Reykjavík Grapevine - 23.05.2014, Blaðsíða 14

14
The Reykjavík Grapevine
Issue 06 — 2014
www.fabrikkan.is reservations: +354 575 7575
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URGER
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Reykjavík
Art Museum
artmuseum.is
Guided tours in
English every week
Thursdays at 6 p.m. – Hafnarhús
Fridays at 1 p.m. – Kjarvalsstaðir
Ásmundur Sveinsson, Sigh, 1948. Ragnar Kjartansson, God, 2007.
Open daily
One admission
to three museums
2014 summer exhibitions
– 120 years of Icelandic art
ments for rent to individuals and families
under a specific income and property
maximum], students, Búseti [a co-opera-
tive building association], FEB [the Asso-
ciation of the Elderly] and others in build-
ing houses for a range of different people.
We envision that such a project could help
correct the market. Once that goal has
been reached, the city could then sell its
share in the project.
The excessive emphasis on
owner occupancy in Iceland
has resulted in a lopsided hous-
ing market and people who wish to rent
are simply out of luck. We must reverse
this by strengthening the rental market
and providing more affordable housing.
Especially by encouraging housing co-
operatives and other non-profit solutions
to the housing problem.
[So it appears that all of the parties basi-
cally agree on at least one thing: Reykja-
vík’s rental market is pretty shitty!]
Will you need to increase the
municipal tax in Reykjavík to
meet expenditures? Or will
you cut other expenditures to
decrease the tax?
We do not intend to raise taxes,
nor are we promising to lower
them. Such promises have to be
underpinned by cuts in expenditure; we
have seen a lot of that in recent years. It
would be irresponsible to squeeze
schools and welfare any harder.
We will lower taxes in
Reykjavík.
Do you approve of the current
agenda with regard to city
planning? Will you make any
changes to it?
We will propose a number
of changes to the city plan-
ning agenda, as the existing one is much
too favourable towards the concentra-
tion of concrete monsters in the city cen-
tre which will serve the interests of big
capital speculators.
No, we do not [approve of the
agenda]—that is the major rea-
son that we’ve come together
and united for these elections. Yes, we
will [make changes to the agenda]. The
suburbs will have more weight and the
airport will stay in its place until an ac-
ceptable solution has been found that is
in harmony with the wishes of the ma-
jority of the inhabitants of Reykjavík.

Is the tourism boom having
a negative effect on city life?
Where does your party stand
on the growing number of ho-
tels and hostels in downtown
Reykjavík? Do you think they
are a threat to the city centre,
or a welcome addition?
The tourism boom is hav-
ing a negative effect on
city life in many ways. It should not be
promoted further. Growing the number
of hotels and other tourist facilities could
be followed by a deep crisis.
The increase of tourism is an im-
portant boon for Reykjavík and
the whole country. The increase has
however happened very quickly and
negative consequences include a lack of
lodgings, which have led to many buying
flats and renting them out to tourists, or
renting out their own apartments, which
is of course not an ideal solution and it
raises rental prices. An increase in hotels
is a solution to this problem, but there
has to be a balance with the existing en-
vironment so that in the end there is
more to downtown Reykjavík than just
hotels. We want the city to have a diverse
cultural life, with good shops and ser-
vice. There are about 1,100 hotel rooms
about to be built downtown and it's only
right that further developments be made
outside the city centre.
In some ways yes, and others no.
The hotels cannot take over the
city centre, or else it will lose its
charm. They are reaching the limit.
No, we think it is wonderful that
so many people wish to visit our
city and think that tourism
brings many more opportunities than
downsides. Tourism is pushing prices
up, but at the same time, it is sustaining a
growing local design, arts and crafts in-
dustry that otherwise would not exist.
We know Reykjavík has many wonder-
ful places that tourists aren't familiar
with, and think there are opportunities
waiting to be discovered. We highly rec-
ommend the second floor window at
Hallgrímskirkja.
However, the growing number of ho-
tels in Reykjavík is a cause for concern
since only four out of 10 are returning
a profit at the moment. Having more
tourists fill the city coffers is, of course,
a good thing, but hotels’ supply and de-
mand must be studied thoroughly. We
Icelanders have a poor track record of
having a 'Gold rush' mentality. We need
to learn from history and take the time
to consider where we're headed.
The tourism boom is a wel-
come addition to Reykjavík.
We have asked for an evalua-
tion of the numbers of accommodation
with regards to the predicted number of
tourists in the coming years, so we can
estimate how much more rooms we
need. We need to be careful and make
sure that the city doesn’t lose its charm
and authenticity with the increased
number of visitors.
What ideas do you have for im-
proving the public bus system?
Will you continue to make
Reykjavík a more bike-friendly
capital?
