AVS. Arkitektúr verktækni skipulag - 01.09.2004, Page 75

Ákveðið var að bílageymsla yrði byggð hér undir Tjörnina. Hvar er hún? / Here it was decided to build a parking garage under the Lake. What became of it?
Politics and
Planning decisions
Bjöm Bjarnason, City Councillor of the Independence Party and Minister of Justice and Ecclesiastical Affairs.
Politics have a different face, depending on the matters
at hand at any given time. There is for example a large
difference between seeking office in local elections or
parliamentary elections although in the same area. In
local elections the candidates in Reykjavík are much
closer to the voters than when national issues are at
stake in parliamentary elections.
The issues at hand are in the City Council and its
committees are also usually more connected to the well
being of the citizens than those in Parliament. Decisions
on local issues also often call forth strong reactions
when these decisions impact clear and obvious interests
of the citizens.
In the law and regulations for local governments it
has been attempted to build a framework for planning
decisions so that all interested bodies have the oppor-
tunity to express their views and opinions. This does
not however exclude differences of opinion - the goal of
these regulations is that the process will contribute to an
agreement as far as possible. On the other hand I have
often been surprised by how far matters have been
taken when disagreement surfaces.
In the City Council of Reykjavík planning issues are
of course much debated and the discussion is often
characterized by very basic principles. Members of the
Independence Party maintain that the attitudes of their
opponents are more related to their own wishful think-
ing than what the citizens themselves want. Part of the
left wing philosopy is based on authoritarianism which is
never positive - least of all in planning. In planning one
should particularly strive to accommodate the wishes of
the citizens. This basic disagreement is often at the cen-
tre of discussions in the City Council but is not always
clear because of disputes with meagre content about
whether the minority had agreed to a planning decision
during preliminary stages or not. To avoid such futile
discussion, the Independence Party in the City Council
has adopted the policy to wait with their decision until
the advertising period is over and it is possible to take
a decision based on all comments that have been put
fon/vard on the proposal.
The strength of coalitions in local government can be
judged by how easy it is to decide planning issues. If the
majority is divided it is possible that it does not venture
to make potentially controversial planning decisions and
prefer doing nothing rather than putting collaboration
within the majority to the test.
In Reykjavík it is easy to point out recent examples of
this. Around the middle of the summer of 2002, shortly
after the council elections the Mayor of Reykjavík held
a press meeting, declaring that in the autumn work
would start on a parking garage under the Lake in
Reykjavík. This would be a particularly economical and
urgent undertaking. Since that time nothing has hap-
pened except that this project has journeyed between
committees and specialists within the city apparatus. In
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