The dial tone, Opinions | This is not good enough!

Should it be like that?

– They must stop arguing about Bybanen. It must come to Åsane now!

Hildegunn

The light rail

– The safety of the citizens should be a good enough argument for putting the Bybanen in a tunnel to Åsane. Just think of the bad publicity if tourists are run over in front of the world heritage site Bryggen. Or when young and old people are going to walk drunk along a light rail track in the middle of the city centre. A death trap. Light rail drivers cannot stop in a short time! Let the people of Åsane get an efficient, safe and secure light rail in a tunnel. We need a light rail that does not take as long or longer than the buses.

Thomas N., Åsane

For the good of children

– No, it would not affect welfare even if they wanted to halve the property tax, assured the incoming city council leader from the Conservative Party, Christine Meyer, firmly during the election campaign. Damn, I said butter. Because it goes without saying that when the cake gets smaller, there is also less to distribute. And now we see the result.

Only a little into the year, the money for substitutes for the kindergartens has been used up, while sickness absence is skyrocketing, due to exhausted employees. Yes, one has even been forced to close certain departments because one could not get enough staff to fill the basic staffing in the kindergartens. As the situation is now in several places, the children, especially those who need the most follow-up, do not get the provision they are required by law to have and for which the parents pay.

How on earth did one think, when sickness absence was budgeted at 2%, while last year it was a whopping 15.07%. And served that this should be obtained by streamlining. That exhausted employees would take on even more and thus increase sickness absence even more.

And the answer from kindergarten councilor Daniel Hägglund (Frp) to BA on Thursday 18 April is that it is not the case that we have a money bin to take from. That is why we have a task review to see if there is something we can reprioritise, so that our most important services for children and the elderly can be strengthened.

But a bit late to turn around when the bin has gone to tax relief. After all, they had the previous city council’s budget to deal with, which showed how much one had to have for this side of welfare. Instead of using the cheese grater and the belief in greater effort from employees through so-called streamlining. Without any idea of ​​the consequences, these were just empty words. Is this how the city council fulfills the need in the best interest of children?

Helga Kleiva Pedersen

author, former journalist and editor

Answer: It is clear that the high level of sickness absence makes the budgetary situation for the kindergartens challenging. As regards the substitute budget share and the percentage of absence, these are not directly comparable, as the kindergartens have more funds for substitutes than the additional substitute allocation, for example through reimbursements.

Both the kindergartens and the Bergen school are in a challenging everyday life, and I think we should have a national debate about whether the state transfers in the sector are sufficient. Municipal finances are tight throughout the country, and last year three out of five municipalities had to use their discretionary fund – which is only intended for extraordinary cases. In Bergen municipality, we adjusted the 2024 budget for wage and price growth, and we made a commitment to environmental workers in schools. In order to further strengthen the municipality’s core activities, the city council has initiated a task review to re-prioritise resources to the most important – which is precisely services for children and the elderly.

Daniel Hägglund (Frp), City Council for Kindergarten and School

Fast

– Why is the Norwegian media so concerned with the fasting month of Ramadan? For a normal, healthy person, it is not a “big deal” to fast from sunrise to sunset, especially not in the winter months. I have tried it myself!

Anna Johannessen

Perfect

– The mountains, the sea, the small houses and a beautiful city center within walking distance of everything make Bergen a perfect city!

Aurora from Finland

and Robin from Belgium

Slander

– Mikkel Grüner (SV) and Katrine Nødtvedt (MDG) simultaneously responded to my criticism on 19 February. that these stigmatized Tom-Ove Monsen (Pp), because of things he said at an internal meeting about drugs and psychiatry 4.1. and to which politicians from all opposition parties reacted. 19.2. I asked the 3 questions:

1) Why did they choose to publish from this closed meeting?

2) Are they able to interpret Monsen’s experience-based statements in their proper context?

3) Why did they go to BA instead of taking it up with Monsen first?

