Sami who?
I am a candidate of the Left Alliance in the Helsinki municipal elections 2025.
I come from a village near Rovaniemi called Muurola. I moved to Oulu to study and graduated as a mathematics teacher in 2019 from the University of Oulu. Now I’m working for the state to promote accessible publishing and equal reading.
Currently, I am the vice-chairman of the Helsinki Pedestrians’ Association. The association promotes the interests of pedestrians and the development of a more walkable city.
I am also a deputy member of the environmental and permit division of the Helsinki City Environment Board. The division makes decisions on, among other things, nature conservation sites and environmental and building permits.
Why the Left Alliance?
I’ve always leaned to the left but didn’t join the party until spring 2024.
I jumped from a small village school through high school to university from a family where neither of my parents had a university education. So I went through a class trip (in Finnish).
For me, Finland has been a model country of equality and equity. Therefore, I’ve considered my path to be a typical one. This story has been told to me throughout my school and university studies. However, the reality is different: education is strongly inherited in Finland (in Finnish, oph.fi).
I consider the Left Alliance to be close to me because it’s a party that still wants to maintain equality and equity. and also extends it to those who come to Finland from elsewhere. This is especially emphasized in Helsinki, where a record number of people have moved (in Finnish) - and I am one of them. I want to make an impact so that it is good to move to Helsinki in the future as well.
In the Left Alliance, Helsinki is developed without abandoning anyone and on people’s terms.
My municipal election themes
My top picks in the municipal elections are
- the development of the city in terms of walking, cycling, and public transport
- digital and physical accessibility.
What do you think? Send a message: sami@samimaatta.fi.
Accessiblity
Digital accessibility means that digital services are easy to use, regardless of whether you have a disability or not. Digital accessibility is related to Helsinki’s communication, the comprehensibility of services, and the inclusion of Helsinki residents with disabilities.
When procuring digital services, accessibility must be taken into account.
Physical accessibility is the design of physical space and the built environment, taking into account the diversity of people (The Finnish Association of People with Physical Disabilities). This means building ramps, installing sound beacons at traffic lights, and proper winter maintenance of sidewalks.
Actions:
- The city of Helsinki takes over all sidewalks for maintenance. A network of sidewalk winter maintenance is being developed to ensure barrier-free access to central locations in Helsinki.
- This is accompanied by my article Enhanced winter care, we are going in the right direction (in Finnish).
- In street planning, we consider the special level of accessibility as the starting point, as opposed to it being used in some places.
- People with disabilities are actively involved in urban planning.
- The accessibility requirements must be met, the service must be tested in a variety of ways with a diverse user group, and any accessibility deficiencies must be corrected by the service provider without additional fees.
Housing and construction
Living in Helsinki should be possible regardless of the occupation. This means that Helsinki has to invest every year in new construction or the reuse of existing buildings so that they can be lived in.
In Helsinki, we need to create a diverse and compact housing. Its purpose is to prevent the segregation of regions in relation to income levels. Compact construction must not conflict with nature.
Actions:
- A rent ceiling should be set in Helsinki. Living in the city must be possible for those working in Helsinki. Helsinki is committed to an ambitious increase in housing by taking existing buildings for residential use or building new residential buildings.
- The best way to prevent homelessness is to live in an apartment. We offer it to the homeless free of charge.
- In Helsinki, the minimum requirement is the “3-30-300” rule, which is related to the amount of nature in the environment.
City and vitality
Helsinki is primarily for people. It must be reflected in urban planning.
Helsinki is an attractive city because it is lively and offers people more entertainment than buying things. The center of Helsinki is intended for the formation and operation of communities.
Helsinki is a city with space for families, single residents, people with disabilities, children, young people, and the elderly. This means planning a diverse urban space, which is done in cooperation with the townspeople.
Actions:
- The downtown of Helsinki is planned with recreation and entertainment in mind.
- Helsinki promotes the participation of city residents in city councils for the ideation and approval of community projects.
- Helsinki supports citizen-oriented activities and is actively looking for citizen-oriented activities to be supported. An example of this is the Suvilahti skate part, which enthusiasts have built themselves.
Transport
Traffic planning should encourage walking, cycling, and the use of public transport. Urban planning should enable logistics traffic (for example service driving, loading, and unloading) in such a way that it does not hinder the above modes of transportation.
In all traffic planning, pedestrian safety must be considered first, not the flow of car traffic. Traffic and urban planning should be done especially these groups in mind: children, elderly, and people with disabilities. This kind of planning benefits everyone in the long run.
Helsinki must purposefully plan the city in such a way that it does not encourage through traffic with motor vehicles. Local streets should be designed so that only the residents of the area have a reason to use a motor vehicle. Example of this kind of planning is Barcelona’s “Superblocks” design (citiesforum.org).
Cities are not noisy, but motor traffic is. Large amounts of road traffic and loud machines do not belong in the city. Likewise, polluting vehicles must be kept out of the city.
Heavy vehicles wear out roads faster, so the maintenance costs increase as well. They are also more dangerous in collisions. Weight restrictions on vehicles can be used to extend the service life of roads and streets, and improve traffic safety.
Actions:
- In Helsinki, a center intended entirely for walking will be created, where driving is prohibited - taking physical accessibility into account.
