视频：信报独家专访达里尔·帕克
摄像/剪辑 张恒瑞
大约六周前，来自社区的一些人联系了达里尔·帕克（Darryll Park），希望他能参加本次基督城市长的竞选，因为他们对这座城市的治理不满意。
“有很多事情不是很好，不仅仅是地税，还有水质、道路和人行道……基础设施老旧，优先事项混乱，所以我决定尽我所能，为我的城市和我自己做些事情。因此我站出来，举手宣布我要竞选。”达里尔接受《信报》专访时回忆了过去六周发生的一切。六周前，他的头衔一下子变成了“基督城市长候选人达里尔·帕克”。
信报独家专访达里尔·帕克
摄影/朱其平
目前，他的市长竞选已进行了五周，还剩三周，结果将于十月中旬见分晓。达里尔说，总共为期两个月的市长竞选“令人兴奋”。达里尔曾是Christchurch &Canterbury Marketing的首席执行官，目前是基督城市中心三家餐厅和酒吧Fat Eddies、Original Sin和Kong的共同所有人。他还是坎特伯雷橄榄球联盟和坎特伯雷职业橄榄球十字军队的董事。
现任市长莉安·达泽正在争取自己的第三个市长任期。与达里尔的商人身份不同，莉安曾是新西兰冉冉升起的一颗政治新星，在新西兰国会任职23年后，她2013年参加了地方选举并成功获任基督城市长，并连任至今。“我来自商业领域，因此我既不像工党一样偏左，也不像国家党一样偏右，我不忠实于任何政党。我处于中间，只为城市利益，而不是为了政党利益。”达里尔说。
9月4日，Lianne Dalziel (莉安·达泽)，John Minto（约翰·明托）和Darryll Park（达里尔·帕克）在市中心举行公开辩论。“我是一名商人，对这座城市充满热情。每当我去海外工作时，我每个月都回来，我的家人一直住在这里。”他说。达里尔与妻子苏西有一儿一女。“我不是政治家，这很重要。”他将自己定义为一个有人缘的人。
“我认为我是人民的一部分，因为我是人民的一员，我不是政党的一员。”他承诺，如果当选，他将回避目前的商业利益和角色。
手拿他的黑色竞选宣传册，达里尔说，他的“推动基督城前进”的竞选主题着眼于基本常识、从根本出发，以及寻找使城市前进的更好路径。“在过去六年中，基督城地税上涨了49％，这不太好。”他说。
达里尔说：“没有什么比喝氯成分过高的水更糟了，很多孩子也受到了自来水中氯的影响。”他说，现任市议会推迟了管道整修与井口维护等工作。他说：“如果我当选，我会加快很多重要事项的完成速度。”
达里尔还是本次13位基督城市长候选人中，唯一一个在竞选内容里关注打击犯罪的候选人。他说，犯罪正影响着华人等社区。“（我们）需要有更多警察上街巡逻，有更多的摄像头，城市没有黑暗角落。”他说，不仅是华人社区受到困扰，他最近与印度社区交流时，被告知他们每周都会遭到抢劫。
信报独家专访达里尔·帕克
摄影/朱其平
交通和基础设施是达里尔的另一个政策重点。“我们在道路和人行道修好之前就重点建设自行车道，这样不妥。”他举例说，他认识的一位女士，因为人行道路面破裂，她跌倒了，而旁边就有一条完好的自行车道。
“我不反对自行车道。于我来说，这是关于优先事项的排序问题。自行车道显然是让人们选择离开汽车、骑自行车的一种方式，这是面向未来的，但这需要时间。人们不会马上放弃开车，去骑自行车。这种情况不会在一两年内发生。”“所以这应该有个平衡。当修建13条自行车道的预算从七、八年前的6800万纽元膨胀到目前的2.52亿纽元时，我感受不到这个平衡。”他说，“这样的自行车道规模是为比我们大得多的城市建造的。”
达里尔·帕克推荐《精彩》，新西兰最具深度及影响力、最为专业的中英双语杂志
摄影/朱其平
达里尔说，基督城现有约38.1万人口，其中16.8万名纳税人必须承担自行车道的费用和税费。目前的自行车道规模适合500万到1000万人口的大城市。他说，减少碳排放有多种形式。“不幸的是，在过去的一二十年中，我们已经从城市里拿走了不少树木。我们需要重新种植新的树木，并创造更多的绿色空间。”
视频：达里尔·帕克推荐《精彩》，新西兰最具深度及影响力、最为专业的中英双语杂志他说，基督城应建有更多绿色建筑，大量利用地热或太阳能等清洁能源，并鼓励增加更多的电动和氢能汽车。他还呼吁尽快恢复市中心活力。他自己也将搬到市中心居住。此前，市长莉安·达泽也透露近日将移居市中心。达里尔承诺的地税零增长，必然带来可用资金的减少。面对这一问题，他说，这与优先事项有关，必须确定需要先完成的项目。“车道、人行道和其他基础设施比自行车道的扩张更重要。”他说。
“这涉及到我们如何管理支出、收入以及我们如何确定项目优先级。对我来说，就是了解什么是'必须拥有’，什么是'有固然好，没有也一样’。”“这是关于资产收入流的最大化和优化，关于零预算的支出管理，关于市议会内部支出管理。”当被问及在市议会席位上只有一票的话，如何说服市议员们为他提出的重大改变投赞成票，达里尔说，今年基督城地方选举中，有54名候选人竞选16个市议员席位，不少新人涌现出来，市议会将有很大改变。他说，将在市议会中用好自己的商业管理能力，并能与市议员们共同治理。他与多位市议员候选人进行了交流，很多候选人“非常愿意接受我的政策”。他还谈到了基督城市议会与坎特伯雷地区其他市议会的纽带关系，因为游客不仅仅是访问基督城，还要去更广阔的坎特伯雷地区。他说，与其他市议会的伙伴关系将为游客带来另一种目的地体验。
9月4日，Lianne Dalziel (莉安·达泽)，John Minto（约翰·明托）和Darryll Park（达里尔·帕克）在市中心举行公开辩论。About six weeks ago, a group of people from the wider community contacted Darryll Park, and said they would like someone to run against the current Christchurch mayor because they did not feel the city was being run as well as it should be.Park told them to give him two to three days to think about it.“There were a number of things that were not good, not just the rates, but the water quality, the roads and footpaths…all the basic infrastructure was in bad condition, and the priorities were all wrong, so I decided to do my bit for the city by putting my hand up to stand as a candidate for the Christchurch Mayoralty,” Park told NZ Messenger.Park has been in this mayoral race for about five weeks, with another three weeks to run. The two-month campaign “has been exciting,” he said.His business and commercial credentials are strong. He was once the South Island Manager of Air