Voting Guide Meerhoven

Question 2: Meerland Park activities

Park Meerland is the green heart of Meerhoven. Central to the park is a huge playing field. This meadow is specially intended for residents to organise activities together. However, the necessary facilities to organise larger activities are lacking. The municipality is not yet willing to construct these facilities. See our letter of February 20, 2022. What is your position on this?

	GroenLinks is in favour of meeting people in green surroundings, without damaging nature. If the playing field is used for other activities, you ensure that more people will use the park in a different way. That is a positive thing. GroenLinks wants every neighbourhood to have its own budget, so that they can decide for themselves what they want to invest in. These facilities could fit in perfectly with that.
	The PvdA stands for strong, liveable neighbourhoods. This includes facilities and neighbourhood meetings. During our discussions, we regularly heard that people miss contacts in the neighbourhood and that more facilities are needed. This is a signal that we take very seriously. In our programme, we speak of neighbourhood directors. They are the first points of contact for residents. They are given the power to take action and the budget to realise what the local residents think is needed in their neighbourhood. So we arrange the finances per neighbourhood. And we have also made structural funds available for this in our election programme. Under the chapter ‘Neighbourhoods and housing’ € 1 million (area directors) and under the chapter ‘Safety, inclusiveness and inhabitants’ € 0.5 (neighbourhood budgets).
	We think it’s great if residents organise initiatives themselves that the neighbourhood needs and we think the municipality should facilitate this as much as possible. The municipality should help and support, not be the stumbling block, so let’s quickly build those facilities so that great things can be organised.
	The Ouderen Appel – Hart voor Eindhoven believes that social cohesion is promoted through large activities, so that the neighbourhood functions as a village, and that large family events can be programmed. The municipality should therefore facilitate the residents’ association. A well-organised residents’ association needs space. Indoor and outdoor space, such as a large park with sufficient facilities to be able to enjoy activities such as the MiniDisco, the Marathon Relay, the Six-Camps, large party evenings and, for example, Toy Markets, for young and old and for all the residents of Meerhoven.
	Here, too, we understand that possibilities are being looked into. 50PLUS is in favour of neighbourhood budgets in which residents can jointly determine how this is spent.
	ChristenUnie Eindhoven will not respond to the questions that you have put forward, for the fundamental reason that in this day and age – prior to the elections – you can seduce politicians into making any statement if that will bring in votes in his/her eyes. We are in the council on the oath that we have been elected there without ‘charge or consultation’ and committing ourselves in advance to positions of interest groups feels to us contrary to that principle.
	The Piratenpartij wants to introduce neighbourhood budgets that residents can decide for themselves how to invest in their own living environment. To be spent by and precisely in order to give residents the opportunity to give their own interpretation of public spaces.
	Those facilities must be provided. Give people a say in their own neighbourhood.
	Voor FVD zou Park Meerland zeker ‘the place to be’ moeten worden waar mensen uit Meerhoven elkaar kunnen ontmoeten en eventueel nieuwe wijkgenoten kunnen leren kennen. Vooral in de warmere maanden van het jaar. Mochten hier goede burgerinitiatieven voor zijn – en dat kan bijna niet anders – dan zou de gemeente hier altijd welwillend tegenover moeten staan. Ook al kost het wat geld. Doordat de vinexwijk Meerhoven relatief nieuw is en er bovendien mensen woonachtig zijn met uiteenlopende achtergronden, kan het verbinden van de mensen en het bouwen van een gemeenschap wel een steuntje in de rug gebruiken.
	For FVD, Park Meerland should certainly become ‘the place to be’ where people from Meerhoven can meet each other and possibly get to know new neighbourhood residents. Especially in the warmer months of the year. If there are good citizens’ initiatives for this – and that is almost inevitable – the municipality should always be favourably disposed to them. Even if it costs a bit of money. Because the Meerhoven Vinex neighbourhood is relatively new and there are people living there with diverse backgrounds, connecting people and building a community could use some support.
	It is a really small investment to make something generally possible. It should be possible to find room in the budget for such a relatively small amount. Together with the residents, the specific budget for investments can be used to begin with, but the entire budget available for Meerhoven can be used to see where space can be found. After all, that entire budget is intended for Meerhoven, so the residents should be able to determine that as well. It is also better in terms of reliability to get it right the first time than to keep arranging it through renting, if at all possible.  And perhaps it is an idea to charge a little extra for desired commercial activities, in order to save for other facilities that may be required.

The following parties did not respond: