Alexa Forbes: Not running for QLDC mayor, being a pub singer, and trying to unite Dunedin and Queenstown

Alexa Forbes is one of the best known personalities in the Southern Lakes district and she explains in the latest Crux podcast why she decided not to run for the Queenstown Lakes District Council mayoralty, her mixed career as a pub musician, PR practitioner, and advertising saleswoman, and why she's now an Otago Regional Councillor. 

She's a fervent environmentalist who walks (or pedals) the talk, biking everywhere locally and often catching the bus to Dunedin regional council meetings. But is she too nice, too kind, too in tune with nature to make a difference in what, after all, is a tough pragmatic world? Ms Forbes makes a convincing argument as to why she can - and does.

The wide ranging podcast interview also touches on how Queenstown has changed over the years, how it's a tough town where not everybody stays or survives, and how Dunedin people still think we are a (rich) holiday town.

Ms Forbes argues convincingly that our community has no choice but to change - otherwise we'll destroy most of the the things that brought us here in the first place.

And with refreshing honesty she says that she'll never argue for lower council rates because key needs such as clean water just don't happen without someone paying for the work to be done.

We also discuss in detail the upcoming change in representation where the ORC plans to drop a Dunedin councillor in favour of a new Southern Lakes-Central Otago councillor at the next local elections.

Plus the state of the media, why economic development should not sit within the QLDC and how Destination Queenstown will struggle to produce its own Tourism Management Plan likening the task to "wolves being in charge of the henhouse."

In our top stories this week Kim Bowden discusses an unusual meeting of the Otago Regional Council in Cromwell and a local farmer who is being told to shut down his domestic hydro scheme due to some very puzzling red tape.

Listen to our top stories review and Alexa Forbes interview (short version)

Listen to the full Alexa Forbes interview