Sam Tanson (centre) and François Benoy (speaking), the Green party’s leading candidates for this autumn’s Luxembourg City council elections, speak during a press conference, held in Pescatore Park near the Pfaffenthal lift, on 26 January 2017 Staff

Sam Tanson (centre) and François Benoy (speaking), the Green party’s leading candidates for this autumn’s Luxembourg City council elections, speak during a press conference, held in Pescatore Park near the Pfaffenthal lift, on 26 January 2017 Staff

As is tradition, to promote gender equality, they have not one leading candidate, but two.

One is Sam Tanson, born in 1977, who is a member of the Council of State and first alderwoman on the Luxembourg City council. She has been in charge of the capital’s finances and mobility projects, notably the tram, since 2013.

The other leading candidate is François Benoy, born in 1985, who is a coordinator at natur&ëmwelt, and councilor on the Luxembourg City council.

During a press conference on Thursday, both pointed to their record as Greens in coalition with the DP in the capital.

Tanson said: “Over the past 10 years, we have almost doubled the number of people using buses, we introduced the car sharing into the city, we have tripled the cycles lanes available, and we worked closely with the ministry on the tram project. But this is not enough: we need to expand the tram idea, develop cycle lanes in parallel to the tram. We need to offer people alternatives to the car.”

Benoy added: “Jobs and residents increase by 2-3% yearly in the city. We will need to take care of our environmental policies more intensely. Our goal is to increase the amount of green spaces, on the one hand because of environmental protection and on the other because of people’s quality of life. People who live here need recreational space and that is the future of our cities.”

Urban development

“One of the examples would be Cessange-Route de Hollerich; this area needs to be urbanised in the next years. We plan a modern green district with a tram connection. We want to build houses and apartments along with a nice green space which will lead to the Pétrusse,” he stated at the press conference.

“Talking about urbanisation, it is important to keep the city accessible and affordable for everyone. The city has invested considerably in social housing construction and affordable housing in recent years. When we talk about affordable housing, we have provided housing plots to the people, people paid the costs of construction and a long-term lease contract.”

“One big project we want to push is an area on the Route d’Arlon, which is currently used for the stadium, the Council’s hygiene service, and the fire brigade. This area can be developed into a large neighborhood. We don’t want this district to be developed by big developers but we want to create a nice livable neighborhood with all the actors involved,” Benoy said.

The Green party will present their programme for the local elections after Easter.

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