There’s a new local-body political ticket in east Auckland and it’s standing a swath of fresh faces at this year’s Auckland Council elections.
Howick Local Board member Bo Burns is campaigning for re-election to the board as well as for a seat on the council’s governing body at the elections to be held in October.
Burns is also the organiser of the popular annual Howick Santa Parade.
She’s standing on a ticket alongside current Howick ward councillor Paul Young with the slogan “Moving forwards, not backwards”.
Their platform includes improving community safety, keeping rates realistic, delivering reliable public transport, and supporting business recovery and tourism.
They also plan to challenge the effects of intensification, increase funding to address coastal erosion, reserves and community facilities; increase initiatives for climate change and sustainability; and urgent rectification of the city’s aging services and infrastructure.
“We won’t just listen, we’ll take action for the community,” Burns says.
“We’ll build strong relationships with other councillors, council organisations, stakeholders and the local board.
“Paul and I are community-driven people and we do a lot for our respective communities.
“We aren’t career politicians and we’re coming in with a fresh approach. We are the team people can trust.”
Burns says her and Young’s business experience give them strengths around planning, strategy, execution and accountability.
As well as serving as one of the Howick ward’s two councillors, Young was until recently a member of the Counties Manukau District Health Board.
He’s pushed for projects such as the Eastern Busway to be built on time and opposed the council’s proposed sale of local public reserves.
Young says it’s important the community moves forward in a positive way.
“The relationship between our local councillors and the board needs to improve.
“When we focus on our community we can make a difference.”
Young says major infrastructure projects in other parts of the city have been completed on time while in east Auckland “for the last 30 years nothing has really changed”.
“Bo and I as councillors will not oppose something without offering a solution.
“East Auckland needs changing and it needs new blood.”
Burns and Young are working with a group of candidates contesting seats on the board in the three subdivisions of Howick, Pakuranga and Botany and she says all of them are focused on properly representing east Auckland.
Standing alongside Burns for a board seat in the Howick subdivision are its current chairperson Adele White and deputy chair John Spiller.
Campaigning in the Botany subdivision are board member Peter Young and newcomers Judith Grant and Ajay Bal.
Grant is a long-time Botany local with 30 years’ experience in business, while Bal is a manufacturing and retail owner and a licensed immigration advisor.
Contesting board seats in the Pakuranga subdivision are new candidates Nichola Painter and Vinson Yu.
Painter is a former Howick Local Board advisor with 13 years of local government experience.
Yu is a Justice of the Peace, a community engagement and recreation co-ordinator, and a Howick and Districts Historical Society board member.
The council elections are being held on October 8.
For more information or to enrol to vote go online to www.voteauckland.co.nz.
- The Times invites people standing for the Howick Local Board to email us a 200-300 word candidate statement about their background and why they’re standing, along with a high resolution digital photo of at least 1Mb file size of themselves. Email the statement and photo to chrish@times.co.nz
