Hamilton East Ward By Election

Sarkaw from Hillcrest

Dear neighbours,

My name is Sarkaw Mohammad and I am standing for Hamilton City Council in the East Ward By Election. You may have seen my signages around the city - here is what I stand for. I am 31 years old, a practising chiropractor and own the Hillcrest Spinal Centre where children are treated free. People make communities and communities make a city. ‘People’ and ‘community’ are at the heart of my focus and their needs should not be neglected in order to give the city a cosmetic change.

I am a proud Hamiltonian and Kurdish by descent. My passion for the city and community means I am fearless in expressing their concerns to expedite change. I am against rates rise, believe we need more sports fields in the Eastward area and support development that doesn’t adversely affect ratepayers. I don’t think we should be charging people for entering our Gardens, and there is no need to invest any more time or money into Garden Place. I support certain aspects of the plan but at this stage going ahead with changes in Garden Place is a matter of we ‘want’ rather than we ‘need’. To ensure the city develops and grows, an increase in rates is inevitable but it should be reasonable and according to inflation rates. For a family of low to middle income, increasing their rates could have a very adverse effect on their financial state. I do not support chewing into people’s pockets to give certain areas in the city a makeover that it does not need at this stage.

I am a former paramedic, a successful businesswoman, and a practicing chiropractor. Having obtained various higher qualifications within the health sector I am a PhD candidate researching depression at the University of Waikato. I can speak four languages, am the founder of the I AM HE(R) Charitable Trust (www.iamher.co.nz) producing films on New Zealand issues, and sit on many community/health boards (including NZ Chiropractic Board, Ethnic Business Network, Hamilton East Community House, and Immigration Trust and Shama’s Advisory Boards). I represent New Zealand on World Federation of Chiropractic’s Public Health Committee.

Hamilton is a very diverse city and the Council representing the city should mirror that – unfortunately it does not. By diversity, I mean age, gender, sex, sexual orientation, culture, background and experience. We need to ensure that Hamilton City Council is a mix of what Hamilton is made up of. Vote Diversity for Hamilton! Please support me and make sure you vote in the by-election. Your voting papers will be mailed to you from 26th January 2018 and you can return them via post by approximately 14th February or drop them into one of the centres by midday 17th February 2018.

Thanks in advance and Happy 2018 to all.

Sarkaw Mohammad