Government of Rotterdam

The Government of Rotterdam is the government of the municipality and city of Rotterdam in the Netherlands. Most of the inhabitants live in the city of Rotterdam, but the municipality also covers a number of small villages, and other parts of the local government, such as Rozenburg, cover an even larger area.

Local government

Results of the elections of 2002, 2006, 2010, and 2014:

City council 2006 - 2010

The coalition mayor and aldermen for the period 2006-2010 was formed by a coalition of the parties PvdA (labour), CDA (Christian democratic), VVD (liberal) and GroenLinks (green left). The college was sworn in on May 18, 2006.

The college since its inauguration in 2006 had a number of cycles. VVD alderman Roelf de Boer retreated from his position in 2007. In 2008, GreenLeft alderman Orhan Kaya was replaced by Rik Grashoff. In April 2009 VVD left the coalition,^[2] though it retained a slim majority of 23 of the 45 seats. The two VVD aldermen Jeannette Baljeu and Mark Harbers were replaced by CDA and PvdA aldermen. This left the CDA with three council seats and three aldermen, a remarkable situation. In July 2009 CDA alderman Leonard Geluk joined the coalition but he stepped down prematurely, because of his new position as chairman of ROC Netherlands.

City council 2010 - 2014

The city board of mayor and aldermen was formed by four parties: PvdA (labour), VVD (liberal), D66 (left liberal), and CDA (Christian democratic).

Aldermen were: Jeannette Baljeu, Hugo de Jonge, Hamit Karakus, Jantine Kriens, Antoinette Laan and Korrie Louwes (Dominic Schrijer resigned on May 17, 2011).

City council 2014 - 2018

The city board of mayor and aldermen is formed by three parties: Leefbaar Rotterdam (right populistic), D66 (left liberal), and CDA (Christian democratic).

Aldermen are: Joost Eerdmans, Hugo de Jonge, Pex Langenberg, Ronald Schneider, Maarten Struijvenberg and Adriaan Visser.

Mayors

The mayor of Rotterdam is the head of the city council. The current mayor is Ahmed Aboutaleb (PvdA). The mayors since the World War II are:

• Pieter Oud (1945–1952)
• Gerard van Walsum (1952–1965)
• Wim Thomassen (1965–1974)
• André van der Louw (1974–1981)
• Bram Peper (1982–1998)
• Ivo Opstelten (1999–2009)
• Ahmed Aboutaleb (2010–present)

See also: List of mayors of Rotterdam

Boroughs

Rotterdam boroughs and neighborhoods.

Until 19 March 2014, Rotterdam's fourteen boroughs had the formal status of submunicipalities (deelgemeenten) under the Dutch Municipalities Act.^[3] The submunicipalities were responsible for many activities that previously had been run by the central city. The idea was to bring the government closer to the people. All submunicipalities had their own deelgemeenteraad ('submunicipal council'), direct elected by the borough's inhabitants. The district councils enjoyed far-reaching autonomous decisionmaking powers in many policy areas. Only affairs pertaining the whole city such as major infrastructural projects remained within the jurisdiction of by the central municipal council.

In 2014, the submunicipalities were abolished by law, but Rotterdam maintained its boroughs. The district councils were replaced with smaller, but still directly elected gebiedscommissies ('area committees'). The area committees no longer have autonomous powers, but instead act primarily as advisory and participatory bodies for the central municipal council.^[4]

The fourteen boroughs of Rotterdam are:

• Centrum
• Charlois
• Delfshaven
• Feijenoord
• Hillegersberg-Schiebroek
• Hoogvliet
• Hook of Holland
• IJsselmonde
• Kralingen-Crooswijk
• Noord
• Overschie
• Pernis
• Prins Alexander
• Rozenburg^[5]

The port areas are governed directly by the central municipality.

