Hashtag Mayor gets global nod
The new Mayor of Geelong has been making himself known if nothing else, and will now take his personal brand of leadership to the international stage for the World Mayor competition.
Geelong Mayor Darryn Lyons has been nominated along with 49 others in the running for the title of World Mayor, with Sydney mayor Clover Moore making the cut too.
Councillor Lyons says he is honoured for the recognition of his efforts after just 100 days in office.
“It clearly shows that my work in Geelong is having a big impact on the world stage,” he said.
He says his hard-work and constant campaigning for a better city have lifted Geelong’s profile.
“Probably the work ethic, I suppose, has been the thing to really get the thing moving,” he said.
“The lobbying, the leveraging off all the publicity and the social media as well has just been huge, the engagement of the ratepayers, who can actually get a question answered, which has never happened before.”
“At the end of the day it's not all about the publicity, it's about leveraging off that for the future growth of this city and bringing companies in,” the Mayor said.
Former Mayor of Melbourne, John So, won the World Mayor prize in 2006.
Geelong’s economy will certainly need an active representative on its side in coming years, as announcements by big companies in the area have left over a thousand residents about to look for work.
Some jobs are coming in to the city as major employers including Qantas and Ford get set to leave.
A $5 million grant will allow Geelong-based performance wheel manufacturer Carbon Revolution to hire up to 150 new staff. The company’s high-tech, light-weight, carbon fibre wheels have been held up as an example of the styles of innovative manufacture that Australian services should move toward.
Geelong Mayor Darryn Lyons appears in following promotional video for the city, an example of his tireless efforts to draw attention;