Hitch-hiking mayor keen to cut bus fares

Aaron Hawkins is 35 years old, a Green Party member, vegetarian, cannot drive and often hitchhikes to work.

He is also mayor.

Hawkins, a two-term city councillor, secured the seat from a field of 14 hopefuls, taking the reins from Dave Cull who did not seek re-election.

Dunedin was one of 11 councils using a single transferable vote (STV) system, which requires voters to rank their preferred candidates.

Hawkins entered the race as a Green Party representative but said that while the local branch helped his campaign, the party did not fund it.

Next in line was independent candidate Lee Vandervis (he ran second to Cull for the mayoralty at the last election), who sent Hawkins a message of congratulations.

Hawkins, the father of 3-yearold son Emile, was at a 4-yearold’s birthday party at Chipmunks when he heard he had won the city’s top job.

Even after the news sank in, it was ‘‘quite overwhelming’’, he told The Press.

His family, including wife Anya Sinclair, 41, excited.

He is unsure if the STV system helped his romp to victory.

While the mayoral job pays

$150,000-$160,000 depending on if you take a car as part of the package, Hawkins will decline the wheels.

now

Dunedin’s artist were Dunedin’s new mayor, Aaron Hawkins, joined the cleanup of Dunedin’s student quarter yesterday.

He holds only a learner’s driving licence (which he fears may be nearly expired) and never learned to drive after he was nearly killed in a car crash about three years ago.

To get to the council chamber for work, most days he hitchhikes in, then buses home – though he thinks it is less likely he will use that mode of transport as mayor.

Hawkins names transport among the top issues the city faces, along with building more public housing, the Dunedin Hospital rebuild, cheaper bus fares and tackling climate change. He would like to bike but there

no cycleway from Port

is

Chalmers to the city, so cyclists share the road with trucks.

‘‘I honestly haven’t given my hitch-hiking career much thought ... Ultimately we need to live in a city that doesn’t require people to have to drive everywhere.

‘‘Focusing on individual action is a red herring when you need structural and systemic change.’’

Hawkins felt Dunedin had a ‘‘progressive’’ council and he wanted that to continue under his leadership.

He has been a Green Party member since 2010 and told voters to be ‘‘open about my values’’.