Metsän joulutapahtuma 100-vuotiaassa Keskuspuistossa ti 18.12.

Perinteinen Metsän joulutapahtuma järjestetään tänä vuonna ti 18.12. 2012 kello 18-19 Helsingin Keskuspuistossa Lääkärinkadun varrella Mannerheimintie 71:n takana.

Järjestäjinä Helsingin Keskuspuiston puolesta ry., Meilahden seurakunta ja vapaa kansalaisliike Ei enää palaakaan Keskuspuistosta.

Tilaisuuden avaa järjestöneuvos Mauri Helovirta. Meilahden kirkkoherra Hannu Ronimus juontaa ja pitää puheen.Toimittaja Jussi Vapaasalo kertoo uutta tietoa puistoon suunnitellun kerrostalohankkeen nykytilanteesta. Rakennusviraston metsänhoitaja Tiina Saukkonen kertoo Keskuspuiston metsän kehittämisestä.

Myös joulupukki piipahtaa. Vapaa pääsy.

Lisätietoja Jussi Vapaasalo,040 966 5101 jussi.vapaasalo@kolumbus.fi


TAUSTATIETOJA

Paras paikka saada tietoja ns. Lääkärinkadun puiston rakennushankkeesta on alueen Grand Young Manin Michael Perukankaan ylläpitämä webbisivusto http://keskuspuisto.blogspot.com. seuran Michaeliin on hyvin vaikea saada puhelinyhteyttä päivisin, mutta hänen sähköpostiosoitteensa on furttis@hotmail.com

Erityisen asiaan liittyviä paljon tietoja blogin osassa Lokakuu 2008 (http://keskuspuisto.blogspot.com), mm. Helsinki-Seuran ja Helsingin kaupunkisuunnitteluseuran (nyk. Metropoliseuran) kannanotot puiston puolesta ja (minun tulkintani mukaan) viittauksineen mahdolliseen suunnittelutaktiseen viivyttelyyn, jota ehkä on harrastettu ja harrastetaan muissakin hankkeissa : Siis on blogin osassa lokakuulta: 2008 .
 
Kaupunkisuunnitteluvirastolta on hankkeen keskeneräisyyden vuoksi myös hyvin vaikea saada selkeää kuvaa Lääkärinkadun alueen rakennushankkeen nykytilanteesta. Vuorovaikutussuunnittelija Juha-Pekka Turunen (09 310 37 403) sanoi marraskuussa, että ensin on ratkaistava joitakin maanalaisia tiloja koskevia asioita ja vasta sen jälkeen voidaan päättää maanpäällisistä rakennuskysymyksistä. Myöhemmin hän kuitenkin arveli, että asukkaille voidaan ehkä maaliskuussa esittää jokin suunnitelmaluonnos.
 
Näin on kuitenkin ollut koko ajan vuoden 2005 jälkeen: ratkaisu on aina lykkääntynyt. Rakentamisen painopisteen on kuitenkin jo jonkin aikaan kerrottu siirtyneen kohti Lääkärinkadun itäpäätä.

Metsän joulutapahtumassa on joulunviettoon valmistautumisen lisäksi siis kyse kaupunkisuunnitteluviraston aikomuksesta rakentaa korkeatasoisia kovan rahan kerrostaloja, ns. kaupunkivilloja - Lääkärinkadun ja Mannerheimintie 71 - 79:n rajaamalle alueelle. Suunnitelmaa on kansalaisten kiivaan vastustuksen vuoksi supistettu, mutta se on edelleen voimassa ja sisältynee vuoden 2012 kaavoituskatsaukseen.

Tänä vuonna Metsän joulutapahtuma on erityisen merkittävä, sillä on kulunut 100 vuotta siitä kun Helsingin Keskuspuiston luoja, kaupunginarkkitehti Bertel Jung lausui seuraavat sanat vuonna 1911 valmistuneen osayleiskaavansa merkityksestä ja noudattamisesta: "Lopuksi haluaisin tuoda esille sen seikan tärkeyden, että niitä alueita, jotka luovutetaan virkistyskäyttöön, ei tulevaisuudessa millään tavalla käytettäisi sellaisiin tarkoituksiin, jotka ovat niille vieraita, kuten esim. huvila- tai sairaala-alueiksi".

