Harbour health key for mayoral candidate

BY MATTHEW DALLAS

The health of Porirua Harbour, the amalgamation of city services, and the revitalisation of the Porirua CBD were flagged as key challenges facing the city by mayoral aspirant Nick Leggett when he launched his campaign recently.

About 150 people packed Pataka's Helen Smith community room on May 23 to hear what hopes and plans the 30-year-old three-term city councillor and property agent held for his hometown, if handed the reins.

The words "value" and "progress" featured regularly as Mr Leggett outlined his commitment to Porirua and the issues he believed would define its future.

"My message is that you will get change and progress with my style of leadership. I don't have a pause button. You won't always agree with me, but please be assured I have a philosophy rooted deeply in the need for progress of Porirua. But, if you are looking for the mayoral candidate who is going to promise to cut 15 per cent off your rates bill, you are looking at the wrong person.

"'Cutting and slashing' never works for a local authority. Delivering outcomes smarter does, getting value for money by looking at the ways you do things and asking hard questions about changing those ways certainly does."

Although he considered the revitalisation of the city centre a strategic priority, stimulating "new enterprise, new thinking and new jobs", Mr Leggett said the onus should not fall on the ratepayer to foot the bill.

"The council and new mayor need to be the facilitator of this work, but in most cases not the doer. If this change can't fly without the market doing a significant amount of the work, the council simply can't afford to carry the can. As mayor it would be my job to create the environment for employers to invest in our city and encourage change - but that doesn't mean council and ratepayers should take a financial risk on the lion's share of what needs to be done."

Mr Leggett said the question of amalgamation (with other local body authorities) didn't scare him - he welcomed discussion and investigation into what governance structure might best serve the region.

"These discussions scare some people, naturally ... But I have to say that an arbitrary boundary on a map drawn by a boffin 50 or so years ago doesn't define my community. It's the people that do."

He said "form must follow function"; the region has to decide the best ways to deliver the functions desired by over 400,000 residents and that was no simple task. But only at the end of that process would the form begin to appear.

"The problem is that people have rushed off and started to design what it all might look like in their heads before any consideration is given to what we might need and how we can improve on what services and strategy we have now. So whether we end up as part of a larger city, or just with a greater emphasis on shared services between councils, we can't predict."

Mr Leggett said the replacement of the city's old, failing sewer pipes might not be a flashy project but there was none more critical, and the incoming mayor would have a key role in leading council and community discussions towards a replacement programme. Linked to this was the state of Porirua Harbour and its waterways, and the city needed to ensure past wrongs were not repeated.

"Housing development over the decades has been quite rightly blamed for the siltation and poor health we are now faced with. But as I flagged, because of improper connections and poor workmanship, we are faced with real problems today. I'm confident that any future development will be monitored and that the checks and balances are in place to ensure that development per se is not the cause of further damage to the jewel in our crown."

Mr Leggett also spoke at length about Porirua's poor image outside the city, and how it hindered efforts to attract visitors, new residents and businesses. He was critical of those who had adopted a "victim mentality" and encouraged the national media to accentuate the negative.

"If I am fortunate enough to be elected as mayor you won't see me jump on the 'poor us' bandwagon. I'll fight for job opportunities, better social services, better resources for our schools and hospital and housing at every opportunity. But I won't do that by just talking about what is wrong or by drawing unnecessary attention to the poverty that does exist here.

"We need to be pumping our city up in the media, not continually dragging it down with negativity."

- Kapi-Mana News