[ad_1]
On Saturday, the Lund municipality crisis management held an emergency meeting due to the new corona guidelines on Friday. The city library is expected to close on Monday. Decisions about other municipal facilities are made formally after the weekend. At the same time, the president of the municipal board issued strong criticism of the new government restrictions.
– What we see now testifies to a kind of panic in the government where they try to take over in a way that creates an unsustainable situation in the municipalities, says Philip Sandberg (L).
Chairman of the Lund City Council, Philip Sandberg (L). Stock Photography.
On Friday, the government issued new guidelines for the closure of all municipal and state activities that are not “necessary.” On Saturday afternoon, the municipality of Lund held a crisis management meeting. No formal decisions have been made, but the city library is expected to close as early as Monday.
– What we are doing right now is planning the closure of the city library from Monday. Other libraries will not have staff on site, but if you have a library card, you can go to a library at any time and borrow books. It goes to almost every public library except the city library, says City Director Christoffer Nilsson.
Christoffer Nilsson believes that libraries are “more than just lending books.” Here’s a democratic mission, it says:
– We have a certain community service for people who are not computer savvy, to contact the authorities, retrieve information or have contact with family and friends. It is an important part to keep in a democratic society. Closing that kind of meeting place can be dangerous.
The municipality will hold more meetings tomorrow and formal decisions will be made then or on Monday.
Christoffer Nilsson is the city manager for Lund.
– It is a very worrying advance and what I reacted is not more measures – because I think it is necessary – but how to do it and in what way. And that means a total change of direction compared to the previous information, says Philip Sandberg to Sydsvenskan.
Christoffer Nilsson was also upset that the municipality came out with information on a Friday afternoon. He would have liked the municipality employees to rest for the weekend.
– I am very angry with the government. Now I am a bureaucrat, so I have nothing to do with politics, but I am angry about a press conference coming on Friday afternoon, says the municipal director.
Philip Sandberg writes in his post that the new guidelines show “panic” in the government.
– It is not logical to first describe mouth guards as ineffective and almost dangerous and then they are almost good, but only on public transport during rush hours. And it’s also not logical for you to change conditions so drastically for industries that are already affected without compensating for them at the other extreme, says Philip Sandberg.
But has the government announced that support measures will come?
– These crisis measures would have been in force for several months.
The city library is closed on Mondays.
Government guideline The closure of unnecessary municipal activities also affects sports facilities. Here, the municipality of Lund wants a dialogue with the life of the association before a decision is made. City manager Christoffer Nilsson says the municipality has “a pronounced childish outlook.”
– We do not want children to be greeted by a closed leisure center or a training canceled due to a closed room. We want to catch up to have a Christmas vacation that works for our children and youth, says Christoffer Nilsson.
– But accessibility is likely to be severely affected in public facilities.
You think it’s important that the right decision is made by the right person and that the delegation works as it should. Throughout the pandemic, the municipality of Lund has been strict in this line control.
– It can be experienced as if we were a little tougher, but we have a very good effect on what we do in Lund, he says.
Philip Sandberg, chairman of the municipal board, says he it is basically positive about the Swedish strategy of listening to science and relying on individual responsibility.
– I think that the strategy chosen by many countries in Europe where there will be competition over who makes the most closings will pose big problems. So I basically think the strategy has been positive. But this is a 180 degree turn that has been made very suddenly and without warning. This creates an unsustainable situation for the affected industries, says Philip Sandberg.
