Zwijndrecht has a referendum on the 20th of December.

The town council of Zwijndrecht has decided that they are going to hold a referendum about the Oosterweelconnection in Antwerp.

The town council has demanded a referendum because they want to know if the citizens want to chance the infrastructure, because it will infect traffic in a lot of cities in Antwerp so that’s why the town council want to know what the people think about it.

The town council voted unanimous yes on the question if there should be a referendum. Only when they had to choose a date Vlaams Belang voted against a certain date. The lange wapperbridge doesn’t cross Zwijndrecht so they didn’t need to vote for that. But in other cities in Antwerp this will be a very important referendum because the bridge will not only affect traffic but also the view and the value of certain houses and areas. The only thing they will vote for is the infrastructure, for instance the road exits on the highways and the installation of sound screens to reduce the noise of the traffic.

The people will be informed with brochures. They are going to vote in December to decide what they are going to do with the Oosterweelconnection.

I think it’s a good idea to inform the citizens, because the people live there and it will affect the way they live. Because there will be a lot of traffic, but there are also good things about it maybe it will be a solution for the traffic jams and the roads will be safer so there will be less accidents. I think it’s stupid that the referendum isn’t binding, because in the end it’s the government who will decide. We live in a democracy so if the people voted no than it’s clear what the people want and than it’s not the government who has the last word, in a democracy the people have the last word. But that’s just my opinion.

Jonas Hillemans RP2

Source: http://www.standaard.be/Artikel/Detail.aspx?artikelId=DMF20091022_089&word=gemeenteraad