Minto for Mayor Campaign Launch

For a people’s Christchurch rather than a corporate Christchurch – decisions by us, for us, made here!

This launch is different from any other candidate launch here in Christchurch because here we are focusing on policy – with a capital P.

If you look around Christchurch today you will see plenty of billboards for candidates but none of them have any policy – just air-brushed pictures with worthy statements like “for a brighter future” (where have we heard that before?)

Our campaign is different – no kissing babies, no feel-good empty promises. And after the election (if we win) no retracting policies because we’ve opened the books and have to follow what big business wants instead.

Democratic debate should always be about the big ideas a candidate puts up. So here are the big, bold ideas that Keep Our Assets Canterbury is putting forward to Christchurch voters.

1. Free public transport
With free public transport every Christchurch resident is a winner.

It will make Christchurch a less congested city, a more equal city, provide an economic stimulus, save ratepayer and taxpayer money and give a big boost to our environment.

It’s a policy which ticks all the boxes.

A. Will it reduce congestion?

Yes. Free public transport would get cars off the road and traffic moving more smoothly and quickly. Even a person who never sets foot on a bus will enjoy the benefit because they can drive on congestion-free roads.

On the other hand the big motorway improvements underway will NOT reduce congestion. No city anywhere in the world has ever tarsealed its way out of traffic congestion.

Don’t take my word for it. Jim Harland, Southern Regional Director of Transit New Zealand says of the Northern corridor –

“Nothing will solve congestion because in the peak hours, particularly peak morning, there are just so many vehicles trying to get into the city and that will always be the case.”

Free buses WILL reduce congestion so residents can spend another half hour – more for some – at home with their families each day rather than in bumper to bumper traffic.

Up to Rangiora, out to Darfield and around to Rolleston – free bus services with modern, efficient, comfortable buses with free wifi – that’s what this policy means. If Invercargill can put free wifi in its buses then why can’t Christchurch?

B. How would it make Christchurch a more equal, less divided city?

The mayor of Tallin, capital of Estonia, where they have free public transport says it’s like the 13th monthly salary for workers. The money residents save on fares will be spent in the real economy – in other words free public transport provides a stimulus to the local economy rather than feeding the profits of multi-national oil companies.

C. So why does the government persist with tarseal when it can’t deliver?

The simple reason is that motorists are being used as the excuse for the government providing massive state subsidies to the trucking industry – that’s what the National government’s “roads of national significance” are all about. One single eight-tonne axle (and a big truck may have several of these) does as much damage to a road as 10,000 cars! Taxpayers and ratepayers are paying the price to keep big trucks on the road.

D. So what would free buses (and trains and trams eventually) cost?

ECAN collects around $20 million in fares each year so that’s the initial cost – less than the cost of a single km of refurbished road.

What do these “roads of national significance” cost in Christchurch?

Northern arterial – $235million, 7km long. Cost per km = $33million

Western Corridor – $350 million in 5 sections

Southern Corridor – state 1 $100 million – stage 2 $230 million

So for the Northern Corridor we are paying $33 million per km for a road that will NOT improve traffic congestion. How stupid is that?

In practice the policy means we want the money allocated to Christchurch for transport to have a greater proportion going to public transport and a lower proportion to new roads which won’t be needed in the short or medium term. They can be rescheduled into the future.

E. How will it benefit the environment?

67% of Christchurch greenhouse gas emissions come from cars and trucks – we can make a significant dent in that with free public transport.

F. It’s a win, win, win policy – as I said it ticks all the boxes – saves taxpayer and ratepayer money, reduces congestion, stimulates the local economy, creates a more equal city, reduces impact on the environment.

G. Let’s get free public transport in place – NOW! At this election!

So what are the other five Minto For Mayor policies?

2. 1000 extra council houses over three years.

This is a very modest target – modest because we prefer to under-promise and over-deliver rather than the other way round.

Christchurch has
· a desperate housing shortage

· widespread homelessness

· high rents

· lots of low quality, expensive rental housing

Increasing housing supply will begin to deal with homelessness and family housing struggles by providing more affordable, warm, dry homes. The council can do this cheaper than the private sector using council land and economies of scale to reduce the cost of building.