We will make Reykjavík
more bike-friendly and
promote public transportation. We will
start working on a long-term plan for the
construction of a metro system in the
capital area with a possible expansion to
the Keflavík airport.
To begin with we want to in-
crease the hours buses run on
Sundays. It's unacceptable that
people can't use public transport on Sun-
day mornings. We should aim to have
more buses running at peak hours. We
should also look at the possibility of get-
ting lightweight electronic buses where
possible. We're looking at the possibility
of establishing a Bus Rapid Transit or a
similar system to increase transport ca-
pacity on the main routes. A real city
needs a real public transport system.
We'll also keep making Reykjavík a bike
friendly city, like we have in the past four
years.
The level of service for the
public transportation system
should be improved. For ex-
ample by increasing service on week-
ends and late at night. We must also con-
tinue to improve the bike path system by
making it easier to commute on bike.
Does your party have any
plans for recycling?
We want to greatly increase
waste sorting. There is a reason
to do so, for example, for the
sake of sorting, as it reveals to us our con-
sumption habits. It is also eco-friendly
and economical. Big steps have been
made with sorting paper, and we need to
keep moving forward until we have be-
come a recycling heaven.
We want fair competition be-
tween waste collection com-
panies.
Yes. The Left-green movement
has proposed Reykjavik cut
down on waste by becoming a
plastic-bag free city. We also wish to
make it easier for citizens to recycle their
household waste.
What do you think of Reyk-
javík Energy and how those
affairs were handled?
We value it for the pure energy
that it can provide us with.
Jón Gnarr has placed a big
emphasis on human rights
worldwide. Will you follow in
his footsteps? Do you, for ex-
ample, plan to end Reykjavík’s
partnership with Moscow?
We will surely emphasise
human rights, and speak
for them worldwide, not only for queer
people but for all groups of society. In-
creasing poverty and inequality is a real
threat to human rights in Icelandic soci-
ety and they are the roots of many social
problems. We do not have any plans to
end Reykjavík’s partnership with Mos-
cow. Although human rights are being
brutally violated by Russian authorities,
not least towards queer people, human
rights are also violated to a different ex-
tent in all the capitalist countries of the
world.
We will not dress in drag, but
we will fight for human rights.
We have not made a decision on
Moscow’s partnership with Reykjavík
yet.
Yes, Reykjavík should be a pro-
ponent of human rights. The
city should work with grass-
roots and human rights groups as we
have done in the case of Moscow. All our
partners have to respect human rights,
and it will depend on our cooperation
with the LGBT community in Reykjavík
and Moscow how the relationship be-
tween the cities will develop.
Does your party believe gender
inequality is an issue in Reyk-
javík? If so, what does your
party plan to do to combat it?
We believe that gender equality
is headed in the right direction
in Iceland, but we still have a
long road ahead of us. Gender based
wage difference is a reality and we will
apply ourselves completely in eradicat-
ing it. It's not acceptable that someone
gets paid less by virtue of her gender. We
need to address all kinds of violence,
with a special emphasis on gender-based
violence. It is a very important human
rights issue.
No, not to any extent.
Where do you stand on asylum
seeker issues? Is the process
of reviewing their applica-
tions working? Does it need to
change?
The human rights of asy-
lum seekers are brutally
violated in Iceland. We think that the
Dublin Regulation is misused to send
asylum seekers away without investigat-
ing their cases. All asylum applications
should be reviewed independently, with-
out delay, and in the meantime, the ap-
plicants should be treated better—the
benefit of the doubt should be in favour
of the person who is seeking asylum.
It has become pretty obvious
that the situation that asylum
seekers must face when coming
to Iceland is bleak. The Dublin Regula-
tion is most often cited as the reason for
why we cannot do any more for asylum
seekers, but we Pirates believe that there
is much more room for flexibility when
people come to Iceland seeking asylum.
All that is lacking is the will.
How do you plan to tackle
immigration issues? Do you
think the city should help im-
migrants assimilate better to
Icelandic society?
We celebrate diversity and think
it is very positive that people
want to move to Iceland and
Reykjavík. Immigrants should be helped
to adjust to Icelandic society and should
first and foremost be excited to integrate
into it. Those that have a high proficien-
cy in their native language are more
likely to be able to learn another lan-
guage and that's why we aim to nurture
bilingual students in our schools. But we
are first and foremost thankful for all of
those that want to live in Reykjavik and
make it a more exciting city.
Samfylkingin has an extensive
immigration policy, which we
have translated into eight lan-
guages, and a shorter version of it into 14
languages. What matters most for us is
that immigrants have the chance to par-
ticipate actively in society. We are work-
ing hard to inform immigrants on their
right to vote and we also have two immi-
grants among our top 10 candidates. One