New Zealand between 1992 and 1998, the CEO of Christchurch & Canterbury Marketing Ltd, and helped to reposition Tourism under the government Tourism 2010 Strategy, as well as being a past board member of Civil Aviation Authority & Aviation Security Services, two government agencies.Currently, he is the co-owner of Oxford Management Services, a property development and management company supporting hospitality, Chair of Mondo Travel Group, and a Director of the Canterbury Rugby Union and the Crusaders.I've got no political allegianceUnlike the incumbent mayor, Lianne Dalziel, who is serving her second term as Mayor after 23 years in the New Zealand Parliament, Park is a businessman who is challenging a politician.“I came from the business sector, so I am neither left as a labour supporter nor right as a national supporter. I've got no political allegiance. Down the middle and here for the good of the city, not for the good of parties,” Park said.“I'm a businessman, and I'm passionate about Christchurch. I love this city. Whenever I've worked overseas, I've always comeback. I always commuted and came back home every month and my family have always lived here.”“I'm not a politician. That's a big thing,” he said, defining himself as a people person.“I am part of the people because I am one of the people, I'm not a party,” said Park who promised to stand aside from his current business interests and governance roles, if elected.Move Christchurch forwardHis “moving Christchurch forward” policies focus on “common sense, a back-to-basics approach, and finding better ways to move us forward,” Park said while holding his black campaign pamphlet.Zero rate increases and water quality are two of his top priorities.“For the last six years, the rates have gone up 49 percent. That's just not good enough,” he said.“There's nothing worse than having to drink chlorine in your water, and there are even young children that are being affected by the chlorine in the water,” he said, adding the current city council has delayed fixing the pipes and getting the wellheads elevated above the ground.“If I got into power, obviously I would fast-track a lot of what needs to be done, and there's a commitment needed from government too in helping deliver against that commitment,” Park said.He is the only Mayoral candidate campaigning to reduce crime, which he said is affecting all communities, including the Chinese community.“It's about more police patrolling the streets, more street lighting so there are no dark spaces, and more cameras around the streets that are monitored.”“It's not a crime against race because it's not just affecting the Chinese community. I've been speaking recently with the Indian community and they get robbed every week, as do all other Christchurch communities,” Park said.Transport & infrastructure is another focus of Park. “We are getting cycleways before we get our roads and footpaths, which is just not good enough,” he said, citing an example of a lady he knew who tripped on a footpath because the surface was broken, where there was a new cycleway right beside where the footpath was broken.“Fix the fundamentals, fixed the basics first, before you have a nice cycleway,” he said.