayor of Wellington and Motukairangi/ Eastern General Ward Councillor. I bring a progressive, future-focused vision to the city’s leadership. I have a strong background in sustainability, urban development, leadership and strategic finance. My approach will be to use strong financial discipline to implement projects at council to: drive growth, sustainability, business investment, resilience and productivity; and improve the efficiency and effectiveness of Wellington City Council.
Sustainable growth. Vibrant city.
We can have a city that has high quality and affordable homes, a world class transport network, fantastic access to the outdoors and a strong business environment. This can be done in a way that is fiscally responsible. We can have a highly productive Council that has a great relationship with Wellingtonians. Our city can be vibrant, fun, sustainable and commercially successful.
Achieving this requires us to set Wellington up for sustainable growth. We need to become a city that can compete internationally for people to put down roots and for businesses to invest. This means affordability, sustainability, a thriving business environment and doubling down on our amazing access to the outdoors.
I have worked in sustainability, urban development and as a Chartered Accountant for years. I am unapologetically progressive and bring a strong background in strategy, finance and leadership. I have a track record delivering sustainability focused commercial projects, collaborative partnerships and working with mana whenua. This is the experience I will bring to Council to drive growth; improve housing, transport and environmental outcomes; and give our ratepayers the financial performance and service delivery they deserve. This is what’s needed to set Wellington up as a city that can achieve sustainable growth.
I’ve lived in Wellington for most of my life and currently live in Evans Bay with my partner and two young daughters. Like many younger people, I care deeply about the future. The way we’ve been governed in the past has led to massive environmental and social degradation. I am not seeing the bold leadership that we need and it is demoralising. I’m offering a fresh voice that challenges short-term window dressing by politicians and calls for real, systemic solutions. I want my daughters to grow up in a city that’s fairer, more sustainable and full of opportunity. Standing for Mayor and Council is a huge personal commitment and risk, but I believe those who care about the future must step up and lead the change we want to see.
My goals for the city
I have three key goals for the city and Council, which as mayor I will work with the Council and Councillors to drive progress towards:
Setting our city up for growth
Improving housing affordability by increasing housing supply where it makes the most fiscal sense to do so and building the ratepayer base to control rates increases.
Improving transport networks efficiency, effectiveness and sustainability to make it easier and cheaper for people to get around the city.
Facilitating a productive business environment by getting Council settings right to facilitate innovation, specialisation and stable costs for businesses.
Improved sustainability and resilience
Climate action that efficiently tackles Wellingtons largest source of emissions (light vehicle transport) and improves incentives for the private market to reduce energy emissions.
Enhancing our environment and building Wellington’s international reputation as a leader in conservation.
World leading earthquake risk management that gives people the ability to invest with confidence in our city.
Building a more effective Wellington City Council
That Wellingtonians trust and enjoy working with.
Who deliver services and amenity to the city at a level of cost that is acceptable to the ratepayer.
Whom continues to build effective partnerships with mana whenua and enables Māori to succeed owning their own solutions.
Which facilitates Wellington being an awesome place to live.
Key areas of focus
I see five critical areas that need focus to achieve these goals for Wellington:
Change the way Wellington sets rates and development contributions:
to encourage development in places that are good for the city and good for ratepayers. This is a fairer and more efficient way for the city to collect revenue which will support improved housing affordability, improved building quality and better controlled rates increases.
to set business rates at a sustainable and fair level.
Delivering key transport infrastructure projects, including bus priority lanes, cycle lanes and pedestrianisation improvements; and, working with the Government to progress improved transport connections to the Eastern Suburbs.
Delivering water infrastructure upgrades; ensuring security of Wellingtons water supply; and, working with the Government to get the best deal for Wellington out of Local Water Done Well.
Significantly improving Wellington’s understanding, management and resilience to earthquake risks and setting acceptable risk tolerance levels for different types of earthquake risk across the city. Given the level of risk earthquakes pose to our city we should be the best in the world at this.
Getting Council settings right to facilitate an innovative and productive commercial environment where businesses can thrive. This includes:
Fairly compensating for business disruption.
Increasing the viability of specialist businesses with a better ability to attract talent and specialist skills by making Wellington a more attractive place to live.
Resolving housing sector affordability issues so that young potential entrepreneurs can afford to take risks on innovation or honing their skills.
Vision for a city
I love my kids, family and friends and I love having fun. I want Wellington to be a place where everyone can thrive and have fun, both now and into the future. A place that is growing because people can imagine a positive future for their families here.
The Wellington I want this city to become is a great place to do business and is affordable for people to live in. It is resilient to the inevitable changes in our environment. It has great access to enchanting outdoor spaces and supports a thriving arts and cultural scene.
Wellington is at a critical juncture. We need to decide whether to move forward as a prosperous city, one that collaborates, agrees a vision for the future and makes the hard decisions needed to get there. Alternatively we become a city that stagnates, which does not grow, where costs are high and it is hard to get ahead.
