Helsingin Sanomat, which originally had a very aggressive stance against the airport, has now published its gallup results saying majority of Greater Helsinki inhabitants want to keep Malmi Airport as-is:

Malmin lentoasemasta kysyttiin, pitäisikö lentokenttä ottaa asuntorakentamiseen edellyttäen, että lentoasemarakennukset säilytetään. Vaihtoehtona oli alueen säilyminen lentokenttänä kuten nyt. Kaikissa kaupungeissa selvä enemmistö oli lentokentän säilyttämisen puolella. Helsingin, Espoon ja Vantaan asukkaiden välillä ei ollut juuri eroja.

Another victory for the The Friends of Malmi Airport Society!

I’ve written about the issue, and the shady tactics City of Helsinki has been employing before:

Helsinki-Malmi was rented to the Civil Aviation Administration for 99 years back in the 30s. Now the City of Helsinki wants to evict them on the clause that the airport must be used for civil aviation. For some reason City of Helsinki chooses not to recognize that private aviation and flight training are also counted as civil aviation. This is a very dubious legal standpoint.

The democratic commitment of the city must also be questioned. The decision and talks about the future of Malmi were pointedly scheduled after the recent city council elections, and all major parties declined to comment the issue. This is understandable as the city wants to close the airfield against the will of a vast majority of residents of Helsinki. This is not how democracy is supposed to work, but then again we live in another system called “representational democracy”.