Parks | “Aijä made it clear that it wouldn’t be worth taking another step” – HS readers tell about the drug trade and unrest in Kaisaniemi park

The people of Helsinki there have been observations of unrest in Kaisanieminupuisto since the 1950s, but many identify a clear turn for the worse in the very recent past.

Among those who responded to HS’s survey, someone estimated that the park’s situation worsened in the last summer, someone in the last couple of years, and a third during the corona pandemic.

During the park renovation, commuting cyclists have avoided construction site fences, and registered the movements and activities of different groups. Lighting during construction has also been perceived as unsatisfactory.

“The lights have disappeared completely, and I can even cycle through the park with my own lights, partly relying on memory, because the park is so familiar,” comments Maiju Parttimaa.

He suspects that the situation has worsened during the construction of the park.

HS said in the story published on Saturday, how restless it is in Helsinki’s Kaisaniemipuisto on a weekday evening. During the two hours, the reporter and cameraman witnessed an open drug trade and several violent situations.

The park according to the respondents, the most serious problems are related to the drug trade, which now takes place in cramped places bordered by construction site fences. The renovation of the park started last year, but there were already several construction sites there before.

One of the respondents says that he got lost during the construction of the Kaisantunnel while looking for a new shortcut behind the wrong road. There he was met by “a guy with hands in a gust, who made it clear that it wasn’t worth taking another step”.

Another defendant testified about an open drug deal by the pool in September. She was waiting for her child in the theater, and found that there were enough buyers at the drug dealers until there was a line.

The names of the persons who responded to HS’s survey are known to the department.

Defendants also comment on the smell of cannabis, but some judge based on people’s behavior that something else is also used.

Those who responded to HS’s survey have also seen fights between groups spending time in the park.

There are many sightings of drug deals in residential buildings near the park, which scares parents of small children and makes passers-by suspicious.

One respondent’s child attends elementary school in Kaisaniemi, and at school the children talk about “Kukas Kaisaniemi”, which refers to active shopping. Previously, the drug trade was concentrated near the booths of the tennis court, now it is scattered all over the park.

According to one resident, he has removed more unauthorized people from the stairwell of his home than in the previous 10 years combined.

Those who witnessed the drug trade wonder what police talk about surveillance it is right, when its effects have not been noticed until now. The defendants suspect that the police like to keep the drug trade in one place so that it does not spread elsewhere.

There is also respondents who think the park is better than its reputation. The third-generation Stadion resident estimates that Kaisaniemi Park has even become cleaner over the years.

The defendant who witnessed the drug trade says that he does not feel unsafe in Kaisaniemipuisto because of the people. Instead, he is afraid that he will fall on his bike, because the park road is so bumpy from the tracks of the machines.

One respondent says that he noticed men under the trees near the National Theater who were drinking beer and, judging by the smell, smoking hashish. According to the cyclist, the atmosphere seemed “serene and comfortable” from the side.

of HS the survey prompted many respondents to reminisce about their own childhood and youth. Kaisaniemi park has had a troubled reputation through the decades.

In terms of time, it extends to the longest, i.e. the 1950s and 1960s Heikki Nevanlinnan memory. He spent his childhood on Mikonkatu, and as an adult his workplace was the Meteorological Institute on the edge of the park.

In the decades after the war, dark liquor was openly sold in the park, and the aunt of the ticket kiosk served the same substance under the counter for money, Nevanlinnan says.

There were always drunken parties and brawls in the evening, and police cars patrolled regularly. There were a lot of marginalized war invalids in the groups. Parents warned about namused.

“In daylight, however, the park was full of life. There were nest matches and school children from Kaisaniemi National School on the sports field. Brass bands gave concerts. In winter, there was a skating rink, which was always full of skaters. The blows of the day echoed from loud speakers. There was skiing and a slide in the park.”

The family after moving away from Mikonkatu, Nevanlinna’s contact with Kaisaniemipuisto became distant.

“People don’t remember how dirty the area around the station was, especially in the 1950s. Train and bus traffic was busy, and they polluted. Garbage was burned in the incinerators of the houses. The world of smells and sounds was completely different back then than it is now,” says Nevanlinna.