3. Swimmable rivers

It’s utterly unacceptable our rivers are to be “wadeable” rather than swimmable. The Canterbury plains are our backyard – where we swim, fish, camp and tramp.
We must demand swimmable rivers for our children and grandchildren – and the council must work hard to achieve this – initially through the three local zone committees which include parts of Christchurch – but we need to drive change further out on the Canterbury plains as well.

As a region we must cease unsustainable farming practices on the Canterbury plains. This depletes our groundwater, reduces flow and even dries up rivers while polluting what’s left to trickle to the coast. Our democratically elected ECAN was trashed by the government in favour of an irrigators-come-first dictatorship. And what a hash they’ve made of it.

There are no two ways about it – the big irrigators out on the Canterbury plains have to go!

4. Living wage

Our policy is the living wage ($19.80 per hour) as the minimum for all council employees and those employed to do council work. This will be paid for by managing down salaries of senior management positions at the council and Council-controlled organisations. A maximum salary of $160,000 will be established for the CEO and the mayor – a cut in salary of around $24,300 for Mayor Minto!
It’s simple and fair.

(Note: the Mayor currently receives $184,300 and the CEO $395,000 while approximately 317 staff are being paid over $100,000 and 11 paid over $200,000. This policy would set the Mayor and CEO salaries at $160,000 with salary scales for senior management adjusted accordingly over time)

5. End corporate control of the Christchurch rebuild

Isn’t it sickening to see week after week big businesses fighting each other over who will get the lion’s share of the profits from the rebuild?

They are brawling over where hotels will be built and scrapping over who will dominate the retail sector. It’s embarrassing to have the people’s representatives – the mayor and council – sitting on the sidelines nervously twiddling their thumbs.

Meanwhile the city centre remains an urban wasteland more than five years since the big quakes.

It’s our city centre – not a corporate sandpit!

Minto for Mayor will:
· Put in place steep increases in rates on undeveloped land in the CBD

· Create a “local zone” in the rebuilt city centre for local Canterbury businesses and co-operatives to showcase their products and services
We want a people-focused city rather than a corporate-focused city.

6. Keep our assets

This is the headline policy for the campaign – I’m standing as a Keep Our Assets Canterbury candidate.

The current mayor and seven other councilors have voted for asset sales – a failed policy straight out of the 1980s. Recently they abandoned the sale of City Care which they intended to sell by mid-year because they feared a backlash at this election.

However this is only a 10 week reprieve. If the same people are elected again then asset sales will be back on the agenda led by the current mayor.

The only way to get asset sales off the agenda is to elect Minto for Mayor.

Let’s not overlook our most precious local asset – democracy!

 

Democracy in Christchurch has taken several heavy body blows in recent years beginning with the sacking of ECAN by National and then the “shock doctrine” delivered by the government to mould the city to the explicit wishes of big business and sideline the priorities of Christchurch residents.

Share an idea (over 100,000 local people did!) was thrust aside in favour of a corporate controlled city.

At the heart of this election is the key question – do we want a corporate Christchurch or do we want a people’s Christchurch?

The current mayor is the corporate choice for mayor. She has been endorsed by the Chamber of Commerce, the big developers and even Gerry Brownlee who was recently effusive in his praise of the council. The reason? Brownlee has the mayor and council exactly where he wants them – under his thumb.

I look forward to seeing the policies the mayor will fight this election on. I’m not aware Ms Dalziel has put up any policies yet but I hope she does because this election should be about policy. We look forward to that debate.

And just to be absolutely clear – subservience to Gerry Brownlee is NOT our policy.

I’m not personally ambitious to be mayor but I’m hugely ambitious for the policies we are putting forward this election.

We don’t have lots of money – we will spend about a quarter of what the current mayor will spend – and our success at this election will depend on how many people can give time and energy to help with the tasks of leafleting, putting up billboards and helping organize meetings etc.

There‘s a role for everyone – don’t leave without one!

Vote for a people’s Christchurch and a return to democracy – vote Minto for Mayor.