Poliitikot ja virkamiehet ovat puheissa, kirjoituksissa ja lausunnoissa jatkuvasti tähdentäneet Keskuspuiston merkitystä ja "pyhyyttä", mutta silti puistoa on jatkuvasti nakerrettu. Taistelu puiston suojelemiseksi onkin jatkunut 33 vuotta.

Lääkärinkadun puiston suojelun alullepanija ja Grand Old Man agronomi Vilho Ikkala huomasi vuonna 1968, että metsään on ilmestynyt rakentamiseen viittaavia mittakeppejä. Hän kiiruhti kaupunkisuunnitteluvirastoon ottamaan selvää, mistä oli kyse. Ikkala sai kahdelta masentuneen oloiselta naisarkkitehdiltä kuulla, että että asia oli otettu pois alueen omalta aluearkkitehdiltä ja että alueelta oli varattu tontit Sairaanhoito-opistolle ja Syöpäsäätiön sairaalalle.

Lehdistö puuttui peliin

Ikkala ja muut hankkeen vastustajat ottivat yhteyttä Helsingin Sanomien asuntopoliittiseen toimittajaan Kyösti Reunaseen, ja jo seuraavana päivänä HS julkaisi näyttävästi kuvin ja kaavapiirroksen pääuutissivullaan uutisen ”Keskuspuiston lohkominen alkaa kiertotietä” kertoen: ”Hankkeet aloittavat samalla taas Keskuspuiston laajamittaisen kaventamisen 100-200 metrin levyiseksi käytäväksi”Helsingin ”keuhkoiksi” sanottu Keskuspuisto puristuu yleiskaavatason suunnitelmien mukaan mitättömäksi puistokäytäväksi.” Myös muut lehdet tuomitsivat suunnitelman..

Myöhempien tapahtumien valossa näyttää kuitenkin siltä, ettei tonttien varaaminen sairaanhoito-opistolle ja sairaalalle ollukaan varausten todellinen tarkoitus, sillä kummastakin hankkeesta luovuttiin tarpeettomina. Varaukset pidettiin kuitenkin vuosikausia voimassa sillä seurauksella, ettei alue päässyt mukaan Keskuspuiston osayleiskaavaan ja sen antamaan suojaan rakenamislta. (Voi kysyä, käytetäänköhän tällaista menettelyä tietoisesti ja taktisesti muissakin kysymyksissä.)
 
Kaupunginvaltuutetuillekin kerrottiin, että alueelle voi rakentaa, koska ei se kuulu suojeltavaan Keskuspuistoon. Lääkärinkadun aluetta on kuitenkin tähän asti aina pidetty -- ja pidetään yleisesti edelleen -- Keskuspuiston osana.
 
Lääkärinkadun alueen suojelemiseksi alueelle hyväksyttiin tosin puistoasemakaava, mikä ei kuitenkaan näytä hillinneen rakentamisaikeita. Erään luonnonsuojeluasiantuntijan mukaan kyse onkin poliittisesta arvovallasta eikä niinkään järkevästä rakennuspolitiikasta.

Suurimpia rakentamisen esteitä ovat asukkaiden valveutuneisuuden ohella olleet yllättäen alueella kasvavaa erittäin harvinainen lehtonata-kasvi sekä arvokkaat puut.

Lääkärinkadun alue sijaitsee tärkeällä paikalla: se on Keskuspuiston portti, josta pääsee ratikka- ja bussipysäkiltä helpoimmin puiston laajaan metsäluontoon ja suosittujen ulkoiluväylien varrelle suuresta osasta kantakaupunkia kuten esimerkiksi Katajanokalta. Eräs puolen kilometrin päässä Metsätapahtuma-paikalta asuva nainen kertoi jo pari vuotta sitten aloittavansa nykyisin joulunvieton juuri tästä Metsän joulutapahtumasta.
 
Vanhusten liikuntamahdollisuuksista huolestunut Meilahden kirkkovaltuusto asettui muutama vuosi sitten vastustamaan puistoon rakentamista. Koululaisia ulkoilee puistossa jatkuvasti.

Bertel Jungin esikuvana Helsingin Keskuspuistolle oli New Yorkin Keskuspuisto, Central Park, jossa tällainen rakennushanke ei varmasti tulisi kuuloonkan. Erikoista on että idean toivat tänne -- samoin Yhdysvalloista -- ylimetsänhoitaja Eero Hyvärinen ja rouva Anna-Leena Hyvärinen osallistuttuaan joulurauhan julistamiseen jättimännikössä mantereen toisella laidalla Kaliforniassa.
 
