Here you'll find an overview of my media coverage, including articles, interviews, and podcasts. Click one of the buttons below to filter by category.
GroenLinks-PvdA Eindhoven launches an ambitious manifesto today for the future of the Eindhoven ring. The party sees a unique opportunity to transform the ring -currently a twelve-kilometer-long barrier of asphalt, noise, and pollution- into a safe, green, and healthy park.
Will the Eindhoven city council press the growth button or hit the brakes on Tuesday evening? For the very last time, the city council of Eindhoven can vote on the expansion plans of chip machine manufacturer ASML. A 'yes' vote will press the 'growth button' for the region, according to council members. The council now has to vote on, among other things, the changes of the zoning plan.
Despite concerns about the recently announced wave of layoffs at ASML, Eindhoven's politics can agree with the procedures that have been set in motion to build the company's new campus. 'It's not just a success story.'
There will be an investigation into the rail problems in Tongelre that goes beyond the now still level crossing at Hofstraat. The municipality will also talk extensively with residents.
Southeast Brabant will get a regional transport company with bus and tram services. And in all municipalities, the number of schools, general practitioners, and community centers will be significantly expanded. At least, if it is up to the twenty progressive parties who signed a joint agreement on Saturday with the upcoming elections in mind.
A mega project worth over a billion euros. The underground bus station is urgently needed as the current station is too small. The municipality of Eindhoven presented a preference for the new station. However, there are concerns among political parties about the costs.
The municipality of Eindhoven will investigate whether it can address vacancy with a vacancy levy in the form of a new tax. GroenLinks, PvdA, SP, Volt, and Ouderen Appèl advocated for this in a motion, which was embraced by housing alderman Mieke Verhees.
The plans for the new underground bus station can broadly count on support from the Eindhoven city council, but also raise many questions and concerns. The so-called bus buffer at the location of the Flying Pins is a thorn in the side, and parties are afraid of losing oversight due to the size and cost of the project.
Cutbacks implemented to enable the construction of a new underground bus station in Eindhoven have received political support. It hurts that buses will still arrive above ground at the location of the famous yellow cones. But there is understanding for this choice.
Eindhoven politics is fine with ASML investing over 60 million euros in a fund to create more housing. But the chip machine manufacturer also co-determining which housing projects in the region are helped or not, goes too far for a significant part of the city council.
Eindhoven's PvdA alderman Mieke Verhees received approval on Tuesday for her much-discussed approach to the housing shortage in the city. Attempts by opponents to suspend the decision and reopen the debate failed.
More than forty percent of green space in Eindhoven municipality is not legally protected and is at risk of disappearing during transformation. This emerges from a municipal analysis, following GroenLinks and PvdA factions who raised the alarm after a case involving a residential tower. The municipality is now examining how to secure the preservation of existing green space city-wide.
Of all the greenery in Eindhoven, an estimated 43 percent is unprotected. Nature can be removed without compensation obligation, an analysis shows. The municipality is taking action.
In the renewed Kanaalzone in Eindhoven, there will soon be room for residential towers of up to 105 meters high in only one location. The municipality does not see building even higher as an option.
EINDHOVEN - The construction of six hundred student housing units on Prof. dr. Dorgelolaan in Eindhoven has been expedited after months of delay threatened last week. 'Upon further consideration,' a majority of the city council is reversing the decision to pull the emergency brake.
EINDHOVEN - A working visit to Bratislava and Vienna is causing division in the Eindhoven city council. Three parties (GroenLinks, Party for the Animals and SP) are not joining for principled reasons. They believe the timing is poorly chosen.
EINDHOVEN - The plan to build two towers with 600 student housing units on Prof. dr. Dorgelolaan in Eindhoven is raising suspicion among various political parties.
The housing market is cracking at all sides. While waiting lists grow, rental and housing prices shoot up. In Eindhoven, there is a full commitment to affordable housing, but whether this will continue is far from certain. On May 13, the city council will debate housing construction in Eindhoven, which prompted PvdA and GroenLinks Eindhoven to submit this piece.
