Our election manifesto in english: for an ambitious city.

D66 is a true education party. Many decisions about education are taken at the national level, in which D66 advocates for better education. As a municipality, our main responsibility is to handle the school infrastructure. Therefore, we will be investing heavily in this in the coming years.

D66 identifies education not just as reading and doing maths. We believe it is important that all children have the opportunity to participate in art, culture and sports. We also believe that the municipality should ensure that all children between 2 and 4 years old are able to attend pre-school.

Finally, D66 considers it important that Haarlem can offer good higher education: MBO, HBO and university. Students need housing. That is why D66 is building more student residencies that will remain available for students.

D66 wants all new residents in Haarlem to be able to participate in everything the city has to offer. This includes people who have moved here from other countries for work and refugees with a residence status who found a safe home here. Information from the municipality must be easy to find, in several languages.

If necessary, we want the municipality to help newcomers to participate in the city: at school, by finding a job, with voluntary work or in clubs or societies. That is why D66 has provided a building for the ‘Internationale Schakelklas’, for children who are new in the Netherlands. We are also committed to house the International School. D66 considers it to be important that Haarlem retains these facilities.

D66 wants residents of Haarlem to have direct influence on the decisions taken by the municipality. For example, we think the ‘democratic neighbourhood budget’ is an excellent idea. Residents decide what the municipality spends money on. We are also in favour of the citizens’ deliberation, where residents of Haarlem come together to advise politicians on complex decisions. D66 wants to use this more often.

D66 believes that residents should be given the opportunity to take over tasks from the municipality. For instance, the management of a community centre or the upkeep of green spaces. Residents receive the budget that is necessary to do these tasks. We call this the communities’ “right to challenge”.

Many residents of Haarlem suffer from the housing shortage and high housing prices. D66 wants to work on this by building affordable houses: 1000 new homes per year. 80% of those homes must be available to people with low and middle incomes. D66 is in favour of measures to ensure that home seekers are not pushed away by investors. For example, by introducing purchase protection.
 
New houses must be accompanied by new sports fields, playgrounds, schools and public transport. D66 will only build new houses when these facilities grow with them. This will ensure that Haarlem will stay an enjoyable city to live in. D66 chooses to not build in the green areas around the city. We have to protect that.

D66 considers it important that Haarlem remains a city in which people not only live, but also work. We want to keep jobs in the city. Entrepreneurs must be given the opportunity to do business. With fewer rules and more options. We believe that the Waarderpolder should remain a business park, to give entrepreneurs the physical space they need.

D66 wants Haarlem to become more sustainable. This allows Haarlem to contribute to limiting climate change. We need the business community to help our city on this journey. Therefore, D66 wants Haarlem to make a bigger effort to attract sustainable companies. The municipality must intervene when companies do not comply with legal obligations to become more sustainable.

D66 believes that cities should prioritize humans, not cars. Therefore, D66 is investing in other options for getting around. So not everyone needs their own car. D66 has opted to divide the space in a smart way: first make room for walking, cycling and public transport. Then make room for the car.

The air must become cleaner in the city. This is important for our health. D66 chooses to make regluations for trucks, cars, scooters and motorcycles stricter. We will do this step by step. Motor vehicles that pollute the air with dirty exhaust gases will no longer be welcome in a few years.

Parked cars take up a lot of space. That’s difficult. Many Haarlem residents want more greenery in the street, or space to walk, cycle and play. In neighborhoods where space is scarce, Haarlem must arrange parking better. D66 is in favour of parking permits for residents and entrepreneurs in neighborhoods where there is a shortage of space. By limiting the number of permits per household and per neighborhood, there will be fewer cars on the street. Visitors pay to park their car. This will free up space to plant trees, for frontage gardens, for bicycle racks and for children to play.

