Chch mayoral candidate Park says time for city to move forward
Christchurch mayoralty challenger Darryll Park believes residents are desperate for change in the city’s local politics – and that he is the man to oust Lianne Dalziel from the city’s top job.
The businessman, who owns a string of central city bars and is on the Crusaders rugby board, launched a campaign yesterday founded on zero rates increases, improving infrastructure and making Christchurch the ‘‘safest city in New Zealand’’.
He is one of 13 candidates for the top job.
Park believes the city has been ‘‘stagnating’’ and that people’s lives have been eroded by ‘‘indecision, bureaucracy and apathy".
Promising to improve infrastructure, use of public transport and opportunities for businesses to help grow the city, he said: ‘‘It’s time the people of Christchurch had someone to trust again, someone who understands what they want.’’
He and the other candidates face a major battle if they are to oust incumbent mayor Dalziel, who won by a landslide of 62,000 votes in 2016 and a similar margin three years earlier.
But despite having no previous political experience, Park believed he had enough support to mount a serious challenge, having spent the past three weeks visiting businesses and communities where he had seen ‘‘widespread dissent’’.
‘‘I wouldn’t be here in the race if it wasn’t for people saying they’ve had enough, they want more to happen and they’re not happy with their lot.’’
The sale of Christchurch’s major council-owned assets is likely to be a key point of contention during the election campaign and Park said he was not favouring asset sales ‘‘at this point in time’’.
‘‘I believe we need to understand the assets, what their valuation is, and what it means to the city if we hold on to them or if we don’t.’’
A married father of two – his wife, Susie, is a former athlete who represented New Zealand in the Commonwealth Games – Park has a business background stretching back decades.
He was chief executive of Christchurch and Canterbury Marketing until 2002, co-owns restaurants Fat Eddies, Original Sin and Kong, was a board member of the Civil Aviation Authority and has been on the board of Canterbury RFU for more than 20 years.
If elected, he vowed to ‘‘open the books’’ and carry out a full financial review of the council’s expenditure to turn around the ‘‘almost recessionary statistics, economically’’.
He also pledged to set up a multi-agency taskforce to tackle crime and turn the city around from being the ‘‘youth drugs capital of New Zealand’’.
Christchurch should also be the destination of choice for business and tourism, he said, laying out a vision of the city being the ‘‘convention capital of New Zealand’’.
Park said he would also strive to ensure roads and infrastructure are ‘‘fit for purpose’’ and that housing was affordable and realistic.
Describing himself as an ‘‘apolitical’’ person whose politics lie neither to the left nor right, he said he had a simple message for Christchurch’s residents: ‘‘It’s been eight and a half years since the earthquakes, it’s time for change.’’