- In Helsinki, traffic planning is done with pedestrian safety first. In particular, kindergartens, educational institutions, parks, and health centers must be designed so that it is safe and easy to get to them.
- In the city’s budgeting, the funding used for different modes of transportation is broken down: walking, cycling, public transport, and private cars. In Helsinki, funding for the maintenance of roads, streets, and common areas should follow the proportions of modes of transport and encourage movement in sustainable ways.
- This is related to my article Street space is not fairly distributed in Helsinki (in Finnish).
- In Helsinki, road traffic noise restrictions are imposed: vehicles that are too noisy may not be used in the city.
- In Helsinki, road traffic emission restrictions are imposed: polluting vehicles may not be used in the city.
- In Helsinki, weight restrictions are imposed on vehicles: vehicles that are too heavy may not be used in the city.
- Helsinki implements urban planning that prevents drive-through in Helsinki.
- Helsinki implements the above measures taking into account the needs of people with disabilities.
Climate crisis
Climate change threatens the lives of people in Helsinki, Finland, and worldwide. New technological solutions can help slow it down, but they alone are not enough.
Slowing down climate change can be affected at the city level by addressing emissions caused by road traffic, electricity production, and heating.
These are essentially affected by making the urban structure more compact. The dense and cozy city encourages you to move sustainably: by walking, cycling, and using public transport.
In 2025, road traffic will account for most of Helsinki’s emissions (hel.fi). The best way to deal with the problems they cause is prevention: only low-emission traffic should be allowed in the city.
Actions:
- Helsinki promotes legislation so that emission restrictions can be set for road traffic.
- Private cars will be significantly reduced in Helsinki by turning streets into pedestrian and public transport streets, and by reducing parking spaces.
- Greenery and plantings will be added to the space freed from cars. They absorb larger amounts of rainwater and large plants provide protection from the sun.
Technology
Switzerland made a decision that only open-source software is used (OSOR). This makes it possible for software developed with public money to be available and accessed by everyone. It also prevents getting stuck in the service of a single vendor.
The use of “generative artificial intelligence” should not be promoted in Helsinki services. It is economically, ecologically, and ethically unsustainable. Such artificial intelligence
- makes mistakes that are detrimental to information retrieval
- cannot replace human creativity
- consumes a lot of electricity to operate
- has been developed regardless of the copyright law.
Artificial intelligence applications are useful when they are designed to solve a specific problem and it is measurable.
In all its operations and the purchase of services, Helsinki should ensure that the Helsinki resident needs to provide as little information as possible about themselves for the service to function.
The city of Helsinki should think carefully about what kind of platforms it uses for communication. The social media platforms used should not be such that they try to hook their users or that the communication used on them can not be monitored without logging into the platform.
Actions:
- Helsinki prioritizes open-source software in its various technology solutions. The software used must also be financed in order to continue development.
- This is related to my article Why open-source code? (in Finnish).
- In Helsinki, a decision is made that “generative artificial intelligence” is not intended to be used in decision-making, customer service, education, or health care.
- This is related to my article Artificial intelligence regulation protects EU residents (in Finnish).
- Social media communication should be done in open channels. Primarily on Helsinki’s own websites, from which communications are distributed to other open channels.
Education
More staff is needed in kindergartens, comprehensive schools, and upper secondary schools. Permanent additional funding should be granted for this. The staff’s skills should be diverse, so that more time is freed up for teachers to teach and support learners. Special attention must also be paid to stages between different school levels.
Actions:
- Helsinki fixes the labor shortage in kindergartens by improving the working conditions of employees. This means raising wages and buying the necessary equipment for the workers. These include, for example, suitable clothing for different weather conditions.
- Educational institutions must have multi-professional staff. Administration and health care professionals are needed to support teaching.
- A fixed-term kindergarten or educational institution employee who works most of the year also receives the salary for the summer.
Health care
Functional and cheap public health care forms the cornerstone of a welfare state. Together, we bear the responsibility when another city resident gets sick or disabled - temporarily or permanently.
Health care should be seen as an investment in the future, and not as an expense. A healthy person can live their life, participate in the activities in the city, and do work that is meaningful to them.
Work does not only mean paid work, but also activity and past-time that improves the lives of other citizens as well.
Actions:
- The labor shortage is primarily solved by improving the occupational well-being of the nursing staff. This is done by raising wages and increasing work flexibility for employees.
- In health care, the use of temporary labor is avoided and the number of permanent jobs is increased.
Entrepreneurship
Helsinki should favor and support local and start-up entrepreneurs and companies. Local businesses add to Helsinki’s distinctiveness and bring life to the cityscape when brick-and-mortar stores become operational.
Cooperative entrepreneurship should be offered more guidance and encouragement from the city. Helsinki could acquire services specifically from cooperative enterprises.
Actions:
- Helsinki could grant and rent buildings and spaces in certain areas exclusively to local, small entrepreneurs. These spaces are not rented to large, international companies.
- At the beginning of the operations of a company, Helsinki could rent premises at a reduced rent, so that the entrepreneur can better focus on starting their business.
- Helsinki acquires services with a certain percentage from cooperative enterprises.
Join my campaign team?
Since you read this far, you might be interested in joining my campaign team! I’m running for the first time, so we can make the campaign unique.
Contact me: sami@samimaatta.fi.