EINDHOVEN - At least 1222 homes in Eindhoven have been waiting for construction for a long time due to procedures at the Council of State. Although the administrative court has been giving priority to housing projects since last year, one specific plan has been on hold for almost two years.
EINDHOVEN - Eindhoven will investigate whether there are more locations within the city where it is permitted to remove nature without the obligation to compensate. This investigation starts in Woensel-Noord.
A new Jacobus church and 123 new apartments are to be built on Orionstraat in Eindhoven's Eckart district. The city council seems to support this proposal with a large majority.
EINDHOVEN - With the abolition of the southern parts of the busy Genovevalaan and Rooseveltlaan, city center Woensel will get a car-free character. And around the new city center, the municipality of Eindhoven is therefore also opting for one-way traffic.
EINDHOVEN - Stationsplein and Stationsweg in Eindhoven may become even more car-free than the preliminary design presented a month ago.
EINDHOVEN - The group of squatters that camped out for a few weeks in office building De Veste in downtown Eindhoven left a mess. Empty beer bottles and empty beer cans are everywhere in the huge building. Feces and vomit are on the carpet and a lot of copper has been stolen. 'The building is completely ruined and you are powerless.'
EINDHOVEN - Eindhoven's city administration woke up on Wednesday wondering whether certain construction plans near the Dommel are suddenly at risk. A large left-wing majority in the city council no longer wants to allow new construction on the river's banks.
EINDHOVEN - With a heavy heart, the Eindhoven city council will give the green light next week for the first new construction project at Stadhuisplein. Political parties find it 'extremely painful' and 'very disappointing' that the Citywall project will mainly consist of expensive rental apartments.
EINDHOVEN - Promising results that the municipality of Amsterdam is achieving with the approach to vacancy are not yet a reason for Eindhoven to introduce similar rules. PvdA alderman Mieke Verhees hesitates because enforcement requires enormous effort.
EINDHOVEN - How can the Eindhoven city council get more control over important decisions in the region? Mayors and aldermen of the 21 regional municipalities prepare important matters and the representatives feel powerless.
EINDHOVEN - If Gestel gets thousands of new residents in the coming years, the identity of the Eindhoven district deserves protection. Eindhoven politicians hammered on this point during a debate on Tuesday evening.
EINDHOVEN - If the municipality of Eindhoven definitively decides to purchase the VGZ office near the station, there is a good chance that the building will be temporarily used to provide housing for students.
EINDHOVEN - Coalition parties in Eindhoven's city council blame housing corporation Woonbedrijf for the 'demolition raid' in the Prinsejagt neighborhood. Therefore, they did not support a motion of censure against alderman Mieke Verhees on Tuesday evening.
EINDHOVEN - Eindhoven should not determine for the villages in the region how many homes they must build in the coming years. Instead, the city could also look at whether it can build even more than previously agreed.
EINDHOVEN - A 'unique' forest must disappear for the construction of a civil service office in Eindhoven. For various parties from both opposition and coalition, this is difficult to justify. Coalition partners GroenLinks and D66 also believe the municipality applies double standards.
EINDHOVEN - Give teachers, police officers and nurses priority on the housing market, so they can keep the city running. Eindhoven politics is suggesting this more and more often. Now this is really going to happen for the first time.
More than forty percent of green space in Eindhoven municipality is not legally protected and is at risk of disappearing during transformation. This emerges from a municipal analysis, following GroenLinks and PvdA factions who raised the alarm after a case involving a residential tower. The municipality is now examining how to secure the preservation of existing green space city-wide.
EINDHOVEN - A week after Eindhoven officially rolled out the red carpet for ASML, the city administration was confronted with the consequences. All forecasts about housing needs can be thrown in the trash. According to new research, the city needs nearly 20,000 more homes by 2030 than previously thought.
