- Tim Shadbolt
Infobox Mayor
name=Timothy Richard Shadbolt
imagesize=180px
office= Mayor of Invercargill City
term_start= 1993
term_end=
predecessor=
office2= Mayor ofWaitemata City
term_start2= 1983
term_end2= 1989
predecessor2=
successor2= "End of title"
birth_date= Birth date and age|1947|2|19|df=yes
birth_place=Timothy Richard Shadbolt (born
February 19 1947 ) is the mayor of the city of Invercargill, New Zealand, and former mayor ofWaitemata City .Activist: 1960s and 1970s
Tim Shadbolt was a founding student of
Rutherford College, Auckland , and attended TheUniversity of Auckland from 1966 to 1970, taking a year off in 1967 to work on theManapouri Power Project in Southland. He was a member of theAuckland University Students Association executive, and editor ofCraccum in 1972. During the late 1960s and early 1970s, he was prominent in theProgressive Youth Movement , a radical organisation, and was arrested 33 times during political protests, most famously for using the word "bullshit ", this incident influenced the title of his autobiography (see below).After 1970, he founded a commune and concrete cooperative at Huia. He wrote an autobiography, "Bullshit and Jellybeans".
Local politician: 1980s-
Tim Shadbolt stood for
Mayor ofWaitemata City in 1983 because he did not want the incumbent to be re-elected unopposed and surprisingly won the election. He celebrated, much to some people's disgust, by towing his trustyconcrete mixer behind the Mayoral car. He won again in 1986 heading a political ticket called "Tim's Team", but lost the following election in the newly-formedWaitakere city (an enlarged Waitemata city) in 1989. During his reign as Mayor he became infamous by losing the mayoral chains at a party.In 1993, he ran successfully for the position of Mayor of
Invercargill .In 1994, he contested the Selwyn by-election as a candidate forNew Zealand First , but was placed fourth, and remained Mayor of Invercargill.He was defeated in 1995, but remained on the council.As a result of the defeat, the mayoralHolden Calais was taken off his hands and he was given aLada instead. In the 1996 general election he stood unsuccessfully as a candidate for theAotearoa Legalise Cannabis Party .In 1998 he was re-elected to the mayoralty (and given back the mayoral car) and has been the mayor ever since. In 2001 he was re-elected unopposed.
In October 2002 Tim Shadbolt told a conference of New Zealand's
Disabled Persons Assembly that Invercargill had "an innovative approach topublic transport , currently centred on 'Freebie the Bus' travelling the 'Purple Circle'". He said he hoped that in future all buses in Invercargill would be free andaccessible . [ [http://72.14.253.104/search?q=cache:sJ4-BVkdSAoJ:www.dpa.org.nz/publications/bites/2003/janfull.html+%22purple+circle%22+bus+invercargill+nz&hl=en&ct=clnk&cd=5 dpa.org.nz website] ] ("The Freebie" and "Purple Circle" are zero-fare bus routes in Invercargill.)(note 1)In 2004 and 2007, he won his fourth and fifth mayoral terms by a huge margin.
He has presented several television documentaries, and the series "That's Fairly Interesting".
He is famous for the phrase ‘I don't care where, as long as I'm mayor’, which was later part of a cheese advertising campaign that involved people repeating things that they wished they had not said.
In 2005, New Zealand
Toastmasters awarded him the "Communicator of the Year" award. He also played inThe World's Fastest Indian portraying a good friend ofBurt Munro who organised social events for Invercargill's motorcycling community.He also participated in the "New Zealand version" of "
Dancing with the Stars " where he placed 3rd.In 2006 Tim played the part of the Narrator in The Rocky Horror Show by the Invercargill Musical Theatre.He continued his theatre experiences by appearing in 2007 in the Invercargill Musical Theatres production of Sea Cruise.1. At this time in addition to the bus routes mentioned, all bus routes in Invercargill are free between the hours of 9am and 2:30pm and all day Saturday.
References
External links
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