Candidates take turns to address the audience. Geoffrey Churchman, still with his ankle in plaster, is the one with the walking frame. Gerald Rys in the left background was the MC.
Some 40+ beach residents came along today to the hall in Rauparaha Street to hear the candidates for the council seat and the four community board seats.
All the candidates were there except Iride McCloy (council candidate) and Jill Lloyd (WCB candidate), both of whom are overseas at present. Each got 5 minutes talk time plus a follow-up question from the audience. The MC was a little generous in some cases with these time limits.
The agenda had been set by the meeting organisers — three questions specifically on beach policy and a general one on rates policy. Answering the last alone would have taken more than the allotted 5 minutes, and other candidates made a speech more on general whole-town policies, which is going to be the theme of another candidates meeting scheduled for Saturday 17th on the other side of the railway tracks.
There was also a general question from Quentin Poole to all the candidates on the coastal hazard issue, which is particularly pertinent for Raumati people, although severe storm damage from climate change threatens the whole coast.