Lääkärinkadun puiston suojelemiseksi perustettu vapaa kansalaisjärjestö Ei enää palaakaan Keskuspuistosta järjesti ensimmäinen suojelutilaisuuteensa syksyllä 2005 kohta sen jälkeen kun kaupunkisuunnitteluvirasto oli alustavasti esitellyt rakennushankkeen. Asukkaat tyrmäsivät rakentamisen, mutta siitä huolimatta kaupunkisuunnittelulautakunta antoi kokoomuksen ja sosiaalidemokraattien enemmistöäänin arkkitehdeille luvan jatkaa suunnitelman eteenpäinviemistä.

Ensimmäinen Metsän joulutapahtuma, nimeltä Metsän joulurauhan julistaminen järjestettiin myös vuonna 2005, ja sen jälkeen niitä on järjestetty vuosittain. Syksyisin on järjestetty myös puiston suojelupäiviä tilanteen mukaan.

Lisää tietoa tilanteesta ja Keskuspuistosta on siis Michael Perukankaan perustamalla ja päivittämällä sivustolla: www.keskuspuisto.blogspot.com

Jussi Vapaasalo puh. 040 966 5101 jussi.vapaasalo@kolumbus.fi

Gir Markaloven Marka til folket?

Ifølge miljøvernminister Erik Solheim er det ingen motsetninger mellom den reviderte markaloven og økt fremkommelighet og bruk av Marka.

Selvsagt representerer Marka mangfold i naturen, men der er nærheten til Oslo som gjør den helt unik. Det er antakelig ingen annen byskog i en slik kaliber i hele verden; man kan faktisk snakke om Oslo som en blågrønn by. Hva som gjør bynaturen unik er at den betyr noe for byfolket. Dets bruk er dets betydning, og flerbruk betyr at det finnes flere forskjellige fortellinger om Marka og flere forskjellige grunn for Oslomarka å eksistere. Alle disse brukene har friluftsinteresser til felles.

Natur og kultur betraktes ofte som motsetninger. Det er ikke slik. De fleste måten man bruker naturen er tilknyttet til særtradisjoner og særpraksiser. Og valget av den selve måten, hvordan man bruker naturen, er også kulturelt motivert.

Den store amerikanske nabolags- og parkforskeren Jane Jacobs hevde att parker tilbyr et sted for det sosiale livet man har i nabolaget. Hvis det ikke finnes en park i nabolaget må man reise videre, for eksempel til Oslomarka. Marka er ingen substitutt for nabolagssosialitet, men den er mer enn en substitutt for nabolagsparker, som er mangelvare her i Oslo. Man kan si at Marka er en nabolagspark for alle! Men, hvem er alle? Hvilke interesser har disse "alle"?

I den ideale verden har Solheim rett. De aktiviteter man pleier å knytte til Marka trenger skognaturen rundt seg. Det er ikke lurt å skyte elg eller mulig å leie en skistue i Frognerparken eller St. Hanshaugen. Men det er naiv å negligere de motsetninger som i praktikken utgjørs av flerbruket med forskjellige interesser. Spørsmålet er, hvilken særinteresse har de sterkeste lobbyen og beste argumentene.

Hvis Oslomarka er et ekstrem av bynaturen, er selve byparker det andre ekstremet. Begge brukes til friluftsliv. Planleggeren av New York Central Park, Frederic Law Olmsted legitimerte byparkene som alminnelige og demokratiske rettigheter for byfolket. Selv om marken som er utnyttbar for bygninger av forskjellige slag og trafikkfunksjon er mangelvare i store byer, er det utenkbar at bruke marken i Central Park til noe annet enn alminnelige friluftsinteresser. Det er nettopp disse interesser man vil verne med en særlov. Hvis en riktig stor by som New York kan garantere friluftsområdene sine, kan det ikke være umulig for en minimetropolis som Oslo, med eller uten en særlov.


