Beyond promises: My record of delivery for Hobart

There will be plenty of announcements in this election.

So rather than tell you what I might do as Lord Mayor, I think it is fairer to ask you to judge me on what I have already delivered.

In my first term on Hobart City Council, I have worked to:

• Drive down the losses at the Doone Kennedy Hobart Aquatic Centre — helping turn around a problem that was costing ratepayers 2 million a year. These savings were applied directly to your rates which is why they rose less than CPI.

• Secure continued support for the Beacon Foundation, helping young Hobart people build a pathway from school into real jobs and careers.

• Deliver more accessible parking with 8 additional parks in Argyle Street where access is to the RHH and push for overall better access across our city for older people, people with disability and their families.

• Stand up for YouthARC ensuring we keep vital youth services in the city.

• Fight for small businesses at Salamanca, including returning 15 years of stamp duty back to stallholders, and meeting their expectations with the functionality of the market for everyone.

• Developing professional policy that ensures a proper business cases and a reasonable return for ratepayers when borrowing money.

• Oppose plans and policies I believe would make Hobart harder to live, work and do business in — including the UTAS relocation, punitive approaches to short-stay accommodation and transport changes that make getting around the city more difficult.

And I have done all of that while continuing to run an accounting practice and working with businesses and community organisations across Greater Hobart.

The next Lord Mayor will inherit a difficult job.

Hobart doesn't need louder politics.

It needs someone who understands budgets, business, governance and community — someone capable of bringing people together around a table and getting things done. Better yet, someone who understands the complexity of working with a board of elected members as the legislation that governs is far more fraught than private enterprise.

I am standing for Lord Mayor because I believe Hobart can once again be a confident, well-run capital city: affordable, accessible, safe, economically strong and full of opportunity.

Not simply promises.

A record you can judge.

Louise Bloomfield B.Com FNTAA FIPA Candidate for Lord Mayor of Hobart

#LetHobartBloom