City council opposition to express no confidence in Tallinn Deputy Mayor Kalle Klandorf

TALLINN – The Tallinn city council groups of the Social Democratic Party (SDE), Estonian Conservative People's Party (EKRE), Isamaa and Reform Party will initiate a no-confidence motion against Center Party member and Tallinn Deputy Mayor Kalle Klandorf, who suggested that an elderly resident using a walking frame and struggling to move along a city street that had not been cleared of snow take a taxi instead.

On Tuesday evening, the "Reporter" news program of the Kanal 2 television channel showed a segment about an elderly woman, who on her way to a doctor's appointment at the eye clinic of the East-Tallinn Central Hospital was unable to walk along a city center street that had not been cleared of snow and had therefore ended up in a difficult situation, it is said in the joint statement issued by the chairs of the four city council groups.

In the same segment, a comment was requested from Deputy Mayor Kalle Klandorf, who is responsible for the field of communal affairs in the capital. Klandorf said that everything is well with the streets and that the elderly woman who got stuck in the snow should instead run her errands by taxi and not try to move on Tallinn streets on foot.

Four parties of the Tallinn city council will jointly initiate a no-confidence motion against Klandorf. "In addition to apologies, the city government also owes well-maintained city streets and leaders capable of empathy, and as Kalle Klandorf does not wish to fulfill that role, we will express no confidence in him," it is said in the joint statement. 

"A heartless and careless attitude towards the weak is not appropriate for the leaders of the Estonian capital, and management of the city with such an attitude cannot continue," chairs of the four party groups said. "The City of Tallinn must ensure that all residents of Tallinn have the opportunity to use public space -- especially the elderly, but also the parents of young children and people with mobility difficulties. The streets of Tallinn do not currently look worthy of a modern European capital."

"In addition to organizing parades of cleaning equipment, Deputy Mayor Klandorf is responsible for ensuring the functioning of the field and supervising when a problem arises. The suggestion that pensioners, why not also children and other pedestrians, take a taxi shows that the city government is in the mood of giving up even after a few days of snowfall," it is said in the joint statement.