Other events in Baltic States

In a survey to find out the most popular ever mayor of Riga, the highest rating was achieved by current mayor Nils Usakovs (Harmony Center), according to the Neatkariga newspaper.

Usakovs, who has been in office for one year, was the favorite of 43% of those surveyed, while 28.5% were not able to say who had been the best mayor. The second most popular mayor in the SKDS survey was Andris Berzins, favored by 8.2% of respondents, followed by Gundars Bojars with 4.9%, Aivars Aksenoks with 4.5%, and Andris Argalis with 4.4%.

In an interview with "Neatkariga", Usakovs mentioned several positive achievements of the past 12 months – improvement of the infrastructure of educational institutions, with 200 objects reconstructed; increased funding for the social sector, with a one and a half times increase in the number of people receiving support from the council; and an improvement of the law enforcement situation, with more police officers, more funding, and improved patrolling near schools and in suburban areas.

The Riga mayor pointed out that things had not gone so smoothly with public transport company Rigas satiksme, indicating, however, that reforms were underway, and that ticket prices could yet be reduced.

Asked as to at what point he got off the Usakovs-Slesers tandem, Usakovs indicated that he had never joined up with Slesers, nor diverged from him, pointing out that Riga City Council enjoyed effective cooperation between parties, with little conflict.