And they answered the first question; they thought it should be a public matter to pass on things from such meetings. And I agree with them on this. But I didn’t get an answer to the last two questions. Instead, they repeated their negative characteristics of Monsen. Therefore, I will answer these myself:

2) In the report on 29.1. I see that Monsen is very familiar with possible challenges with drug and psychiatric patients, but I cannot see that he condemned this group. Because he pointed out the need for good competence, with very relevant examples: a) people with such ailments can self-medicate and be a danger to themselves, b) they can be perceived as frightening, by threatening them with knives, axes or stabbing weapons. And such criticism is more enlightening than stigmatizing. But in their misunderstood genialism, the opinion police cannot tolerate this, claiming such a demeaning attitude.

3) In the answer 19.2. Grüner and Nødtvedt revealed that they see Monsen as an “opponent”. And with such a view of political competitors, it becomes logical that rather than talking in private, one would slander through the media – by emphasizing the most negative. But if we are to get the best possible policy, everyone must have the attitude that you can also learn things from your competitors. Otherwise, it is not the first time that Katrine Nødtvedt acts as the opinion police, cf. the criticism against Joel Ystebø (KrF) on 1.9.23 due to his view on transidentity.

Vidar Sætre, Øvre Ervik

Answer: Hi Vidar. I still believe that the criticism we have put forward against Monsen in the media is both legitimate and factual, based on what he said about people with mental disorders and substance abuse problems in the meeting (what he said in the media afterwards is something a little different). In politics, it is common to refer to those who have conflicting political goals as opponents, and this is also how the relationship between the Pensioners’ Party and MDG is in most matters (although we also agree on certain things, such as abolishing the ban on bird feeding). So we probably disagree a bit about what it means to be opinion police, I think in any case it should still be the case that in the public debate there is room for several different opinions, and that you can criticize and debate without it becoming seen as an attempt to gag someone else.

Regards, Katrine Nødtvedt (MDG)

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Urban development

– What they are building today is destroying our city. As an adult (almost 92 years old, and who has seen and followed the development), I experience this development with the large development companies here in our city. Unpleasant boxes roll out across nature. You never know what you might get as a neighbor. The other day I drove to Flesland and then I passed a number of these housing boxes. It is incredible that the green fields have been removed in favor of those who make money from this development. I have thought many times in the past that we need to take care of the green lungs here, we may one day use them again. Our valley, Fyllingsdalen, has well-thought-out plans that ensure light, air and green areas for everyone in Fyllingsdalen. The bragging list is long. We hope this will not be shaken and that in the future we will avoid high-rise buildings and other ugly densification.

Inger Lill Johansen

Helpful

– I want to thank the very kind young girl on bus 293 from Kleppestø terminal. I had a lot to carry and she held my rucksack all the way to Krokåsfellett/Vinkelfjellet.

Thank you very much,

Per Jørn Krydsby

The laws of war

– In BA 23.04. then the commander of the Sydnæs Battalion says, “Now we have taken revenge. [ …] If you throw a few eggs at an arch corps, it affects everyone.” When they stand in uniform and armed, I have to remind them of the laws of war. Norway has signed the Geneva Convention, Section III, Article 33, “Collective punishment and any form of threats or terror is prohibited.” (And if someone were to argue that these small soldiers are acting in peacetime, Norwegian law also prohibits harassment and unnecessary noise.) Is anyone following this up?

Regards, Erik Nessen, community complainer

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The bow corps must have been egged on: – It’s pissing on the city’s culture

Policy

– I have previously been very skeptical of Sylvi Listhaug. Although she has had some flashes of light at times, e.g. when she pointed this out with Swedish conditions and not least when she ensured that the production of sheep meat was sufficient in this country. One should not commit a shameful injustice, it says. She warned against a potential new government Solberg’s spending. I don’t think you should have overly high expectations. On the other hand, there must be better people than Solberg? Peter Frølich must then be a much better starting point than Erna Solberg!

Arne Gabrielsen

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Our school is a bit alternative