Candidates talk housing and crime

• Published date: 29 September 2022

He is happy with both Palmerston North and Palmy. Asked which party he would be with were he to run for Parliament, Butt replied: “I am running for the council.”

The biggest issue facing Palmerston North is the wastewater treatment plant — “trying to get the best possible available options”.

Ways to encourage people to stop using their cars for short trips are quality and frequent public transport, and safe and pleasant footpaths.

Butt says he loves community service. “I am also a trained forester and environmentalist, a businessman and employer. [I] have supervised a large number of staff, [and] have experience in managing smaller as well as multimillion-dollar budgets.”

Mike Clement’s favourite music genre is rock, and the favourite meal he cooks for himself is steak.

Asked if he prefers Palmerston North or Palmy, he replied it “depends on who I’m talking to”.

Asked which party he would be with if he were running for Parliament, Clement said “none of them”.

The biggest issue facing Palmerston North is rates, and he would like a cap on how much rates increase. The council needs to stick to its budget and “not just treat the ratepayers as a piggy-bank”.

The solution to crime is “giving people hope”. People don’t see a future, gangs are another issue, and “we don’t actually give people consequences for their actions anymore. We need to work on all three of those things, and there’s probably a whole bunch of things beyond that as well.”

Clement has spent the past 18 years working in logistics and operations management, most of that time leading and building teams. He is standing on three platforms — accountability, fiscal responsibility and rates reform; “The three things that I think our council needs to do better”.

Lorna Johnson loves the No. 1 Ladies’ Detective Agency series by Alexander McCall Smith, and her favourite music genre is punk.

She prefers Palmy, and if she was running for Parliament, she says she would be with Labour.

The biggest issue facing Palmerston North is housing — both availability and affordability.

“We’re fast tracking the rezoning required to free up land for development, developing council...