I’m sorrying for harping on about it – but I recovered John McGrath’s flyer out of my letterbox last week and was struck by it’s lack of vision.

To those of you out there who are thinking about voting for this man – think again.

Here are his five points:

1. Develop a durable infrastructure by supporting a toll for Transmission Gully

What does a durable infrastructure mean? Why can’t we have Transmission Gully without the tolls? Is Transmission Gully influenced by the mayor of Wellington?

2. Encourage more people to live in a more vibrant Wellington by learning the lessons from fabulous cities like Paris, San Francisco and Melbourne

I’ve heard John McGrath talk about this idea and I still don’t know what he’s on about…what are the valuable lessons that these cities learnt?

3. Create a strong business environment…strong leadership…cutting council red tape…

Blah blah blah – we need actual policy John. These words don’t inspire me, thrill me, enliven me. They sound like cliches. Oh, they ARE cliches.

4. Clean up the city by cracking down on litter and rehousing the homeless

What? There are heaps of people already picking up rubbish…and the homeless seem to be less prevalent lately. Are these the most important things that really deserve attention on a list of five priorities?

5. Grow tourism by marketing Wellington globally as a vibrant and happening city

Isn’t this happening now? Personally I’m very happy with being in the top ten great capital cities of the world…isn’t that a vibrant and happening city already?

Honestly, he has to do better than that to get my vote. Nick Kelly is looking like a better candidate, at least he has well-formed policy (whether you agree with him or not).

Please, don’t let John McGrath get to be the runner-up. Relegate him bit further down the scale where flippancy deserves to live.