City vote: Back to the future

Winds of change have swept through Northland, with the region's three mayors being dumped in local body elections.
In Whangarei, Pamela Peters suffered a huge loss to former three-times mayor Stan Semenoff.
In the Far North, Yvonne Sharp lost to former health board boss Wayne Brown, who stood on a Value for Ratepayers ticket.
And in Kaipara, incumbent Peter King narrowly lost to Neil Tiller.
But while there are new captains at the helm of each district council, most sitting councillors were returned in each district.
Mr Semenoff raked in 13,204 votes, nearly double the 7150 for one-term Whangarei mayor Mrs Peters.
Respect Northland candidate Vince Cocurullo came third in the Whangarei mayoral race with 2437 votes, followed by Jimmy Daisley with 1223, Warren Slater with 981, Simon Bliss with 980, Simon Vallings with 380 and Don Hedges with 145.
In the Far North Mrs Sharp, seeking her fourth term in office, was a distant second to Mr Brown. She received 5322 votes, a little over half of her rival's 10,081.
In Kaipara Mr King received 2495 votes, missing out by less than 200 to Mr Tiller, who picked up 2694 votes.
In the councillor count in Whangarei, there were no changes in the Bream Bay and Denby wards, with incumbents Shelley Deeming and Phil Halse and Crichton Christie, Sheryl Mai and Kahu Sutherland respectively retaining their seats.
In the new Hikurangi/Coastal ward, Greg Martin, from the old Hikurangi ward, was re-elected, along with newcomer Alan Goodhew, while in the Mangakahia/Maungatapere ward first-term councillor John Williamson lost his place to Sharon Morgan.
In the hotly contested Okara Ward, where 16 were chasing four places, Sue Glen and Merv Williams were re-elected while incumbent Ann Shaw lost her place and newcomers Vince Cocurullo and Brian McLachlan won through. The fourth seat became vacant with the death this year of long-time councillor Wally Redwood.
In the new Whangarei Heads ward, accountant Warwick Syers was elected and has already been earmarked by new mayor Mr Semenoff as heading the council's administration and finance committee.
In the Far North, three sitting councillors were not re-elected - Jack Katavich (Northern ward), Garry Weeds (Eastern ward) and Sue Shepherd (Eastern ward).
The new councillors are Colin Kitchen (Northern ward), Sally Macauley (Western ward), Steve McNally (Eastern ward) and Di Maxwell (Eastern ward). Crs Macauley, McNally and Maxwell were elected on Mr Brown's Value for Ratepayers ticket.
In Kaipara Brian Burnett and Brian McEwing were re-elected in the Dargaville ward, while Graham Taylor, Julia Sutherland and Tom Smith were re-elected in the Otamatea ward.
In the West Coast/Central ward, Richard Alspach was re-elected, but Ian Tiller and David Underwood lost their seats to Julie Geange and Bill Guest.