Second edition of Sterk Hoogkerk’s citizen budget has a festive kick-off

On Tuesday evening, March 26, 30 residents from Hoogkerk, Leegkerk, Vierverlaten, Gravenburg and de Buitenhof will gather at Cosun Beet Company for the kick-off of the second edition of Sterk Hoogkerk. What do they consider important for their own village or neighborhood? Tonight they will together choose the five themes for the 2024 citizen budget. A festive evening full of meetings, consultation and fun.

The municipality of Groningen reserves 300,000 euros annually for Hoogkerk’s citizen budget. Residents decide for themselves how they want to spend these euros. In Hoogkerk we use the method that was devised in Antwerp in 2014. Eighteen months ago, a delegation from Hoogkerk visited the Scheldt city to explore the process in more detail. We liked it so much that we decided to take it to Groningen. Sterk Hoogkerk was born!

Choose themes
Sterk Hoogkerk has five steps, which ultimately lead to the implementation of concrete ideas. This evening focuses on the first step: choosing the five themes within which the available money will be distributed. Residents can choose from seventeen themes. In a nutshell these are: Poverty, Safe Hoogkerk, Green Hoogkerk, Sustainable Hoogkerk, Traffic, Sharing and (re)using, Stronger together, Meeting in the neighborhood, Art and culture, Sports and exercise, Everyone belongs, Decide for yourself about your environment , Children and young people, Entrepreneurship and employment, Clean Hoogkerk, Health and Out in Hoogkerk. Prior to the evening, there was also frequent online voting and two special meetings were organized for youth and residents with a lower income. Tonight’s votes will be added to this and then the final choice will be made.

Thirty participants are eager to cast their votes. Some of them participated online last year and now want to experience it in person. Others want to reintroduce an idea that was dropped from the previous year. District councilor Eelco Eikenaar points out the special character of Sterk Hoogkerk: ‘It is an intensive process in which you enter into discussions with each other. The great thing is that you all have an in-depth conversation about the neighborhood.’ According to the councilor, this involvement is a great advantage. ‘Hoogkerk is really leading the way in this, not only in the Netherlands, but also in Europe!’ Councilor Mirjam Gietema (D66) closely follows projects involving resident participation and is therefore also present in Hoogkerk. ‘The people who went to Antwerp created something special and gained trust. That’s why it’s not a pilot, but an edition,” she says enthusiastically.

Dancing and discussing
In the canteen of Cosun Beet Company, the tables and chairs have made way for a real dance floor. The participants are armed with a theme card and move through each other in a swinging manner. The theme cards are passed from hand to hand. When the music stops, duos spontaneously form and discuss the themes on their cards. A kind of speed dating actually! When the music starts again, the participants and the theme cards continue dancing. And so new duos and new conversations are always created.

Fokko and Martin are also standing next to each other after the discontinuation of Europapa. Fokko would like to renovate the animal meadow within the theme ‘Meeting in the neighborhood’, Martin would like to further develop the multifunctional ice rink based on the theme ‘Children and young people’, for example with a playing field. The men discuss and consult for a few minutes, after which the points are divided: three points for the theme of Fokko’s card, four for Martin’s.

After the third round, Els and Niels stand together with the theme cards about ‘Poverty’ and ‘Green Hoogkerk’. Poverty is a difficult topic for both of them, because they have no personal experience with it and do not know anyone who has to deal with it. Niels: ‘I wouldn’t be able to come up with an idea that quickly, but of course they can come.’ Els: ‘Something about a food bank or donating computers to school children? Difficult, especially if you can’t solve it.’ Yet they consider Poverty to be an important theme and give it five points, compared to two for Groen Hoogkerk.

In the final round, Angela, Cherissa and Agnes talk about the themes ‘Children and young people’, ‘Sport and exercise’ and ‘Decide for yourself about your environment’. The distribution is successively 3, 0 and 7 points. With a total of 26 points, the theme of deciding for yourself about your environment seems to be a good contender. But is it enough?

Rash
Ultimately not. After counting both the online votes and the total on the voting cards, the following results emerge:

1. Sports and exercise
2. Traffic
3. Children and young people
4. Safe Hoogkerk
5. Schoon Hoogkerk.

The result is somewhat disappointing for two ladies from the Buitenhof. ‘We don’t really know where our ideas fall under. We had aimed for a coffee shop where residents can meet each other, but that is not included in the themes now.’ This is of course different for Martin: ‘I am very satisfied. This step has been taken! Now we can divide the money.” Martin is lucky. His idea for the multifunctional ice rink falls under both ‘Sport and exercise’ and ‘Children and young people’.

The next step
Now that the five overarching themes have been chosen, we can divide the budget among the themes. Two meetings are planned for this purpose: on Saturday afternoon, April 13, in the De Verbinding church building and on Tuesday evening, April 16, in the Village Hall of Hoogkerk. Residents then also discuss with each other and decide together about the distribution.

That’s not the case yet, because while enjoying snacks and drinks, the conversations at the table or on the dance floor continue. The hospitality and great catering from Cosun Beet Company made it a successful party.

Authors: Joël Meerveld and Jaap Krol
Photos: Alma Streefkerk and Benne de Jong