“Where is a decent hotel here? A hotel with really good, different price point eating facilities?”
He was the subject of David Farrier’s 2022 documentary Mister Organ, which followed him for three years after he gained notoriety for clamping cars outside an Auckland antique shop.
Organ said anyone who found the film’s assertions plausible was “unlikely to be voting for me, anyway”.
The former Wanganui Furnishers building on Victoria Ave had become a “white elephant” for ratepayers, he said.
The council bought it last year in preparation for a potential $55 million hotel and carpark development, but that was scrapped during the 2024-34 long-term plan process.
If a commercial tenant was secured for the property, the council was hamstringing itself for future development of the area, Organ said.
The issue of co-governance had caused division among people in the community, and he found it “inherently undemocratic”.
He opposed Māori Wards, which he said would lead to disproportionate representation, and would be voting against their retention.
However, Organ said he had no issue working with anybody if elected to the council.
He said his own building on Victoria Ave could act as a heritage entrance to a potential hotel and high-end apartment complex, similar to the Metropolis development in Auckland.
“You’re building up, but you retain the frontages and the heritage shops at ground level. That’s important.”
Organ said people did not like paying parking fees, and offering free CBD parking for the first hour would “soothe their pain”.
“Then, they may not begrudge paying for the next two or three hours, and, in that time, they’re spending money. And, they’re spending money on car parking.”
Beautiful buildings had given way to developments such as Trafalgar Square and the Farmers complex, he said.
“It’s shortsighted, and I don’t want to see something like that happening again.”
In 2022 the Herald reported Organ was convicted by a jury of using a document, theft of a yacht valued at $35,000 to $45,000, forging a contract of sale and two charges of attempting to pervert the course of justice.
He maintains his innocence and said he now had “concrete” evidence to appeal the conviction.
A previous appeal was dismissed.
Mike Tweed is a multimedia journalist at the Whanganui Chronicle. Since starting in March 2020, he has dabbled in everything from sport to music. At present his focus is local government, primarily the Whanganui District Council.
