7 June 2007

Labour's local body political wing signalled yesterday it will be targeting high profile issues to force change around the city council table when the election is held in October.

2021 mayoral candidate Megan Woods said one of the biggest issues on the campaigning agenda was the proposed new $100m civic offices.

The grouping had begun a series of meetings last week with experts to see what viable alternatives were available.

Yesterday 2021 released to The Star the list of its council candidates for the October election.

In the past 2021 was a strong player on the city's local body politics scene. However, at the last election in 2004 only mayor Garry Moore and councillor Anna Crighton were voted back under the 2021 ticket. The group now believes it is ready for a dominant presence on the council.

Dr Woods said, since she was announced as 2021's mayoral candidate six weeks ago, she had been talking to people at the "grass roots level" to find out what changes they wanted to see in the city.

She said feedback showed the civic offices debate would undoubtedly be an election issue.

"There is a lot of community discontent. There is a strong feeling in the community that people are not being listened to and their voices not respected or their rate payer dollar," she said.

2021 was looking at a range of options surrounding the proposed building and would go public with its preferred position soon.

"These range from sprucing up the existing building in Tuam St (pictured above) through to choosing a new location in the city or perhaps a more decentralised model, putting council back into the community by utilising land and holdings the council already has," Dr Woods said.

The civic building debate will come back to a full council meeting tomorrow, with councillors being asked to formalise a request by Vbase, the company responsible for the project, to widen its search for a new building site.

Initially the Orion site was announced as the council's preferred site, but detailed investigation revealed potentially costly and time time-consuming-issues around it.

Council corporate services manager Roy Baker said councillors were being asked to accept a recommendation to widen the site search within the central city by shifting the western boundary from the Avon River to Rolleston Ave.

Vbase was also being asked to look at the feasibility of including a new bus exchange as part of the development. He said the Orion site would still be considered

Dr Woods said the public felt they had not been given an opportunity to have a say about the development.

"The election will be the time when the community do feel they have a chance," she said.

Dr Woods said if she became mayor, she was prepared to overturn earlier council decisions to do with the proposed civic offices if the public believed they were the wrong ones.

"As long as it is not going to cost a lot of money. If it is going to be hugely costly, we need to take that into account. This is the people's money and it needs to be managed responsibly. I don't think people buy the line this is going to be rates neutral. If you borrow money you have to pay it back eventually."

# 2021 candidates standing for councillor positions: Faimeh Burke (Fendalton-Waimari), -Glenn Livingstone (Fendalton-Waimairi); -Paul De Spa (Spreydon-Heathcote), -Karolin Potter (Spreydon-Heathcote); -Darel Hall (Shirley-Papanui), -Matt Morris (Shirley-Papanui); -Yani Johanson (Hagley-Ferrymead), -Linda Rutland (Hagley-Ferrymead); -Tony Milne (Riccarton-Wigram), -Mike Mora (Riccarton-Wigram); -Chrissie Williams (Burwood-Pegasus); -Megan Woods (mayoral candidate).

For further comment contact:
Megan Woods - 2021 Candidate for Mayor
Mobile: 027 669 0457
Email: megan@megan4mayor.com