Although our open letter was not addressed to the City President, we are exercising the press right of reply in order to provide substantive additions concerning the issues raised. We regret having to state that the extensive printed “explanations” contribute little to the substance of the matter if one sets aside the attempt to lecture us from the position of an “infallible authority that knows best about everything.”
We set out our own arguments clearly enough, which is why we are surprised by the attempts to speculate and search for hidden subtexts in the open letter. The situation of local—and not only local—craftsmanship is downright dramatic, hence the appeal for rationalising activities in our own community.
Detailed explanations and numerical data are only part of the truth, described suggestively and vividly by the host of Bolesławiec. It is, moreover, a truth not free of substantive errors, because, for example, a contractor earning 1 billion złoty would contribute 35 percent tax to the state budget, that is, 350 million złoty, of which the Voivodeship Office would presumably transfer some amount to the city as a subsidy, not counting tax on wages—although this is not a very significant sum, because the contractor from Lubin employed only three Bolesławiec residents under contracts for specific work for a period of four months. Another doubt arises here: in the tender for laying paving slabs (where did the area of 6,000 square metres come from, when budget funds were supposedly reserved for half as much?)—were there really no competing bids?
Why did companies from outside Bolesławiec participate in the tender rather than local ones (the winning bidder from Lubin does not even have its own telephone, using other people’s phones), and why were no public notices placed in the local press? One local craftsman learned about it after the fact, although he wanted to lay the paving much more cheaply; moreover, he had already carried out this kind of work in the city without the slightest quality objections. The foreign company’s “equipment” also raises doubts, because the work was actually performed by hand, which undoubtedly increased the investment costs. Let us add that local craftsmen also have similar equipment, such as tractors, compactors and rakes. The paradox lies in the fact that the contractor presented one technology and used another in practice. We are interested in the rules for settling these works, the type of price list used and the actual costs. We insist that Bolesławiec’s unemployed should have been employed to a greater extent, and that the city has a duty to give them a chance to be active and to work for the common good. We will not expand on the subject due to the lack of space in the newspaper.
After a three-and-a-half-year term in office, the city authorities entered into dialogue with the Guild of Various Crafts, at the end of the council’s term. Better late than never. We are nevertheless surprised by the intrusive dogmatism of the opinions, the lecturing and the discrediting of differing views. Reveling in one’s own frugality and the accuracy of one’s economic decisions does not become an authority that thinks rationally, because, unfortunately, we have too many examples—even on a macro scale—of words and actions failing to match, as demonstrated, among other things, by the economic and political turmoil across Poland. We do not believe that Bolesławiec is an exceptional “oasis of happiness,” so we reserve the right to undertake various social activities as part of giving appropriate standing to self-government activity, treating it not verbally but substantively. And the City President cannot take offense at this.
Despite the unfavourable words and gestures, the crafts community is not discouraged and continues to serve society with dignity. As every year, from our own contributions we will provide Christmas parcels to all the children at the Children’s Home. We also train pupils from the Special School in craft workshops. We have not been convinced by the City President’s argument that others are better. We therefore want to take our own affairs into our own hands as residents and co-hosts of Bolesławiec, which we rebuilt and helped build over many years. This is action for the public good.
Guild Elder
Eugeniusz Stachowski