Gerlinde Grünn, the KPÖ’s top candidate for the mayoral election on January 12th, invited people to the “Yellow Krokodil” yesterday. She said she wanted to be there for those people who don’t have a lobby. Because it is a topic close to her heart, she aims at housing. She has been successful in this regard, she says, because on her initiative “there is a deposit fund – a loan for people who have to move but have no money.” This should be increased, as should the social fund.
When it comes to housing, Graz, led by KPÖ mayor Elke Kahr, is a role model – she is coming to Linz on January 8th. “There is a rent surcharge there; no one has to spend more than a third of their household income on housing costs.”
More transparency
She is also concerned about relieving the burden on families – extending the 100 euro school start package for people with low incomes is important. There should also be free food for after-school and kindergarten children again, because there is by no means a guarantee that all children will be well looked after. Free travel on all Linz lines is an ecologically and socially important measure.
Then Gerlinde Grünn turned to the circumstance that made her a candidate for mayor in the first place, namely the job haggling and the cover-up of it, which led to Klaus Luger’s resignation. There was a shift in authority from the local council to the city senate and the mayor, whom she has always criticized. This led to “too great a concentration of power among individuals and to high-handedness”. In the future, the city senate, as well as the local council, should meet publicly, she says, so that “it becomes more transparent and more people can see it. The same should also apply to the control office reports. Outsourced city companies should be brought closer to the city again. “What’s there proceeds remains hidden from the local council.”
Role models in Graz and Salzburg
During the election campaign, like Elke Kahr and the Salzburg KPÖ deputy mayor Kay-Michael Dankl, she wanted to talk to people on an equal footing. In direct contact you can see the many problems people face. “The poor don’t scream, poverty is quiet, it is associated with a lot of shame – you only find out about that when you talk to people.” The start of this is on December 7th at the Südbahnhofmarkt.
Source: Nachrichten
