Henrik
Ramm-Schmidt
Espoo
"In my Espoo, we invest the most in our children and youth, with a special focus on schools and daycare, where I strongly advocate for smaller units and smaller groups!"
I am a Master Mariner/Captain and IT entrepreneur, living with my family of three children, wife and our dog here in Nöykkiö. I am active in local school politics in our Swedish Rum committee and in the board of Finno School, as well as engaged in volunteer work, including the parents' association in Storängen.
Important political topics
The best schools
In our schools, we must systematically work towards smaller groups, and I see it as a strength to also have smaller schools. This must be done even if it means higher costs, because investing in our young people is like putting money in the bank – but with a guaranteed return!
Equality and Equity
In our Espoo, we accept and respect everyone in the city and work to increase openness and understanding of our different cultures, backgrounds, and languages. I believe this is the key to success, not only in business life but also in our schools, daycare centers, and, most importantly, local politics.
Economy & Business
A city like Espoo thrives best when we have committed companies that produce sustainably, employ residents, and contribute to the city’s economy through successful operations and thus tax revenues. I advocate for creating structures that support entrepreneurship, especially among smaller and new businesses.
Candidate's answers in election machine
1 / 14
We should build upwards rather than expand into new areas in Espoo.
This is partly true, as it is more energy-efficient to build tall buildings rather than many small houses. However, we must ensure that all our different residential areas are planned with sufficient infrastructure, such as daycare centers, schools, and bus routes. We should also make sure that there is enough variation in housing sizes and ownership structures to mitigate segregation between different areas in Espoo.
2 / 14
Espoo is a safe city to live in.
This is true on almost every level, although we should remain vigilant about new risks in our city and work to counteract problems before they escalate. This applies especially to violence and bullying among our young people.
3 / 14
Espoo provides sufficient services and support for young people.
We have plenty of services and activities for young people, but we can always do better! I believe we should invest in so-called low-threshold activities and hobby opportunities that do not require participation several days a week and do not come with high costs.
4 / 14
Early childhood education should be free for everyone.
In my Espoo, we invest the most in our children and young people, but I believe that early childhood education (varhaiskasvatus, ie the daycare and pre-school) can have a cost for families who can afford it.
5 / 14
Schools should prioritize traditional textbooks over digital learning materials.
I mostly agree, but the fact is that digital learning materials can be significantly more environmentally friendly and enable easier translation into different languages, audiobooks, etc., and thus they certainly have a role in our schools as well.
6 / 14
One of the municipality’s most important tasks is to invest in sports facilities and opportunities for exercise and recreation.
The city\'s most important task is to invest in schools, but we should also make investments in leisure activities, as sports and physical activity in various forms have a positive impact on everyone\'s well-being.
7 / 14
It is important to provide all residents with equal opportunities for cultural activities.
8 / 14
The municipality should introduce or improve opportunities for residents to influence how municipal funds are used through participatory budgeting.
As an idea, this is certainly good, but we should ensure that those participating in such activities have access to the correct (impartial) materials and information so that they understand the bigger picture of budgeting, which is almost always a balance between different and often conflicting values.
9 / 14
The municipality should invest in public transportation.
On this point, I strongly advocate for reinstating direct bus lines in southern Espoo, as the metro results in such long travel times for many that they prefer to take the car into the city instead.
10 / 14
It should be possible to be a resident in more than one municipality, for example, through digital municipal citizenship.
I can imagine that dual residency or something similar could be a way to balance tax revenues between one’s home municipality and cottage municipality, but since Espoo is unlikely to benefit from this, I have to take a skeptical stance on the model.
11 / 14
The municipality should better facilitate the expansion of renewable energy, such as solar and wind power.
I fully agree on this point regarding solar energy, but I note that in Espoo, this should mean utilizing existing rooftops and similar surfaces rather than cutting down forests or taking farmland into use for wind or solar power. However, Espoo could likely invest in expanding wind power elsewhere in the country where conditions are more suitable for such projects.
12 / 14
The municipality should mix more housing types in planning than is currently the case.
This is what one could call a no-brainer :) We should in every way avoid increasing segregation in Espoo and this means, for example, to avoid setting up large rental apartment areas.
13 / 14
The municipality should introduce anonymous recruitment.
To some extent, yes, but it would of course be better if we had enough knowledge and understanding to conduct recruitment on the right grounds even without everyone being anonymous.
14 / 14
If you could give a superpower to your future political leader, what would it be?
And here, perhaps with the addition that decisions should be perfect from everyone\'s perspective. That could certainly be an interesting challenge :)