The climate is changing. To encounter this, D66 opts for a sustainable future. By making Haarlem carbon neutral and gas-free, district by district. By building new houses that are well insulated, with circular materials. The municipality should help residents to insulate existing homes, for instance with subsidies and sustainability loans. We believe that Haarlem should be an example in making monumental buildings more sustainable. This allows us to jointly reduce the carbon emissions in our city.

D66 wants to generate the energy it needs as local as possible. Solar panels are an important part of this. We want the roofs of Haarlem to be covered with solar panels. After that we will look at other options. Such as solar panels along roads or on the water. D66 also believes that we should explore whether there is space for windmills in Haarlem.

An active lifestyle is more healthy. D66 thinks it is important that everyone can exercise close to home. Every neighborhood must therefore have good sports and play areas, in parks and on squares. Such as fitness equipment, sports fields and skating rinks. We continue to invest in existing sports halls, sports parks and swimming pools.

The green spaces around the city are important for sports and relaxation. The nature around Haarlem must be preserved, not built on. D66 believes that these areas should be used and  and explored. We are in favour of recreational facilities in green areas, such as a kiosk or a small tea house. D66 makes room for cycling and walking routes in green spaces. We can use the money that this generates for the management of these areas.

D66 considers it important that art and culture are visible in the city. D66 therefore believes that we should support culture. We want to stay within the existing culture budget: not more money for culture, but spend the money smarter. Large cultural institutions need to work better together. This way they can achieve more together. We want to make it easier for new, small cultural organizations to form. This way we get more different kinds of art and culture in Haarlem. D66 considers it important that the night culture is given the freedom to grow and diversify in Haarlem.

D66 believes it is important that all Haarlem residents can live a healthy life. That is why we want to focus more on prevention: preventing health problems instead of just curing them. A healthy life starts with a healthy place to live, with space to play sports and exercise nearby. Smoking and poor food also cause Haarlem residents to develop health problems and live shorter lives. We want to help Haarlemmers live a healthy life. The municipality must inform people. We want to make playgrounds and schoolyards smoke-free.

We also see that there are problems in healthcare. Healthcare must be simpler and better. The municipality must therefore work better with health insurers and care providers. That is why D66 continues to invest in the Social Neighborhood Teams and Youth and Family Centers. They are located within the neighborhoods and know the residents. In this way we ensure that people who need help receive help on time.

D66 believes that people are only free when they are safe. That is why we are committed to a safe city. Domestic violence is the most common form of violence. D66 believes that more attention should be paid to the prevention of domestic violence.

Of course it is also important that the neighborhood where you live is safe. D66 wants to prevent crime. With youth work we help young people to make something beautiful out of life. However, if crime creates insecurity on the street, this must of course be tackled. Camera surveillance can help if there are problems in a neighborhood. We only place cameras where and when necessary. D66 does not want the whole of Haarlem to be full of cameras that keep an eye on residents.

An increasing part of our lives is happening online. That is why D66 wants more attention for online safety. For example, countering online bullying, together with schools.

D66 thinks it is important that everyone in Haarlem can participate. This also means that everyone should be able to work for the municipality. We believe that the civil servants should reflect the diversity within our city. That is why we want more diversity within the municipal organization: civil servants with different backgrounds, different experiences, different cultures. This ensures that the plans that are made are in line with the city.

We believe that no one should be excluded in Haarlem. That is why D66 continues to fight for the rights of gay residents and transgender people. Anti-gay violence is unacceptable. We believe this should be prevented and addressed.

D66 considers it important that the plans of the municipality are affordable. We do not think it is wise if the municipality incurs large debts. D66 also sees that Haarlem is an expensive city to live in. We therefore believe that local taxes for residents of Haarlem should not increase any further. We ensure that housing costs in Haarlem become comparable to other medium-sized cities.

That is why we have to make choices. Not everything is possible. For D66, education, (youth) care, health, safety, sustainability and good public space are the most important tasks of the municipality. So we have to spend money on that and as a result there may be less money for other things.