It is crucial that the Mayor has sufficient knowledge, skills and experience to make decisions that will lead Wellington into a prosperous future. This is critical to support the Council with making clever tactical strategy decisions, carefully managing costs and making the right choices at the right price.
To become prosperous Wellington needs to get its settings and infrastructure right to support growth. Bold vision and sensible financial management are essential components of this. So is the ability to make mature decisions about incentives, investments, rates, council funding, public amenity and services. Council costs need to be managed, but this cannot be done in a way that increases other costs for Wellingtonians.
Our city needs a Mayor that ensures it grows smarter
Growing a city means getting conditions right so that people want to live and do business here. A city needs to get three things right to achieve this:
Good jobs that give people the ability to earn reasonable salaries and wages.
Reasonable costs that are low enough (both in terms of financial costs and commuting time) for people and businesses to be able to thrive.
Amenity that attracts you to the city - whether it’s that walk to the beach, that cafe down the road, the nightlife, the mountain bike trails or simply the ability to live in close and easy proximity to loved ones.
The current environment in Wellington is challenging because of quickly escalating costs combined with a sharp decline in peoples ability to earn. This is frustrating the city causing people to move away and businesses to stop investment.
Turning this around requires putting settings in place that attract people to our city, improve vibrancy, boost arts, culture and services industries; and drive growth.
As Mayor I will focus on setting Wellington up to grow. Therefore my priorities are focussed around housing affordability, public and active transport upgrades, conducive commercial conditions and boosting our natural and cultural environment.
My Priorities
Wellingtonians are sick of high rent low quality rentals, unaffordable house prices and extreme rates increases.
Changes need to be made to get housing costs under control by encouraging development, increasing the supply of quality housing and ensuring that rates are charged in a way that is fair and effective.
The goal of these changes would be to allow the city to grow without the Council having to invest in high cost new infrastructure. This would mean:
More homes being built in more sensible locations improving housing affordability
Increased quality housing
Reduced rates per person as the cities total costs can be spread across more people.
All of the above might encourage your friends or children to move back to Wellington.
Wellington needs transport infrastructure that makes it faster, cheaper and easier for people to move around our city.
Space is the biggest constraint to Wellington having an effective transport network. Therefore it is critical we prioritise transport networks that are space efficient - allowing more people to travel through transport corridors faster.
This means completing and improving bus priority lanes, cycle lanes and pedestrianisation upgrades to allow:
Cheaper, faster and more reliable public transport.
Safer bike and walking journeys that are more fun.
When you need to drive less congestion means you get around or across town faster.
Guaranteed emissions reductions from increased public transport use and walking and cycling.
Successful and profitable businesses are an important part of the Wellington economy. They create well paying jobs and good businesses bring prosperity to the region through investment and innovation. It is important that Wellington is a place where businesses can succeed and are able to compete on a world stage.
I can see three areas to focus on to improve business viability:
In Wellington businesses pay substantially higher rates than households. This is unsustainably high and needs to be resolved.
Disruption due to city improvement activities is a key issue for businesses. Those businesses should receive fair compensation during periods of disruption.
Growing Wellington will provide increased opportunity for businesses to access specialised resources, improving productivity.
Emissions from light vehicles are the number one source of CO2 pollution for Wellington city. Prioritising development of well located new housing, combined with active and public transport upgrades are the critical actions to reduce Wellingtons emissions.
Wellington has some amazing natural spaces and has built a global reputation in conservation. However, much of our town belt and many of our parks are riddled with weeds. Pest control efforts have not been completed and are in jeopardy. I want to ensure the council invests adequately to continue progress enhancing the natural environment that supports our city.
Effective mana whenua partnerships
As the original inhabitants of the area, Māori have unique rights and interests in Te Whanganui a Tara. These are enshrined in Te Tiriti o Waitangi. Supporting Māori to overcome historical inequities is vital for Wellington to move forward as a thriving city.
Tākai Here is the formal partnership which established a shared governance model with mana whenua. This supports Wellington getting its city settings right, to enable Māori succeeding owning their own solutions.
I will work with mana whenua representatives to understand what is working well and what isn’t and take actions to improve the results. I will take a strengths based approach to ensuring Council works in a way that enables Māori to achieve their goals.
World leading earthquake risk management
Wellington City is exposed to a significant risk from earthquakes. The way we manage this risk dictates both the consequences of an event; and, the overall prosperity of our city before and after such an event takes place.
Risk tolerance is critical here. Being too intolerant to risks, places undue costs on the city. Being too tolerant could put innocent people in harms way.
For the last few years, increasing our approach to earthquake risk management has placed real strain on Wellington city. We need to become the best city in the world at understanding and managing earthquake risks to ensure we get the balance right.
Goals for my campaign
A better Council
I want my campaign to encourage more high calibre progressive candidates to run for positions and increase voter turnout, resulting in a higher quality and more progressive Council.
A better narrative
I want to facilitate better debate and put more helpful narratives in the public forum, allowing Wellingtonians to better understand key issues and opportunities to improve our city.
A better result
I want to bring Wellingtonians together and ensure Wellington continues to make progress in a fiscally responsible way.
Spread the message
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