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Carla Kabamba

In council

Carla in council

A meeting easily runs four hours or more. Here you see Carla: her questions and contributions, with the answers, and chapters to jump straight in. Meetings are in Dutch.

“This budget balances on paper, but not in people’s lives.”

From Osdorp to Khartoum, from the Bims to Goma, from the Stopera to Gaza.

— Carla in the General Considerations, 8 October 2025 (translated from Dutch)

Council committees

Committees are where the real work happens: councillors question the mayor, aldermen and members of the public on plans before the council decides.

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Council Committee on Finance, Arts and Diversity2:14 speaking time

Anti-Asian racism and sick leave in waste collection

On the high sick leave in the city’s waste and resources department (over 20 percent in collection), Carla asked how the city can act faster and offer more permanent contracts to the people doing this hard work. On tackling anti-Asian racism she thanked the speakers and the people who had emailed the council about it for years. She asked Alderman Meliani to secure the approach for a future executive. The alderman promised a handover document so that the new coalition can continue the approach; according to her, reports to the hotline rose from 29 to 317 in a year. When a colleague asked in which country things were better, she replied that the question is not where it is better, but how we get rid of racism. On moving the cruise terminal she asked for a study of the health of residents along the IJ and the North Sea Canal (in Dutch).

Watch the full meeting on Raadsinformatie ↗

Questions + answers · 2:24

0:00 / 2:24YouTube ↗

Chapters

Council Committee on General Affairs2:36 speaking time

Fat bike ban in busy areas

Carla was critical of the proposal to ban fat bikes from busy areas such as parks. She asked whether a ban on fat bikes alone is legally possible, since a fat bike is a bicycle, and argued for tackling all tuned-up e-bikes that go too fast: enforce speed and behaviour rather than a symbolic ban. She warned that banning one type of bike mainly affects certain groups of young people and can lead to ethnic profiling, and saw the nuisance as a social problem: talk to the neighbourhood, parents and schools. She also asked how the city will track a displacement effect to other areas; Alderman Van der Horst called it a good suggestion and promised to monitor it (in Dutch).

Watch the full meeting on Raadsinformatie ↗

Questions + answers · 11:14

0:00 / 11:14YouTube ↗

Chapters

Council Committee on Education, Care and Poverty2:47 speaking time

Children’s Ombudsman: “Treated differently, now what?”

In her last meeting of this committee Carla spoke on three topics. On the Children’s Ombudsman report on discrimination and racism against children, she debated a colleague who called such reports a waste of money: how can children and parents who experience racism be protected if there may be no research and their experiences are dismissed as opinions again? On citizenship education she asked to include the National Slavery Museum and the Suriname museum. And on the urgent letter about children out of school, she pointed out that autism is recognised later in girls and children of colour; parents now often get more from each other than from the system. She asked how teachers, special-needs coordinators and school leaders will be trained in neurodiversity as a matter of course, when parents will routinely be told about their rights and options, and how cooperation with parent cafés and community organisations will be made permanent rather than ad hoc (in Dutch).

Watch the full meeting on Raadsinformatie ↗

Questions + answers · 7:18

0:00 / 7:18YouTube ↗

Chapters

See all 158 →

Council meetings

In the full council meeting, all 45 councillors debate and vote on proposals, motions and amendments.

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Council meeting6:11 speaking time

Carla Kabamba’s farewell speech

At the last council meeting of the term, Carla said goodbye. Mayor Halsema described her as a distinctive councillor who never thought small and who, as a one-person group, worked against period poverty and for childcare, fundamental rights, heritage and liveability. In her farewell speech Carla looked back on OBA Next, the talks on Congo and Sudan and the Route to Repair. To new councillors she said: listen to the city, including those who remain unseen (in Dutch).

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Questions + answers · 7:49

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Chapters

Council meeting15:11 speaking time

Stek Oost and the K-midden investment plan

In this council meeting Carla spoke on topics including the K-midden investment plan in Zuidoost and Amsterdam’s approach to refugees and undocumented people. In the interpellation on Stek Oost, a housing complex for students and refugees with residence permits where residents faced sexual assault and rape, she called the violence serious but warned that it must not be used to cast refugees as a group as perpetrators: anyone who truly wants to tackle violence against women must tackle its roots, such as the idea that a woman is worth less (in Dutch).

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Questions + answers · 27:36

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Chapters

Council meeting5:49 speaking time

Advertising ban, rogue landlords and Hart voor de K-buurt

In question time on rogue landlords, Carla suggested giving everyone who registers in Amsterdam a leaflet on what a landlord may not do and where to report it, and asked how the city reaches people far removed from government. On the ban on fossil fuel advertising she supported the ban but pointed out that electric driving also relies on cobalt from Congo; she was critical of banning meat advertising at the same time, since it hits small businesses harder than big chains, and asked for a transition period. On the cloud strategy she argued for rapid digital independence from American tech companies, with ideas from the city itself. And on the study of Hart voor de K-buurt she recalled that young people helped bring OBA Next to the K-buurt through that organisation (in Dutch).

Watch the full meeting on Raadsinformatie ↗

Questions + answers · 10:47

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Chapters

See all 35 →

Expert meetings

In an expert meeting, the council talks with practitioners and specialists to understand a topic better.

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Council Committee on Housing13:57 as chair

Round table with private landlords

As chair of the Housing Committee, Carla led this round table with private landlords, investors and tenants’ organisations, initiated by councillor Taj (GroenLinks). Two rounds covered the bottlenecks, such as regulation, returns, long permit procedures and ground lease, and possible agreements for more affordable homes. Carla shared the limited time between landlords, tenants and councillors, and closed with the hope that the conversation lays the groundwork for cooperation in the new council term (in Dutch).

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Questions + answers · 47:32

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Council Committee on Housing11:48 as chair

Public hearing on lift breakdowns

As chair of the Housing Committee, Carla led the council’s first public hearing on lift breakdowns in residential buildings. Residents, residents’ committees, tenants’ associations and the disability platform of Zuidoost described people getting stuck in lifts or being unable to leave their homes all day, sometimes even missing chemotherapy. Housing associations and lift experts then responded, including on standard parts, faster repairs and keeping tenants informed. Carla kept time so that both residents and landlords were heard (in Dutch).

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Questions + answers · 33:15

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FKD-expertmeeting LHBTIQ+-acceptatie0:59 speaking time

13:50 - 15:00 | Panelgesprek

Carla spoke about 13:50 - 15:00 | Panelgesprek (in Dutch).

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Questions + answers · 1:36

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Chapters

See all 10 →

Public hearings

At a public hearing, Amsterdammers bring their concerns and ideas directly to the council, and councillors ask them questions.

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DC-inspreekavond Programma Windenergie Amsterdam 20302:48 speaking time

Inspreekavond voorgenomen besluit windenergie Amsterdam

Carla spoke about inspreekavond voorgenomen besluit windenergie Amsterdam (in Dutch).

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Questions + answers · 10:27

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Chapters

Public hearing7:46 speaking time

Location of the erotic centre

At the public hearing on the location of the planned erotic centre, sex workers, local residents and people from education addressed the council. Carla kept asking what would work instead: safe workplaces for sex workers, protection for students near the possible site, and how the city should communicate to counter the stigma around sex work.

Watch the full meeting on Raadsinformatie ↗

Chapters