Jarosław Babiasz from the Bolesławiec Municipal Office:
Signs marking the new “Łużyce-Bory” trail regularly disappear, while cycling shelters are used by “connoisseurs of strong spirits” as informal drinking spots. Empty bottles—not necessarily bottles of isotonic drinks—litter the verges, although throwing even those onto the roadside is hardly something to be proud of.
This picture does not reflect very well on us—as users, residents and investors. I deliberately write about all of us, because although this project was carried out by the Municipality and co-financed by the European Union, it was created with our money—the residents’ taxes (and it was not a small amount: over PLN 3 million in our Municipality alone)—and is used mainly by us, the residents.
And he adds:
Former British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher said: “There is no such thing as public money. If the government says it is giving something to someone, that means it will take it from you, because the government has no money of its own.” In our local circumstances, this bitter truth means simply—or perhaps only—that we will all pay for every act of vandalism through our taxes, because the damage will have to be repaired, even though something new could have been created instead. And there is no funding available for repairs to projects such as these.
On another occasion, Mrs Thatcher said: “We do not want a society in which the state is responsible for everything and no one is responsible for the state.” Let us replace the word state with the word municipality. The Municipality is us—the residents—not only the authorities, councillors or officials. Simply us. If we ignore vandalism, wait for someone else to act on our behalf, report something, draw someone’s attention to it or notice something, while we indifferently turn our heads and walk on, it may turn out that both we and the harm done to us will go unnoticed. So let us not be afraid to respond to and condemn such behaviour as vandalism or littering. This will in no way mean doing someone else’s job, because caring for the common good is in all our interests.
The official appeals:
If you know or have information about who is destroying our shared, though public, property, notify the law-enforcement services—the police. This will by no means be informing on someone, but simply taking care of our own surroundings and, above all, our own money.
For our part, we would add that acts of vandalism carry a penalty of between three months and as much as five years in prison.