Easter fires are burning again in Drenthe, farewell to the colorful artist Maya Wildevuur, the Roelof van Echten technasium is working on safer traffic, and a critical report on Groningen Airport Eelde.
During the Easter weekend, Easter fires were lit again throughout Drenthe. Although there are fewer than in the past, fewer applications were submitted in a number of municipalities than before. This is due to the nitrogen measures: it has become more complicated for the Easter bumps after 1994 to organize things properly and to obtain a permit. But the fun was no less with the fires that were lit. Like in Witteveen
Artist Maya Wildevuur passed away in her hometown of Midwolda. She turned 78 years old. Wildevuur stood out for its exuberant use of color. In 1984 she started a gallery in Hooghalen in Huize Dennenrode on the Hiemstrastate estate. In the early 1990s, Wildevuur moved to the Ennemaborg in Midwolda, where she started Galerie Maya Wildevuur.
She chose the title of the last exhibition herself Maya Wildefire exposes herselfin the Groninger Silver Room in Appingedam.
Artist Hans Zabel often worked with her in the 1980s. Zabel thought she had a special personality. “Maya was initially a very modest girl, but through her relationship with Jan de Gans she was able to grow in her strength. She is from 1944 and that is the year of the monkey. That is a fire element. That fiery was also in her colors . She had a charm and won over many people. She was a wayward aunt. A flamboyant bitch.”
Traffic could be a lot safer without the phone or other distractions. Research has shown that twenty to thirty percent of accidents are related to distraction. Students from four Drenthe schools worked on a solution, and all went in a different direction. The Roelof van Echten College in Hoogeveen won the Technasium Award.
De Nieuwe Veste in Coevorden worked on a camera that registers whether you keep looking at the road and gives a signal when you are distracted. The Hondsrug College believes more in a box for the electric bicycle. If you don’t put your phone in that box, the pedal assistance will be lost.
The students of CSG Dingstede from Meppel mainly focus on the phenomenon of tailgating, in which sensors have to pass on messages to drivers and motorists automatically receive penalty points on their driving licence.
Ultimately, the plan from Hoogeveen will run with the prices. Jury member Robin Inpijn sees enough snags in the plan to paralyze telephones with lampposts, but is also surprised by the concept. “A very nice, innovative design. As a jury, we have been working in road safety for a long time and this was a new, interesting design for us.”
Last year, the Northern Development Agency (NOM) managed to create more than 170 jobs in the Northern Netherlands. The NOM says it has managed to persuade six companies to establish themselves in the North. These companies ensured an investment of 137.8 million euros in the Northern Netherlands.
The investment fund made almost eleven million euros profit last year, mainly through the sale of two companies.
The NOM is not only there for the money, companies can also spar about ideas. For example, the technical company ASF Solar was happy to make use of NOM’s marketing expertise. “It’s full of technicians here, but it’s also nice to see what our marketing is like, for example, or to find out what our customers actually want. Then we talk to NOM and they guide us.”
For the time being, it is not yet possible to make Groningen Airport Eelde cost-effective or profitable. This is the conclusion of the Northern Court of Audit. Moreover, the calculators say, the previous investment was made on the basis of a far too positive image.
The provinces, who together invested 46 million euros, actually had little choice. Such an optimistic picture was painted that saying no was no longer an option, the Court of Audit writes.
The report has provoked reactions in Drenthe politics. GroenLinks wants a provincial parliamentary inquiry. BBB is not in favor of this and mainly advocates investments to make the airport more sustainable.
View the Week of Drenthe in pictures here: