New year's address by Mayor Bezuijen

Dear Zoetermeerders,

How nice that you are all here tonight.
What a joy that we can celebrate the New Year here together.
A year that - I wish you all - will be healthy and happy, safe and peaceful, radiant and magnificent.

I know, of course not all Zoetermeerders are here tonight, but 200 years ago, in the time of my distant predecessor Johannes van Trigt, this turnout would have included just about the entire village.

Van Trigt was the first mayor of Soetermeer - then still written with an 'S'- and he was not only mayor, or sheriff, but also notary.
The inhabitants of his village were mainly farmers and peasants, peat cutters and artisans; they made butter and cheese, they were cooper or blacksmith, baker or carpenter.
The village was a network of people who worked with and for each other, who complemented and needed each other.

At harvest time, this was always joined by a group of seasonal workers, especially from Germany, who enjoyed coming to mow and harvest in the "steinreiche Holland."
Most went back home after the harvest, others found their home and home here.

They also became Zoetermeerders.
And that is how communities grow and flourish:
by people who complement and need each other,
by people who join.
From further away or closer.

Today our municipality has exactly 129,898 residents
Almost 130,000 people who have their homes in Zoetermeer.
And hopefully their homes as well.
Because being somewhere at home is more than having a roof over your head
- though of course it is important to make sure there is a roof for everyone

Feeling at home is being able to be yourself somewhere, to feel free and safe.
Falling together, being familiar in and with your surroundings.
Being somewhere at home is therefore not a place but an emotion.
And that emotion, that feeling, is not a given, not an automatism.
It is not: I have a house so I am home.
Certainly not in the large, diverse city that Zoetermeer has become.
That is why the theme of this New Year's Eve performance is: 'Zoetermeer is my home'

Because that sense of home, that warm beating heart for our city, that is what we must work on together.
Zoetermeer has not only grown enormously over the past 200 years, but our community, our city, is no longer a natural network.
We are no longer connected because we work with and for each other - as we did 200 years ago - but because we live and live with and for each other.
No longer because we find each other in what we do, but because we need to find each other in who we are.
In order to be a society, a city where everyone can feel at home in all our colorful diversity, we must do our best to meet each other, to see and hear each other.

To get that done, to stimulate that, the municipality organizes all kinds of activities.
Last year, for example, the Zoetermeer Diner, where we talked with civil society organizations, the province, ministries and many other partners about how we can work together to create a Zoetermeer where we all can and want to live, live and work.
One meeting that made a big impression on me was the City Dialogue on December 12,
Organized to give residents the opportunity to talk to each other about peace, freedom and security, about being seen and heard in these times of geopolitical tension and polarization.
The 75 participants had intensive discussions with each other based on propositions.
I was especially impressed by the personal stories that people shared.
Stories of anger and shame, joy and sorrow.
Stories of people who in everyday life often did not feel safe enough to speak out for their faith, to express their opinions.
Stories of people who dared to be seen and heard during this meeting.
That was a beautiful thing to witness.
Beautiful to see that talking to each other, listening to each other, really works.
That is how modern communities grow and flourish: by seeing and hearing each other.
Because even though we no longer all work with and for each other, we need each other.
As family, friends and neighbors.
From far away and closer.

This is only possible if we truly feel at home, if we feel free and safe to be ourselves.

Unfortunately, freedom and safety is no longer as self-evident as we thought for almost 80 years.
We can no longer really say that we are from after the war.
Therefore, this year we will pay a lot of attention to the celebration of 80 years of freedom.
We will do this with all kinds of activities for young and older people.
For example, with the photo exhibition 'War memories in color'.
This exhibition brings history to life, with special attention to the events in Zoetermeer.
In April we are organizing a Freedom Concert; a musical afternoon for elderly people living alone and residents of care institutions, with music by the Bill Baker Big Band.
In May there is, of course, the Commemoration of the Dead and a Freedom Meal in cooperation with all district directors.
Because this year commemoration and celebration go hand in hand.
Because it's important to realize that even though war is getting dangerously close and we've been told even by our new NATO boss that we need to mentally prepare for war, we still live in freedom.
And we need to guard and cherish that freedom.

As mayor and as a resident of Zoetermeer, I will also continue to work hard in the coming year, together with all of you, to make our municipality, our society, a place where people feel at home.
In complete freedom.
That means that, as a municipal government, we will strive to be a good government: fair, reliable and involved.
That means that we will do our best, together with you, to make Zoetermeer a city where we all feel free and safe enough to talk to each other.

In order to strengthen that dialogue, I will be making working visits to the neighborhoods again next year.
I already did that when I first became mayor here, but at that time I had to do it within the limitations of the corona crisis.
This year I will be visiting you again, to start the conversation and to listen to what is going on in the city.
You will hear more about it soon.
I hope that these neighborhood visits will contribute to strengthening our bond.
So that together we can ensure that Zoetermeer is a city where we can all feel at home.
In complete freedom.

Preferably also on New Year's Eve....

Just like every year we worked hard, together with the police and fire department, youth work and neighborhood prevention, to ensure a safe turn of the year with as little damage as possible.
Once again this year it is a pity that there were the necessary accidents and fires,
that there is again a lot of damage,
that the police, fire department and emergency workers again had to intervene several times.
I have a lot of respect for all their hard work, before and during the turn of the year, but let's be honest:
it is and remains an enormous effort for a night that should be a celebration for everyone.
So I join my colleagues in other municipalities, and continue to plead for a nationwide ban on fireworks.
Experience, also this year, shows that that is the only solution to make the turn of the year a celebration for everyone, without danger or nuisance.

A feast for all of you, that is what we are offering you tonight.
A beautiful musical program that I am personally quite proud of.
Because tonight we are going to enjoy two musical sisters from our own Zoetermeer.
Maria and Anuschka Pedano have been performing together since they were children.
I heard them play at the Oosterkerk in Oosterheem and was bold enough to ask them if they would like to play here tonight.
They wanted to.
Gladly even.
Because Zoetermeer is their home.

So I am happy to give this stage to these 2 special residents and to Tamara van Sprundel, Blue Lavender, Kevin van der Leeuw, Kick'n Studios and city poet Colin Knoester and wish you all a bubbly and vibrant evening!
An evening that would make even Johannes van Trigt look cheerful....

And for later and throughout the New Year, I like to give you this old wisdom: out together, home together!