Debate, Columnist | Erling had a lovely trip. Until he came home to his own neighborhood: The bottom has been reached

In the dazzling the spring sun, the wife and I took a promenade on Byens Beste, as my grandmother used to say. The highlight of the tour was the discovery of the newly restored fountain at the bottom of Nygårdsparken, a faithful copy of the “water art” that stood there in the eighteenth century. What a generous enrichment for this adventure park, which belongs among Europe’s most beautiful!

When Bergen municipality first takes charge, the job is done properly.

From there the trip went down towards Småpudden. In the area by the Cornerteatret, with spacious outdoor seating around a rich flea market, there was a buzz of life. Happy people of all ages soaked up the sun and praised spring. It was a sight to be happy about, and not least relieved. No one can doubt that Møhlenpris has been lifted out of the gloomy decay that characterized the district a few years ago.

The idyll did not end there. On the return trip through the park, it was a joy to see that the new playgrounds were in full use. In this part of central Bergen it must be a real pleasure to have one’s childhood. All in all, our little city tour, which also included the springtime beauty of the Muséhagen, left an impression of well-being that few major cities in the world can claim.

What a wonderful place isn’t Bergen at its best!

Then we came home to our own district, the Herostratically famous Vågsbunnen. I have previously troubled my readers with descriptions of misery from this area, and will not repeat myself. Most people who frequent Bergen city center know what I’m talking about. Others should take a Sunday trip via Korskirken.

Suffice it to say that bottom has been reached in Vågsbunnen.

With a short interval, two jam-packed public meetings have highlighted a deep concern in the Bergen population. Parents in Fana see that their young people’s surroundings are characterized by crime, violence and drugs. Residents and businesses near the drug slum in Vågsbunnen despair over similar conditions. Both groupings are calling for political action.

As you shout in the forest, you get an answer.

There is a parallel between the content of the two public meetings. It reflects a tragic cycle.

Lately a question has begun to gnaw at me. Could this be legal? Is it really the case that a public body, in this case the municipality of Bergen, can see through the fingers of criminal activity that takes place on municipal land – completely openly, obviously well organized, and undoubtedly for the purpose of profit?

It is said that the healer is as good as the thief. The pimping section tells us that whoever facilitates human trafficking is a criminal. The legislation cracks down on property owners who allow illegal activities on their exclusive property. Why don’t such rules also apply to the public sector? Is Bergen municipality above the law?

If residents and businesses in Vågsbunnen had sued the municipality for breaching the mafia clause, they should have a good case.

In more than For ten years, the drug trade has continued unhindered, with an increasingly institutionalized feel. The municipality has not lifted a finger. What lies behind this strange indulgence in criminal activity should be of interest to the prosecution.

It’s really unbelievable.

In all others traditional towns with a well-preserved centre, the area around Korskirken would be the heart of the café and nightlife scene. But in Bergen? No, here a united political environment has stepped in to hand over this delicacy to the criminal drug capital.

Are Bergen politicians for sale? Or are they just denser in the cardboard than elsewhere on the planet?

During the public meeting which was organized by Lille Øvregaten vel, police inspector Morten Ørn expressed that he regretted his efforts to expel drug sales from Nygårdsparken. As conditions have worsened, he now believes that the park “was probably better suited than Vågsbunnen” as a drug den.

No, the police inspector will not regret that job. In the park, the police did an exemplary job. But now the agency is prevented by the prevailing narco-liberalism – which extends far into the Supreme Court – from doing something similar for Vågsbunnen.

In the handling of in the drug slum in Vågsbunnen, Bergen’s politics have so far played bankrupt. But for my own part, I see little hope in Høyre’s Charlotte Spurkeland, social council. I imagine her friendly nature doesn’t get in the way of being “A Tough Mama” when needed. Hopefully she and Morten Ørn have already put their heads together. Spurkeland has announced an area investment in Vågsbunnen. It is a matter of ensuring that the plan gets broad political agreement behind it.

The day I see a flea market and a Biergarten at Korskirkveiten, like they have at Møhlenpris, I will be a happier Bergen