Annexations and reclassifications

The city of Rotterdam was especially strong growth since 1850. Initially they tried to accommodate the population within existing municipal boundaries, but this soon proved inadequate. Therefore, sequentially neighboring municipalities annexed or she had to cede territory to Rotterdam. An overview of these annexations and reclassifications:

• 1816 municipality Cool annexed.
• 1870 won territory of the municipalities Charlois, IJsselmonde and Katendrecht* serving ports and urban expansion on the current Kop van Zuid.
• 1886: annexation of the town Delfshaven (13,651 inhabitants)
• 1895: annexation of municipalities Charlois (12,154 inhabitants) and Kralingen (21,132 inhabitants), also won territory of the municipalities IJsselmonde and Overschie
• 1903 won territory of the municipality Overschie
• 1904 won territory of the municipality Hillegersberg
• 1909 won territory of the municipality of Schiedam
• 1914 won territory of the municipalities 's-Gravenzande (Hook of Holland village, population 2964), Naaldwijk and Rozenburg
• 1926 won territory of the municipality of Schiedam
• 1934: annexation of municipalities Hoogvliet (1331 inhabitants) and Pernis** (4988 inhabitants), also won territory of the municipalities Poortugaal, Rhoon and Schiedam
• 1939 won territory of the municipalities 's-Gravenzande and Naaldwijk
• 1940 won territory of the municipalities Schiedam and Overschie
• 1941: annexation of municipalities Hillegersberg (25,638 inhabitants), IJsselmonde (9183 inhabitants), Overschie (11,639 inhabitants) and Schiebroek (8030 inhabitants), also territories from the municipalities of Barendrecht, Berkel en Rodenrijs, Capelle aan den IJssel, Kethel en Spaland (both annexed by Schiedam), Rozenburg, Schiedam and Vlaardingen
• 1953 won and lost territory to the municipality of Schiedam
• 1966 won territory of the municipalities of Geervliet, Heenvliet, Rozenburg, Spijkenisse and Sienna serving the Europoort
• 1972 won and lost territory to the municipality Oostvoorne and won territory of the State (North) serving the Maasvlakte
• 1976 won and lost territory to the municipality Rhoon
• 1978 won and lost territory to the municipality Capelle aan den IJssel and territory from the municipality of Zevenhuizen
• 1980 won territory of the municipalities of Brielle, Rozenburg and Oostvoorne
• 1985 won territory of the municipalities and Poortugaal, Rozenburg (new housing east of Hoogvliet, 17,032 inhabitants) and lost to the municipality Albrandswaard (which was recorded simultaneously Poortugaal)
• 1995 won territory of the municipalities of Nieuwerkerk aan den IJssel and Zevenhuizen-Moerkapelle serving the Vinex Nesselande district, also lost territory to Ridderkerk
• 1997 won territory of the municipality of Capelle aan den IJssel
• 2001 won and lost territory to the municipality Capelle aan den IJssel
• 2010: annexation of the town Rozenburg (ca. 12,500 inhabitants).

* The municipality Katendrecht in 1873 annexed by the municipality Charlois

** The city annexed Pernis in 1834 the town 's-Gravenambacht

International relations

Rotterdam has the following city and port connections throughout the world:

• 14 Sister Cities
• 13 Partner Cities
• 4 Sister Ports

Twin towns – sister cities

Rotterdam is twinned with:

Partner cities

Sister ports

References

Municipalities of South Holland
Alblasserdam Albrandswaard Alphen aan den Rijn Barendrecht Binnenmaas Bodegraven-Reeuwijk Brielle Capelle aan den IJssel Cromstrijen Delft Dordrecht Giessenlanden Goeree-Overflakkee Gorinchem Gouda Hardinxveld-Giessendam Hellevoetsluis Hendrik-Ido-Ambacht Hillegom Kaag en Braassem Katwijk Korendijk Krimpen aan den IJssel Krimpenerwaard Lansingerland Leerdam Leiden Leiderdorp Leidschendam-Voorburg Lisse Maassluis Midden-Delfland Molenwaard Nieuwkoop Nissewaard Noordwijk Noordwijkerhout Oegstgeest Oud-Beijerland Papendrecht Pijnacker-Nootdorp Ridderkerk Rijswijk Rotterdam Schiedam Sliedrecht Strijen Teylingen The Hague Vlaardingen Voorschoten Waddinxveen Wassenaar Westland Westvoorne Zederik Zoetermeer Zoeterwoude Zuidplas Zwijndrecht
See also Netherlands Provinces Municipalities