Vote City Vision: a vision for the City Centre

Green space at Britomart in the heart of the City Centre

Our City Centre is a world-class place in the making and City Vision are the team who can help it fulfil its potential. Your vote could be the difference between progress, or stagnation.

Home to almost 40,000 residents, and the economic heart of New Zealand, the City Centre is a place of continual change. Transformational projects like the City Rail Link are bringing us into the 21st Century, and gorgeous green glow-ups, like Quay Street and Te Hā Noa/ Victoria Street Linear Park, create spaces where people can come together and businesses can prosper.

But it also has challenges, including difficult economic conditions, housing issues, air and noise pollution, feelings of safety, transport problems, or loneliness if residents are unable to connect with their neighbours. City Vision understands these issues, because we experience them, too. That’s why we’re so committed to enabling the many opportunities and benefits of urban living - because we love the City Centre, its vibrancy, diversity, and potential. 

Patrick Reynolds, our Councillor candidate for Waitematā and Gulf, has, through his role as Deputy Chair of the City Centre Advisory Panel, ardently pushed for better public transport and cycleways, as well as wonderful public spaces like Te Komititanga and Te Hā Noa Victoria Street Linear Park. Current local board members Alex Bonham and Anahera Rawiri have also been champions for transport solutions and great public spaces. They’ve also been effective advocates for noise compliance for night works and street performers, proper emergency management processes for the City Centre, and developing the City Centre Community Safety Plan.

We have a great team of candidates who are already working to improve our central city. . Caitlin Wilson works at City Mission and is deeply involved in youth advocacy and housing. Peter Elliott is a champion for the arts sector. Theo van de Klundert, a member of the Rainbow Communities Advisory Panel, and Kara Kennedy, a digital inclusion educator, live in the City Centre, and have lived experience of both the wonders of this place and what needs to be improved. 

As for myself, Connor Sharp: through my own advocacy work, I’ve ensured community-supported projects were delivered as promised by Council and Auckland Transport. And as a committee member of the City Centre Residents Group, I devote my time to helping provide a voice to Council on behalf of fellow city-centre residents and building connections between those who live here.

We at City Vision are here to help make the City Centre a fantastic place to live, where everyone is welcome. We want to build and support a vibrant and diverse community, where people of all ages can connect and feel connected to each other, and to the neighbourhoods they live in. We’ll work for you, to create a City Centre fit for the 21st Century, where people and nature flourish and prosper.

Importantly, we put in the mahi to deliver the vision we share.

You won’t find us grumbling over nothing in the media and running the City Centre down for political point-scoring. What kind of legacy would that produce, when all it consists of is looking backwards, complaining, and trying to stop things?

In contrast to our opponents, City Vision is far more interested in tangible outcomes: a legacy of wonderful spaces and a thriving community for current and future generations.

We’ve got our eyes on the prize. And we are guided by future-focused plans based on widespread public support for a more liveable, sustainable, flourishing city. That's why we champion the widely-supported strategies of the City Centre Masterplan and Access for Everyone. And that's why City Vision candidates, new and old, are such tenacious and successful advocates for making the City Centre a brilliant place for residents and businesses alike, for decades to come. With a lot more to do. 

If you want to see delivery of great projects and solutions, vote City Vision.

Here’s the thing. Your vote matters more than ever.  The City Centre’s population is younger, more likely to be renting, and more mobile, all of which can be barriers to participating in this three-yearly chance to set the direction of our urban village. That makes it all the more vital to elect representatives who understand your challenges.

And our elections tend to be close. That’s a huge opportunity to make an impact. Your vote could be the difference between having decisions made by people who don’t really get the city centre… or getting a team who love the city and will take it forward.

If you want a City Centre that works for everyone, bring your power to this election!* Share this post with your friends and family in the City Centre, or reach out to volunteer and help us deliver leaflets to your apartment building.

And most importantly.

Vote City Vision

—Connor Sharp