Highest priorities
The biggest common factor impacting Wellington right now and for the past couple decades is the total and utter failure to ensure there is affordable and safe housing for the residents of and migrants to Wellington. This is the biggest issue I would work towards if elected to council. Whatever we can do to reduce the cost and improve the safety of living in this amazing area needs to be used. Even if it means changes that some will not like. Otherwise we are choosing to kill this city.
Beyond this I want to place pressure on council and businesses to improve the access and usability of public and active transport modes. Freeing up residents of all ages to travel without dependence on friends and family will improve the culture of Wellington but also its economic strengths. These actions then lead into the major work needed to reduce our impact on the environment due to global warming. Council has a part to play in driving the changes needed to reduce our emissions and waste. Global warming is real and it is already impacting us. Our successors will be impacted even more if we do not work to address it.
All these efforts need to be investigated and executed in the context of Te Tiriti. This is an area I have ideas BUT where I need to spend time with mana whenua to understand the context better. With the aim of finding options that are beneficial to us as a whole, even where they will be uncomfortable for those that have historically benefited from our predecessors lack of ethics.
Below you will find more details on the various ideas and aims I have for our amazing area of the world. All are driven by the priorities above.
General concepts
My guiding philosophies as I run for Wellington City Council
How to achieve things with the restrictions of local government
If elections are a job application then feel free to read my CV
Authorised by James Sullivan. James@TFG.nz