EINDHOVEN - Is the municipality of Eindhoven on a slippery slope with its financial support for the construction of three residential towers at Stationsplein? Yes, say many parties in the city council who are shocked by the amount of millions in benefits granted to the builder of the prestigious District-E project.
EINDHOVEN - Housing corporation Trudo can still proceed with housing construction plans on the Eikenburg estate in Stratum. After the Eindhoven city council pulled the handbrake in January, the zoning plan was given the green light on Tuesday evening.
EINDHOVEN - The Eindhoven council is divided over Trudo's housing construction plans at the Eikenburg estate. Doubts exist especially about the ring road and parking spaces that Trudo deems necessary, as became clear during a council debate on Tuesday.
EINDHOVEN - Eindhoven will investigate whether housing seekers can get a voice in construction plans. Alderman Mieke Verhees follows the call from coalition parties GroenLinks, PvdA and D66, while it is questionable whether there is enough political support for the plan at all.
EINDHOVEN - In Eindhoven politics, grumbling is growing about housing corporations not building enough. Coalition party D66 is disappointed with the results of the coalition agreement to grant housing corporations the leading position in Eindhoven's new construction market.
EINDHOVEN - The idea for a housing council that could give housing seekers in Eindhoven a voice and face raises many questions and mixed reactions in politics. Whether it will happen, PvdA alderman Mieke Verhees therefore leaves to the choice of the city council.
Eindhoven politics has doubts about establishing a housing council, GroenLinks' initiative to give home seekers a voice. They would then have more say in new construction projects, is the idea. Various parties are actually concerned about even more delays in new construction.
EINDHOVEN - Housing seekers must get a face and a voice in the tight housing market in Eindhoven. This is what Eindhoven's largest political party GroenLinks (GL) believes. The coalition party is therefore launching the initiative for a housing council.
Home seekers in Eindhoven need to be better represented. Therefore, Eindhoven's GroenLinks branch advocates for establishing a housing council for home seekers.
EINDHOVEN - Housing corporation Trudo wants to implement its demolition and construction plans in Tongelre's Rustenburgstraat as soon as possible, but encounters resistance from a group of residents. 'They'll have to carry me out between six planks.'
EINDHOVEN - Eindhoven will talk with project developers about new homes specifically for teachers, police officers and nurses. 'To keep the city running, this is the key to success.'
EINDHOVEN - After more than ten years of discussion, Eindhoven will construct a new Fuutlaan. Only coalition party GroenLinks and opposition party SP voted against the plan on Tuesday.
EINDHOVEN - Residents of Fuutlaan in Eindhoven who have been longing for peace for years are shocked that politicians are hesitating about the new road that should provide it. 'Was everything for nothing?' they wonder.
Various political parties have doubts about the plans for the new Fuutlaan in Eindhoven. They openly question whether a new road won't come at the expense of housing and green space in the area.
EINDHOVEN - Is a new Fuutlaan still necessary? And couldn't that space be better used to build homes? Coalition parties GroenLinks and PvdA in Eindhoven are wondering, now that after ten years of discussion and planning, agreement has been reached with residents.
EINDHOVEN - The Eindhoven city council is struggling with the plans for a 45-meter high residential tower on PC Hooftlaan. According to various factions, insufficient attention has been paid to local residents who oppose the 'too high' tower.
EINDHOVEN - Eindhoven will not introduce a penalty for owners who leave a house vacant unnecessarily long. A wish from the coalition agreement of GroenLinks, CDA, PvdA and D66 thus remains unfulfilled.
EINDHOVEN - Residential blocks of five to six stories should be built much more often in Eindhoven neighborhoods, instead of houses with gardens. That's what a considerable part of the Eindhoven city council believes.
EINDHOVEN - A single-lane Prof. dr. Dorgelolaan with housing along it. That may sound unimaginable to many Eindhoven residents, but it's a serious consideration for the city administration.
