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Adelaide lord mayor contest: Five argue policy on Rundle Mall, Victoria Square and bicycle lanes

The high-profile job of Adelaide lord mayor can be decided by surprisingly few people if the last council election is anything to go by.

Of about 23,000 people registered to vote in the Adelaide City Council region in 2010, only about 7,000 actually did.

The underdog, Stephen Yarwood, won the job of Lord Mayor and now wants another term.

"In the last election, certainly, I wasn't given much chance of winning so it was literally just a few seconds [after knocking on a door] to find out what was important to people and give them an argument for why I should be Lord Mayor," he said.

"This time the Lord Mayor knocks on the door and it's a whole different conversation."

Mr Yarwood is not the only candidate busy door knocking in the city and North Adelaide.

Five candidates will contest the job at this year's local government election, with postal voting to close in the first week of November.

Mark Hamilton is a lawyer, business owner and has experience as a city councillor.

After his long involvement with local government, he said the time was right to run for lord mayor.

"I'm very passionate about the City of Adelaide, including North Adelaide and of course the parklands, and I want to try to use the experience I've got to make Adelaide a better place," Mr Hamilton said.

Also running is Michael Henningsen, an orthopaedic surgeon and councillor for two terms.

He said he was tired of seeing the city council's budget spent on big developments at the expense of important maintenance.

"I'm really about a steady pair of hands at the tiller. I'm a man who's fiscally prudent and I've seen a number of examples of waste in the council," he said.

The fourth man in the contest is Martin Haese, a business owner and former Rundle Mall Management Authority general manager.

Unlike the others, he has no city council experience.

"One thing that's been lacking in town hall is any sense of business acumen. That's what I'm going to bring to the table," Mr Haese said.

A last-minute nominee when the deadline arrived this week was Kelly Henderson, who has been involved in the Parklands Preservation Association and the National Trust.

"I'm not running on a single platform of environment or parklands, I'm concerned with becoming an advocate for smart growth and how historic preservation is a key way to deliver smart growth to the city as well as an economic driver and an incubator for small business," she said.

Mr Yarwood's first term as Lord Mayor has had its share of controversy.

Major developments in Victoria Square, Rundle Mall and putting a bike lane in Frome Street have polarised people.

Those issues are tipped to be the deciders as people cast their votes.

7.30 SA asked the candidates their views

  • Victoria Square*


  • _Yarwood:_* "We've seen well over 100,000 people use the square in the last six months alone. That's about 95,000 more than used it in the six months before it was redeveloped."


  • _Hamilton:_* "I personally would have preferred us not to re-landscape or worry about the structures on the square as a first step, but to have moved the roadways out to the extremity of the square."


  • _Henningsen:_* "At the start of this council term, the State Government said to us that there was no money in the pot to help us with Victoria Square and so the council made the decision to go it alone so that's been, I think, a very bad decision."


  • _Haese:_* "Yes we need to beautify it, but we do need to be careful to not spend too much money on Victoria Square as we move forward."


  • _Henderson:_* "I think it's appalling. It's an example of why master planning is wrong for the Adelaide Parklands as an historic site."


  • Rundle Mall*


  • _Yarwood:_*"You'll start to see more florists pop up, some more coffee carts, more shade provided but also a doubling of the number of trees and seats so, whilst there are some people who don't like it, I am getting really positive feedback."


  • _Hamilton:_*"I think Rundle Mall [revamp] didn't need to occur for probably five to 10 years because the council had only renovated Rundle Mall 17 years ago."


  • _Henningsen:_* "I think Rundle Mall is the engine that drives our retail economy in the city and I think it was looking very tired and it was time for an overhaul."


  • _Haese:_* "There are approximately 700 retailers within that precinct and the ratepayers' investment of $25 million so far has yielded about $450 million worth of private investment."


  • _Henderson:_* "Destruction of the trees ... I think although that project has other benefits, it was carried out in a way that really cause the public a lot of concern and I think rightly so."


  • City bicycle lanes*


  • _Yarwood:_* "In the next term of council, about 700 people will be seriously injured both as pedestrians or cyclists being hit by cars and, if you were the mayor of a city and you knew that people were being injured, you'd want to make it as safe as possible."


  • _Hamilton:_* "I believe that Frome Road was quite frankly a ridiculous example of providing access to the city, in that it's actually barely used."


  • _Henningsen:_ *"The concept of the Frome Street separated bikeway, which I'm very supportive of course of cycling safety because I'm a cyclist myself, but again we haven't got it right."


  • _Haese:_* "I'm a cyclist, I enjoy cycling but I'm also a motorist so I do believe we need to find a much better balance and I think Adelaide City Council's got that balance wrong."


  • _Henderson:_* "If we make motherhood statements about cycling in the city, and don't consider the difference between a recreational cyclist and commuter cyclists, then we risk turning our public areas into computer transport avenues."