Eight months after birth of a communist mayor in Yuzawa City

A city administration with a "citizens are the key players" policy has steadily advanced in the northern city of Yuzawa in Akita Prefecture since a Japanese Communist Party member won the mayoral election last April.

Suzuki Toshio, for eight months since he was elected the Yuzawa City mayor, has cut his own salary by 30 percent, abolished the mayoral limousine, and cut mayoral social expenses by half. He has begun with what he could do on his own.

Furthermore, the Yuzawa City government has reduced nursing care insurance premiums, cut home-nursing service charge by half, and lowered the municipal health insurance tax.

Under the economic recession, to share the citizensﾕ hardship and have a mind-set focused on them should be a mayor's political attitude, says Suzuki.

He actively holds dialogues with citizens, and is gaining in popularity. One person stated, "We can directly contact the mayor for various things."

Joint efforts between the JCP and conservatives have frequently taken place both inside and outside the Yuzawa City Assembly. This is another characteristic after the election of Mayor Suzuki.

Due to the national governmental measure to reduce medical services, an agricultural cooperative-run hospital in the city had difficulty in managing it. Mayor Suzuki, together with JCP assembly members, conservative forces in the assembly, neighboring mayors, and the agricultural co-op requested the Akita Prefectural Government to increase the subsidy for the hospital, and achieved improved support from the prefectural government.

Suzuki says, "I want to cooperate with a wider range of people to press the prefectural government to cooperate with us in creating a city government that is closer to its residents. At the same time, it is my duty to raise people's awareness of the need for a 'people are the key players' national government." (end)