Michael Perukangas

parkforsker

Central Park in brief

Even the very trees of the Central Park will declare their threatened independency (the attached paper asking for the retaining the area as a park)
Photo: Juha Jakonen

The Central Park of Helsinki-the block 627 northwards from Lääkärinkatu. Its past, present and future

The Central Park, founded in 1911 by the great Bertel Jung, splitting the city of Helsinki, modelled after its New York counterpart is the foremost outdoors area of Helsinki. The position of the Central Park is usually well recognised but still it is under constant construction threat.

In the late 1960s Helsinki City board earmarked one building lot from the block 627 for Syöpäsäätiö (Cancer Fund) and one building lot for a nursing school. These plans have later on been abandonded as unnecessary by the Ministry of Social Affairs and Health, Ministry of Interior, The Supreme Administrative Court and the Helsinki City Board.

The area was confirmed as a park by the Ministry of Interior on the 28th May, 1981 and the City Council approved an initiative by Paavo Arhinmäki in 2002 according to which the area of Keskuspuisto can not be diminished. Despite these, as the project area was left outside of the local plan of Keskuspuisto, there is a continuous debate whether the area is a part of Keskuspuisto or not.

The project area is owned by the city of Helsinki, covering almost 4 hectares (in the region of 9000 acres). It is located east from the houses of Mannerheimintie 71-79 and northwards from Lääkärinkatu. At the latest Master plan of Helsinki as it was approved in 2002 the project area was earmarked as one possible building lot. So called city villa (smallish and stylish appartment houses) are about to be built in the area, the construction process possibly lasting for five years. The construction endangers existence of a rare and protected lehtonata plant (festuca gigantea) and affects the surroundings of nightingale. The construction would also disturb the hydrological circumstances of the area, increasing noise and pollution and threaten widely used outdoor paths and a children’s playground, let alone the local inhabitants, many of them being elderly people with some serious conditions such as diabetes and mobility disorders.

Some thousands of signatures on behalf of retaing the area as it is have been collected and on Sunday, 6th November a large outdoor happening (Ei enää palaakaan Keskuspuistosta = Not a single more peace of the Central Park) was arranged followed by a declaration of Christmas peace on 23rd December. Dozens of articles on the subject have been published in various local papers and in Helsingin Sanomat; besides that, there have been a radio interview in Radio Helsinki and some TV coverage. A 40 minute documentary film of the Ei enää palaakaan Keskuspuistosta happening has been filmed by Erkki Pirtola.

Representatives of the Green Party, the Left Alliance and the Center at The City Planning Committee of Helsinki have been against and the Conservative Party and Social Democratic Part have been supportive of the building plan. A report of the Lehtonata plant and a ground investigation will be taking place during the summer of 2006. Despite the idea to sketch a new plan for Central Park, the City Planning Department decided in the August 2006 that borders set for the Central Park and markings in its area that were included in the Master Plan of 2002 would replace all eventual plans for the Central Park.

There has been a consultant work about the nature values of the area ongoing. Due to complexity of this work - according to the official information - the process has been postponed. At the moment, the whole planning process at Lääkärinkatu area is under serious consideration. The municipal election on Sunday will decide, whether this area remains as the gateway to the Central Park also in future.

Michael Perukangas

Michael Perukangas in "brief"

PERSONAL INFORMATION

I was born in the year 1971 in a town nearby Helsinki, called Vantaa, although not with that name at that very time. Vantaa was still quite a peripheral suburban area of Helsinki, now it is a rapidly growing city of some 190 000 inhabitants. Having lived in the capital area of Helsinki for the whole of my lifetime and the greatest part of the last fiveteen years of it all alone, or more exactly, with cats and now, more recently, the last two years also accompanied by a lady who also have become my lawfully wedded wife. My family has consisted practically of my father and three stepbrothers, my parents having divorced when I was 6 years old. I have compensated this lack of family ties with a large network of friends. The person of Marco Michael Perukangas cannot be fully understood unless it is not approached through its main activities and subjects of interest, even passion.

MUSIC

I was grown up in quite a non-musical family. Despite that, music has not only been my main hobby but an integral part of my life since childhood. The decisive experience was to see the partly fictional Milos Forman -movie about W.A.Mozart, called Amadeus. Since then, the so-called classical music rapidly has taken over, putting all other musical genres aside. Some jazz has crept in more recently, due to influence of some friends.

I would describe my relationship to music that it includes all other approaches to music expect playing or singing myself or studying musical theory. Everything else belongs to me. My attitude to music is an outsider's view (although a devoted and an aware outsider): musical work is for me like a painting. I watch it closely, even dwelling into its world. But as I have never painted, I am an outsider or an accidental tourist who has had the fortune to have a meaningful encounter with it, maybe transformed by it.

What is, then, this "everything else"? My approach to music has been both pragmatic but also theoretical. I am a devoted collector of recorded music in quite a non-systematical way. I also consider myself as a kind of a amateur music journalist and a bureucrat of music. My master's thesis was an attempt to analyse the semiosis in the text of music journalism. In a layman's word: to analyse the relationship between the music itself, the text written of it, the journalist and his/hers imaginational readers. There are also some sketches to study this even further, to expand this notion of sociality in the world of music; I would like to figure out, what is all about to go to a concert. Is the private consuming of music, namely collecting recorded music, also a social venture?

I have had the fortune to work in one of the foremost music institutes at the university level, Sibelius Academy. Having had some previous experiences of working with artists, it is not usually dull but there are a few setbacks. Working in the administration of Les Beaux Arts requires abilities of a simultaneous interpreter but also of a pointsman; one has to possess a great vision in order to understand the ingredients of being an artist but also has to have a great stamina when one tries patiently to explain that 3 pounds is necessarily a greater sum of money than 2 pounds.

SPORTS

It seems obvious and something that one may almost take for granted that in the public feasts of sports rock music is roaring from the loudspeakers, giving added rhythm for the athletes and entertainment for the spectators. Classical music belongs to the world of feminine sports, such as figure skating, gymnastics and dance. Although the worlds of classical music and the world of masculine sports (e.g. football, boxing, icehockey, motor sports and perhaps athletics) do not have a positive correlation, there is a surprising connection in the way they are treated in the newspapers. Sports pages are greater in number than those that are devoted to music and sports make greater headlines, that is to be made sure. But what is common is that sports journalist also is describing something that has already happened. Sports journalist is also sort of a critic of a performance. The sports journalist has as the starting point the result that is already known by him (seldom her) and gradually he reveals the reasons that lead to the outcome. The reader who has not been "there" is told by the journalist that Arsenal beat the hapless PSV Eindhoven because Henry netted twice and it all started when Gilberto scored the fastest goal in the history of the tournament. And the one who had the fortune to be there as an eye-witness, he/she (again usually he) may check it out in the newspaper, that what he saw was real, according to an expert exponent of a media institution, that is a sports journalist.

My personal experience of sports is somewhat similar than that of music. Running is easier than playing the piano, although those with physical disabilities may not agree with me. I am enjoying physical exercise for the sheer experience without having any spesific goal-setting. My best achievement in sports has been the 19th place in the Finnish student Marathon championship 1999. I have also played some basketball and football, lacking the competitive cutting edge. I exercise mainly because it feels good.

HOMO SAPIENS

The main point of me is not fully grasped if one is unaware of the fact that I happened to learn to read at the tender age of three. Since then, I have read through practically everything within a three-year-old´s reach in his father's bookcase. Having sooner and later also realised how to write myself, I have grown up with textbooks and all sorts of statistics. Literary activities of my own started from a sort of comic books, later there have been very few genres that have remained unscatched by me. As a thorough linguistic person, my scientific approach has been permeated with the notion as the man being a communicative creature and the messages, even the ways and forms of saying also bearing a message in themselves. And as a thorough scientific person, I am also trying to live up to this very notion, although not everything can be enonciated.

The venture of science has been my cup of tea, even without the milk. I have been sort of a passionate but amateurish astronomist, paleonthologist, meteorologist and zoologist. That said, periodically. My scientific breeding was given a form and name by sociology, which I studied at the University of Helsinki since 1992 up till 1998, also doing some philosophy and social psychology. The borderlines between those sciences - if they are sciences at all - are somewhat undefinable, and my everlasting desire to study has mainly been maintained by teaching some courses of philosophy at the Helsinki Polytechnic. I have also been approved as a postgraduate at my university, but in the course and also curse of short term employments, concentrating into the research has not always been the top priority.

