What the City Lived Through in 2010

January

Piotr Roman and his rival Bogusław Nowak began the year traditionally. The mayor presented awards for promoting the city “The mayor presents, the chairwoman kisses”, while councillor Nowak caused a commotion at a council session “Commotion at the session: the finale in court”. The men began the year apparently thinking about the November elections. The difference was that Piotr Roman started by recruiting people for electoral lists and rewarding future supporters, while Bogusław Nowak focused on a poorly executed investment—the renovation of Komuny Paryskiej Street—and a pavement lowered by 15 cm in front of the property housing his restaurant.

The Great Orchestra of Christmas Charity also played in January. Bolesławiec could boast of collecting more than PLN 51,000 “The Great Orchestra – more than PLN 51,000 collected in Bolesławiec”.

February

In February, Dariusz Kwaśniewski announced his candidacy in the mayoral election “Kwaśniewski runs, Roman comments”. He assured voters that his campaign would not be bloody, and he kept his word.

March

The Blues nad Bobrem festival, created in Bolesławiec twenty years earlier, was moved to Kliczków “Kliczków Castle wanted us – Blues nad Bobrem press conference”. The festival received PLN 300,000 in funding. Krystyna Juszkiewicz, the festival’s creator, explained that in Bolesławiec the BnB Association could not find sympathetic people willing to help organise the event.

April

The crash of the presidential aircraft in Smolensk and the death of President Lech Kaczyński dominated local events: “Memorial Mass for the victims of the crash”.

There was also a local incident involving the city secretary. Jerzy Zieliński, outraged that music could be heard from councillor Nowak’s establishment during the period of national mourning, sent him a text message with an un-Christian tone immediately after leaving church “Zieliński to Nowak: you’re a brute”. It turned out that the establishment had been booked by customers who had planned their wedding long in advance and could not postpone the celebrations.

May

In May, the month of love, a politician from the Democratic Left Alliance stirred our senses: “Arłukowicz: I really like vibrators”. At a meeting in Bolesławiec, the politician spoke, among other things, about a left-wing vision of the state, various concepts of patriotism and vibrators, which he liked very much. National media highlighted his penchant for sexy mechanical toys by quoting our article: “Arłukowicz failed to appreciate Bolesławiec journalists”.

As every year, a several-day outdoor event, City Days, was organised in May: “Kult’s performance brought City Days to a close”. The assessment of this event will remain an eternal mystery. When it is under way, it is clear that the Bolesławiec residents attending are satisfied. Yet more than 70 percent of internet users rated the event poorly in a poll.

June

We published an extensive report about Dorota Jaróg, a Bolesławiec resident who had been defrauded: “Love on credit” (in December, we also described the conclusion of the case: “Woman posing as a man sentenced”).

In June, we said goodbye to well-known Bolesławiec resident and gynaecologist Olgierd Niewodniczański “Olgierd Niewodniczański is dead” and celebrated the anniversary of the ordination of the parish priest in the Kwiatowe Estate “25th anniversary of Father Józef Hupa’s ordination”.

July

In summer, a financial scandal erupted at Bolesławiec City Hall. The head of the City Development and Promotion Department probably chose, out of habit, an expensive offer from Grzegorz Matoryn’s well-known Bolesławiec company “Official extravagance over posters”. Chojnacka was punished for rejecting lower-priced offers “Chojnacka lost her position”, while Matoryn ended up on the mayor’s electoral list in the autumn.

August

It is difficult to decide what was more important that month. Was it the well-organised and, as always, incumbent-mayor-promoting Festival of Ceramics “The Ceramic Fiesta is under way”, the Gliniada “Gliniada 2010 – the success of partnership and synergy”, or the removal of Bogusław Nowak from the councillors’ club by the Civic Platform board “Civic Platform board removes Nowak from the Councillors’ Club”.

September

The following month showed, however, that removing councillor Bogusław Nowak from the Civic Platform club resulted in his decision to run for mayor “Nowak runs for mayor”. With this move, Nowak changed the balance of power in the race for the mayor’s seat.

October

A month before the election, we learned the names of all the candidates for mayor “Eight candidates for mayora”. Bogusław Nowak’s campaign team made a blunder. It had serious problems registering one of the lists, on which Nowak held first place “Nowak’s list rejected” and “Nowak’s list reinstated”.

November

The local elections dominated all events in the city and county. Thanks to an election poll conducted by our website and newspaper just after polling stations closed, it was possible to learn the election results. Our mayoral poll matched the official results “Roman won in the first round”.

December

After the election, changes were made to the position of deputy mayor. Maciej Małkowski left the post “Maciej Małkowski dismissed as deputy mayor”. He was replaced by Kornel Filipowicz “Filipowicz becomes Roman’s deputy”.

Former councillor Bogusław Nowak ended 2010 as he had begun it: with a conflict. This time, it was with the Municipal Police in Jelenia Góra “Bolesławiec resident involved in altercation with Municipal Police in Jelenia Góra”. The prosecutor’s office is investigating the case.