Candidates in dress-sense clash

MURRAY WILSON/Manawatu Standard

THE LINE-UP: Palmerston North mayoral candidates, Mark Bell-Booth, Grant Seton, Leighton Haar, Jono Naylor, Arshad Chatha and Russell Johnson.

Mayoral candidates Mark Bell-Booth and Jono Naylor clashed over lack of vigour on Broadway Ave, Palmerston North's traditional main shopping street, at yesterday's mayoral debate.

However, there were few other highlights from a debate that failed to excite the public.

Fewer than 40 people turned up to the council-hosted mayoral debate, held at noon in the city's Convention Centre.

At the forum, Mr Bell-Booth argued the city council should stop being "disinterested" in Broadway.

"We need a business strategy. We need to deal with the Farmers building," he said.

The Farmers shop was a major drawcard for Broadway before it moved to The Plaza this year. Mr Bell-Booth is pushing for a Hall of Fame for the region to go into the vacated Broadway building to celebrate the region's rural heritage.

Incumbent mayor Mr Naylor defended the council's record on Broadway, saying it provided quality infrastructure there.

"We've done incredibly well to keep our central business district vibrant," he said.

Mr Naylor said Farmers had been looking to shift from its Broadway site anyway, so a move could have happened with or without The Plaza redevelopment.

The Plaza attracted mostly new stores to the city and the retail scene still had "room for everybody".

Mr Bell-Booth has made Broadway's plight a central plank of his campaign. He said the council should have used some of the development contribution it received from The Plaza owner, Kiwi Income Property Trust, to help Broadway.

Mr Naylor said the council had reduced parking fees in the street.

Meanwhile, Arshad Chatha appeared to attack the dress standard of another mayoral candidate, Naked Pie Man Leighton Haar, who was bare-chested in a mayoral go-kart race last week.

He highlighted Mr Haar's lack of clothing in the race.

Mr Chatha, who wore sunglasses while he spoke, said he would "discourage immoralities and injustices in our society". He said afterwards he had worn sunglasses because someone had told him they looked good and they matched his suit.

Mr Haar, wearing shorts and a jacket, noted that Mr Chatha's comment about dress standards seemed aimed at him. Mr Haar said the real issue was a lack of promotion for Manawatu's tourism activities and that he aimed to spark life into a "dying" city. He called for free parking, saying "we need to welcome people back into our city again".

Grant Seton said the council's past spending was "catching up with us".

Russell Johnson said he favoured electing councillors through city-wide voting, instead of electing them from five separate wards.

- © Fairfax NZ News