The municipal elections take place on March 16. In the second article of the series ‘Eindhoven Elections: your vote counts’ I would explain why it is important to vote and what the city council decides about. There is a lot to vote for!
The future of our city starts in the voting booth. The power of your vote decides which political parties take seats in the city council. The city council makes plans and policies for Eindhoven, about topics that the local government is responsible for. In this article, I will point out a few examples of these topics.
Firstly, the municipality is responsible for a healthy and pleasant living environment. The city council decides about what the city centre looks like, the amount of green in our neighbourhoods or how close you live to a park. Furthermore, the city takes action to fight climate change.
Secondly, the municipality plays an important role in solving the housing problem. For students, starting families and the elderly it is increasingly difficult to stay in Eindhoven. The city council decides on how to tackle housing prices, how to fight slum landlords and where to build new houses.
Furthermore, the municipality makes decisions affecting the culture, nightlife and sports climate. How to create a lively city where everyone feels welcome? The city council decides about the opening hours of clubs, the number of artist studios in our city, and how sport can be accessible for everyone.
The municipality is also responsible for social care. The city council decides about how to help people with financial problems and poverty, how to facilitate good education for all children and how to provide social security to the citizens who need this.
These are just a few examples of topics the city council decides about. Each political party has its own ideas on how to solve these issues and what the municipality should and should not do. That makes it really important to go vote. In this way, in fact, you have a voice in how the municipality tackles these issues and in what kind of city you want to live in. To watch a video on why it is important to vote, click here.
What do the people in the city council actually do? In the next article, I will explain this all to you!
Eva de Bruijn (25), social designer and city council member for GroenLinks in Eindhoven