EINDHOVEN - The 21 municipal councils in Southeast Brabant still have too little control and influence over what happens at the Metropolitan Region Eindhoven (MRE). That's what the Eindhoven city council believes, which is why they want research into the democratic legitimacy of the partnership.
EINDHOVEN - The municipality of Eindhoven and NS will make a new, final attempt to find space for bicycle parking at the station. A large part of the city council thinks that a pop-up parking facility for NS public transport bikes could provide relief.
EINDHOVEN - The regional business community will in the coming years not only contribute to affordable housing, but also to attracting technical talent. Just as for housing construction and accessibility, private funds are being established for this.
EINDHOVEN - It has been a frequently heard complaint in virtually all municipal councils in Southeast Brabant for years: how do you maintain control as local politics over a regional partnership you're part of? A legal amendment should now improve this.
EINDHOVEN - Train passengers who want to park their bicycles in supervised parking at Eindhoven Central are likely to have no space available from next year.
EINDHOVEN - The Eindhoven city council is not yet entirely sure whether a new pedestrian bridge over the Dommel near the new Schellenskwartier is a good idea.
EINDHOVEN - The fact that there will be no social housing in the two wooden towers to be built on Professor Doctor Dorgelolaan in Eindhoven is 'unfortunate' and 'not nice'. But the vast majority of the Eindhoven city council accepts this and does not want to change agreements made two years ago.
Not your birth certificate, but your talents should determine whether you become head of state of the Netherlands, argue Huub Bellemakers and Rutger Rauws. And the GroenLinks-PvdA congress agreed with this.
Eindhoven politics doesn't want to compromise on the agreement to build many affordable homes on and around City Hall Square. Developers call the municipality's requirements unfeasible. Yet the city council stands firm. "The city center shouldn't become an amusement park for the very rich."
EINDHOVEN - Eindhoven will not compromise on agreements about the share of affordable housing around City Hall Square. Politicians almost unanimously want to maintain 85 percent. And if projects are delayed because of this, the city council accepts that.
EINDHOVEN - The discussion about private ownership of rental houses by top executives at housing corporations also puts Woonbedrijf in Eindhoven in a difficult situation.
Tram connections through the city? Quite common in the Randstad, but in Eindhoven it's hard to imagine! Yet the tram used to be the way to travel from Eindhoven to surrounding villages like Geldrop and Reusel.
EINDHOVEN - The vast majority of Eindhoven's political parties are willing to use municipal funds to save the construction of Victoriatoren. However, some opposition parties fear that more developers will come asking for money.
GroenLinks wants tram transport to come to Eindhoven. The coalition party considers it a good addition to plans for developing an underground bus station and a bus lane to Veldhoven. "We must prevent the next generation from running into problems."
EINDHOVEN - Space must be reserved for the introduction of tram transport when constructing an underground bus station in Eindhoven and a bus lane to Veldhoven. Eindhoven's largest coalition party GroenLinks advocated this on Tuesday.
EINDHOVEN - No expensive rental apartments for expats and international students and no hotel will be built around the Evoluon. Instead, the Eindhoven city council opts for regular and affordable housing.
Near the Evoluon there will be no expensive rental apartments or hotel after all. Instead, affordable housing should be built. That's what city politics wants. A large majority of the Eindhoven city council has decided this.
EINDHOVEN - A bike ride through the city recently took Eindhoven VVD council member Daniëlle Stijntjes past a large grass field at sports park De Hondsheuvels. An ideal location for student housing, she thought on the spot. However, her request to investigate this with TU/e received severe criticism on Tuesday evening.
VESSEM - How can Eindhoven and the Kempen region strengthen each other? About seventy interested parties contributed to a panel discussion on this topic in Vessem on Wednesday evening.
EINDHOVEN - A Kastelenplein without cars parked on the street, that's an illusion. 'People live there now, you can't ask them later to rent a parking space in a garage.' Thus said alderman Mieke Verhees on Tuesday evening in the city council.
It's a megaproject: the redevelopment of Fellenoord. The area between Philips Stadium and TU/e, north of the station, will be overhauled. Much of what's currently there will be demolished, and a new district with 6,500 homes will be built. This development is a step closer now that the city council has agreed to lead the effort together with the province.
EINDHOVEN - Will the construction of thousands of homes in the Eindhoven station area be delayed if the city council demands more control? A serious confrontation threatens next week over this question.
EINDHOVEN - The Technical University in Eindhoven is growing so fast that more housing is needed for students. More than the 2,840 new rooms that were promised until 2028.
GroenLinks, Volt and PvdA drafted a motion on student housing that was discussed in the council meeting on Tuesday, December 20. The motion was embraced by the responsible alderman Mieke Verhees. "I embrace the motion as support for the points we are already working on." Verhees promises to make extra efforts for this target group. The council especially emphasizes TU/e's responsibility in this matter, due to the consequences that possible strong growth of the university may bring.
PEEL/KEMPEN - Not every village should get its own ASML neighborhood. This is the view of many GroenLinks and PvdA factions in the urban area of Southeast Brabant. The countryside doesn't need to be fully developed to enable ASML's growth, they believe. Large-scale construction should be limited to cities only.
EINDHOVEN - Will Eindhoven manage to build 3,000 homes per year? The preliminary figures are not good. The number of social rental housing also lags significantly behind.
EINDHOVEN - Priority in the housing market for police officers, teachers and nurses was one of the striking points of the new coalition in Eindhoven. That's easier said than done. The coalition parties are not (yet) aligned.
EINDHOVEN - Eva de Bruijn becomes faction leader of GroenLinks in Eindhoven. The number three on the candidate list from the recent elections was nominated after Rik Thijs (number one) and Saskia Lammers (number two) were presented as aldermen.
EINDHOVEN - Building in the meadows of villages in the Peel and Kempen regions is still not necessary. The 21 municipalities in the region can meet housing demand by building within the village centers. The municipalities are sticking to that agreement, says Eindhoven alderman Yasin Torunoglu.
A protest march is planned through the city. Next month, Woonoffensief Eindhoven wants to draw attention to the housing shortage in this way.
EINDHOVEN - Around Fellenoord in Eindhoven, as many as 21,000 homes can be built, almost three times as many as in current plans. GroenLinks states this in a manifesto, which also says that construction can happen much faster than planned. This requires narrowing the road, possibly temporarily. Space will come from removing offices from the plans.
Eindhoven's Trudo Vertical Forest copies the iconic Bosco Verticale in Milan — but as public housing
EINDHOVEN - GroenLinks Eindhoven will enter next year's municipal elections with familiar and new names. This is evident from the party's preliminary candidate list. Rik Thijs, alderman in the current coalition, was previously elected as party leader.
Hermes must cut costs due to the corona crisis and is choosing fewer bus trips on several city and regional lines. Due to the cuts, travelers will sometimes have longer journeys. "I find it strange that they're doing this because of the corona crisis. Now the buses will only get more crowded," says one traveler.
EINDHOVEN - Four projects by young designers and heritage foundations should make Eindhoven's cultural history more accessible, especially for young people. The Cultuur Eindhoven foundation brought the parties together and supports the projects, including with a small budget.
EINDHOVEN - Tuesday is the public consultation evening of the Eindhoven city council about the Densification Vision for the city center. Two groups are already speaking out: the heritage foundations that were very critical of high-rise buildings and EHV XL that is strongly in favor of more, taller buildings.
EINDHOVEN - EHVXL wants to make a nuanced case for more high-rise buildings in the city. "But we're not saying 'just fill the city with 160-meter towers'. We want to engage in dialogue about incorporating more high-rise buildings in Eindhoven."