I have been editor-in-chief in one school paper and also in the paper called "Linnake" (Fortress), which is the paper published by the Suomenlinna Fortress Artillery, where I did my military service. I have also been around in a couple of student papers, both as an active writer and also as a member of the editing board. The Helsinki Student Housing Company also used to publish a paper called "HOAS-asukas"; it was practically for two years a two-man-venture by a friend of mine and myself. The favoured genres were sports stories, music, political essays and interviews. Later on, I have published some articles in a few Finnish non-referee papers and been the administator of several blogs on green areas and involved with some blogs on Green politics.

I have also tried my luck with poetry and aphoristics, and there are some sketches for a yet unpublished pamplet with a friend of mine, where we a trying to tackle the present Finnish society from different perspectives but similar backgrounds and sometimes tackling even ourselves. Still, it remains unclear, whether the world is yet to see the best of me. Or not.

SOCIETAL ACTIVITIES

Being largely an anti-social kid, a hermit with all the books and writings and dreams of mine, there has although been an on-going albeit an undercurrent desire to hang along with humans, albeit accidentaly. I joined the Finnish concervative party youth society and became a chairman of a small local youth organisation, being also a candidate for municipal election in 1992. I was there at the very forefront of the few crazy or brave pioneers who took the initiative to take Finland to the EU. The rest is history.

As I started to study sociology at the university level, my former political background soon seemed somewhat artifical to me and I was disturbed by the very lack of intelligence in the political life, too often compromised by the sheer, crude facts of every day party necessities. At the university I had found people with the same orientation, although not necessarily with the same background. I switched political parties as smoothly as I switched girlfriends, let alone jobs or underpants. I was an on-and-off student organisation activist for a few years before I had to concentrate to my studies. Organisational activities seemed to transform in the 1990s from party societys of carrying piles of beer bottles to more or less business and profit orientated organisations, and that requires a great deal of time. But at least this procedure of organisational activities have transformed into a much more outgoing and confident person and my old man has no need any more to be concerned about my lacking life outside the very walls of my room.

Quite recently, and merely by accident, I have become not only an activist but also an active activist. My main concern during the last two years has been to preserve to Central Park of Helsinki from threats of all kind. In the process, I have joined the Green party, being now the treasury holder of a local organisation. Accident and calling, they are the two sides of a coin; now as an old and wise man, I could see it happening. People who become doctors or musicians are used to apologise that it was something unavoidable, let alone politicians, who are labelled as pathologically sick or at least lacking a life.

MOTTO?

There are just a few pieces of a good advice I can recall. My father urged me to have a girlfriend with a social orientation. Nevertheless, I took care of my secondary socialisation by myself, no girlfriend was needed. Then my wise old teacher used to say in Swedish (the Finnish French in Canada, our second official domestic language in Finland) that "det är bet som sker". The meaning of this is the saying "shit happens" reversed. Third good piece of advice was given by a senior scientist, who told me to "kill my darlings". No shotguns are needed for this procedure, not even words, but I interpreted this as having the ability to be courageous enough to leave all the bad habits behind and to make major decisions. The big decisions - concerning work, significant others, studying opportunities - are usually quite painless, plain and simple. There are usually just two options: take it or leave it. One has to consider all the known options available and try to be aware of all possible outcomings, but once the decision has been made, it is the only way around. It has to be. Or at least, it has to feel like that. Choosing between dozens of beer qualities in the pub is much more difficult.

POSSIBLE FUTURE?

Aki Riihilahti is a Finnish international football player currently plying his trade in Sweden, but having played for several years for Crystal Palace. He is perhaps better known for his website filled with homemade philosophy which is absolutely hilarious stuff. and for his column in London Times. I would like to see myself as a post-reneissaince version of Aki Riihilahti in the fields of critical, reflective and researching journalism.

Ilkka Hakalehto was - he is still alive, you know - a Finnish politician of the 70s and 80s who is best known for his critical attitude towards the more authoritative politicians in the Helsinki municipality but also for his lack of co-operation. I would like to see myself as a positive version of Mr. Hakalehto, willing to break taboos, challenging those in power, asking difficult questions with undesirable answers. Later on, he made himself a laughing stock for god-only-knows-some-thirtyseventh time - by being a candidate for president in 1994 with a monomanic agenda, accusing the EU for all the wrongs and misgivings in the universe - but I will forgive him for that.

Let us not mention the personal level, as I would also like to be surrounded by some significant others and to be in a decent physical condition and in some mental state.