KEY POINTS:
With the renewal of Henderson and New Lynn under way, Waitakere Mayor Bob Harvey now wants to extend the city north-west into the green fields of Rodney and east to encompass urban Avondale.
The man who wants his job, former MP John Tamihere, also suggests a land grab
from Auckland City areas that he says are "naturally Westie" - the Rosebank Rd and Avondale Racecourse areas and Blockhouse Bay Rd.
Determination to make sure Waitakere grows rather than shrinks after the Royal Commission of Inquiry into Auckland is one of the few policies the men share.
Mr Harvey says he will continue to lead expansion of the city, with a $500 million sub-regional centre at the motorway's Westgate Massey interchange, linking with a commercial airport at Whenuapai and business and housing developments at Hobsonville.
He says he takes pride in the creation of almost 15,000 jobs around town centres, and reckons another 15,000 jobs will be created in New Lynn, Westgate and Hobsonville.
"I have achieved as mayor $2.5 billion of investment from this Government, including the west railway line electrification, double tracking and upgrading of stations."
Mr Tamihere says people want "real jobs" in west Auckland rather than just a good transportation system to take them out of it to work.
"I can see huge opportunities in promoting small-medium size business enterprise. It's where our future lies. It doesn't lie in big sweat shops and everyone getting a job as a hand on a movie set. We have to turbo-charge getting greater diversification."
Mr Tamihere points to the city council's 812 full-time equivalent staff members.
"The biggest increase in employment in west Auckland is through more council bureaucrats."
Mr Harvey dismisses that as "cheap politicking" and not true - like, he says, his rival's insisting there needs to be a review of the quality of the council's spending because rates have risen 21.42 per cent in the past three years.
"We have for 15 years put our money into four terrific libraries, a great stadium and into footpaths and job creation ... we are criticised for putting money into people?"
Mr Tamihere says the country's fifth biggest city has a high proportion of young people which means problems with jobs, justice and social cohesion. "I will building a "Proud to be a Westie" campaign organised by senior advocates through the city, ensuring our young people are in organised programmes from the schools to the sports clubs. The message will be it's not cool to be tagging or to be a gangster."
Waitakere has four other mayoral candidates: Rebecca Broad, of the Workers Party, city councillors Peter Chan and Linda Cooper and Henderson Community Board member Steve McDonald.