“I'm not against cycleways. For me. It's a matter of priorities. Cycleways are a means of getting people out of cars and onto bikes and it’s future proofing, but it's gonna take time.“So there's a balance, and I just feel the balance is not there when you move from 68 million NZ dollars some seven oreight years ago, to the current commitment to 252 million NZ dollars in cycleway spending, which is actually for the future.”“The issue is that unfortunately, the cycleway network is being built for a city far bigger than what we are,” Park said.
达里尔呼吁中国社区积极投票
“We've got 381,000 people in Christchurch, of whom 168,000 ratepayers have to actually afford the rates and taxes to contribute to all amenities, infrastructure and capital projects, including cycleways.These cycleways have been modeled on current cities that are 5 and 10 million in population,” he said.Reducing the carbon footprint comes in many forms, Park said. “Unfortunately, over the last decade or two, we've taken trees out of the urban space. We need to get it back with new plantings and create more green space.”Green buildings should be built in Christchurch, with the use of geothermal or solar energy to make them environmentally friendly, he said, adding more electric and hydrogen vehicles should be encouraged.He also calls for getting some vibrancy back to the inner city,and intends moving his own home into the city centre very soon.When there is less money available due to his promise of no increase in rates, Park said it is about priorities, identifying what projects need to be done.“Roads, footpaths and other infrastructures are more important than cycleways growing.”“It comes back to how we manage our expenditure, how we manage our income and how we are looking to prioritize our projects. And for me it's a straight case of understanding what is 'a must have’ as opposed to 'a nice to have.’”“It's about maximizing and optimizing the income streams from the assets. We will have to manage the expenditure through a zero base budget. And it's also about managing the expenditure from within the Council,” he said.Just one vote around the Council table?Asked how he proposes to make these big changes he wants when he only has one vote around the council table if elected, Park said that as 54 people are standing for 16 councillor positions during this year’s campaign, with some new people coming in, there is going to be some changes around the table.He said while taking a proactive look on what needs to be done, he will use his skills in business governance around the council table and be able to govern with the councillors.Park said he was very enthusiastic about the new councillors that are looking to come on board, and he had spoken with a number of them who are pledging to “support ande mbrace my policies.”He also talks about the connection of Christchurch City Council with other Canterbury city councils, as visitors want to go not just to Christchurch but also to the wider Canterbury area. “The relationship with the other Councils will help bring those visitors more destination experiences, and more reasons to stay in and around Christchurch for longer,” Park said.
