Rotorua mayoral candidates face the voters

Mayoral candidates face the voters.

About 120 Rotorua residents will have a much better idea about who to vote for after the first official mayoral Meet the Candidates forum was held by Grey Power.

Grey Power Rotorua president Rosemary MacKenzie said she was impressed with yesterday's turnout but was disappointed Rotorua Mayor Kevin Winters had to pull out due to an operation to repair a shoulder he had damaged while cycling.

However, Rotorua's four other mayoral candidates - Janine Bosma, Steve Chadwick, Helen Hindmarsh and Rob Kent - got to have their say.

The candidates were given three minutes to introduce themselves and their policies before set questions were put to each of them.

Unfortunately, Mrs Hindmarsh and Mrs Bosma did not receive their questions in advance and were unprepared.

Mr Winters nominated former radio personality Marinus Koppe to read his responses to the audience and, at the end, questions were taken from the floor.

Mrs Chadwick said Rotorua needed a "seismic change" to turn the city around, with renewed emphasis on Rotorua as a spa city with geothermal energy being made available for all and that the city's "ballooning debt" levels needed to be lowered.

Mr Kent focused on a fresh direction for business, the removal of "bureaucratic red tape" and compliance costs, controlled and transparent expenditure and telling the truth about rates increases.

Mr Winters, through Mr Koppe, focused on his achievements as mayor including improvements in lake water quality.

Mrs Bosma said her campaign, and many of the answers to Rotorua's problems, were "a work in progress" after introducing herself as a direct descendant of Hinemoa and singing a short waiata.

Mrs Hindmarsh said she was keen to promote Rotorua's old motto of Tatou Tatou - we together - and the work she had been doing on putting together a museum at her home in Hamurana.

When asked about the state of Rotorua's central business district (CBD) and what they could do to change things, the candidates had a wide range of responses.

Mr Kent said Rotorua no longer needed a CBD, as a consequence of the popularity of online shopping.

He wanted the central city to be transformed into a fully pedestrian and cycle friendly area with boutique shopping and a waterfront esplanade serviced by efficient and cost-effective public transport, including a monorail from the airport.

Mrs Bosma said she had spoken to retailers about how they had survived the past few years and recognised there was a problem but her remedy was "a work in progress".

Mrs Hindmarsh said 75 per cent of businesses in Rotorua were owned by a man from Taupo, which was not ideal.

She believed Rotorua needed to work together to "remove the power this person has".

She also said earthquake-strengthening work forced on to retailers was going to make it even harder for retail to make a comeback.

Mrs Chadwick said the council was allowing far too much expansion into the suburbs and Rotorua had lost its heart.

She emphasised her commitment to working with the lobby groups in the central city to come up with answers everyone could agree on, rather than piecemeal improvements in other parts of Rotorua.

Mr Winters' prepared notes revealed all the work he had led to help improve the city and some of the work already in the pipeline, such as free two-hour parking, the Eat Streat upgrade, City Safe Guardians, free wi-fi and extending timeframes for earthquake-strengthening work.