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.
