Municipal elections this weekend in Finland

On Sunday, Finns will head to the polls to cast their votes in nation-wide municipal elections. Here’s some things that are on my mind. I am not sure how much elected officials can affect some of these things I have on my mind, but nonetheless. I have some bones to pick. For me important issues are the environment (pollution, waste management and recycling), public transit development, youth education, the health of youth and young adults, smart infrastructure development (enough with the destruction of green spaces already!!), sport and Laaksolahti’s future as a sports complex and arena.

A little more detail:

– Enough with the shopping malls in Espoo. I am so fed up with the encouragement to consume rather than show some restraint on that front. The two stores I’d like to see open doors in Espoo, however, are Budget Sport and Kodin Terra. That being said, we do not need anymore damn shopping malls!

– The SDP had a good little ad tacked to the back of a bus seat. One transit zone for Espoo. According to future plans from Helsinki Regional Transit, they’re proposing to make two travel zones in Espoo, which basically punishes people who live and work in Espoo (refer also to my previous entry about the Länsi Metro and how that is going to mess up my day when it comes online). (EDIT: I stand corrected based on a comment from a reader below, thank you Urmas! But in the end it is the metro that will mess up things royally…)

– A friend of mine from the ringette world has made an excellent point about the development of ice halls in Espoo – they’re all being developed in Leppävaara and along the Länsiväylä corridor in the southern part of the city. Espoon Kiekkoseura (the Espoo Hockey Club), aka EKS, which also includes ringette has their home hall in Laaksolahti. Basically all of Espoo’s ringette teams from C juniors and younger practice and play in the practice hall. The main arena in Laaksolahti was condemned a few years ago and is not being used. The local paper Länsiväylä reported last fall that the City of Espoo has no redevelopment plans for Laaksolahti. Rumour has it that the practice hall will be shut down in a few years, leaving a great deal of Espoo’s ringette players with no place to play practice. Here is a FACT: EKS has the largest ringette club in the country, with more licenced players than any other club in the country… So yet again, women and girls get the shaft again because people think we are not a priority when it comes to the development of winter sport in Espoo. BUILD A NEW COMPLEX IN LAAKSOLAHTI and stop ignoring the constituents who live in central and north Espoo!!

I tested out the YLE and Helsingin Sanomat “voting machines,” in which your responses to the same statements made by candidates can be matched to find your ideal candidate. These results of both were surprising because they came up with candidates from parties I would never dream of voting for! I have an idea of a candidate, but when it comes down to it, I tend to vote along party lines. The voting machines didn’t really help me out this time.

If you are eligible to vote, be sure to exercise that right!