One of the topics discussed during the November session of the Bolesławiec City Council was the possible introduction of parking fees at the municipal cemetery car park, on the Gdańska Street side. Employees of nearby companies park their cars there, preventing people who want to visit the graves of their loved ones from finding a space. Janina Piestrak-Babijczuk, deputy head of the Council, spoke on the matter. “Why should this car park be paid? Why should people coming to the cemetery suffer because of employees of a nearby company? A better solution would be more frequent visits by Municipal Police officers.”
“Municipal Police officers will not guard this car park every day,” mayor Piotr Roman retorted. “Besides, what would they fine these drivers for? The problem is that if 20 employees of nearby companies arrive and leave their cars there at 6:30 a.m., there is no space for anyone else in the car park until 4 p.m.”
“I spoke to people coming to the cemetery,” Roman continued. “I asked: would you be willing to pay, for example, 50 groszy for half an hour of parking, knowing that thanks to this fee you would have a better chance of finding a free space in the car park? They replied: of course.”
The discussion was joined by Dariusz Filistyński, a councillor from the Forum club. “I am the cemetery administrator, and not a day goes by without complaints about this car park,” he stressed. “This fee will solve the problem. If an hour of parking there cost one złoty, employees of the companies there would have to spend about PLN 160 a month. That would be a certain barrier for them. Then people who want to visit the graves of their loved ones would be able to park there without difficulty, paying only 1 złoty.”
The mayor stressed that the fees would be only symbolic. “Our aim is to increase turnover, so that no car remains in this car park for an unnecessarily long time,” Piotr Roman explained. “Next year I will propose introducing fees at two car parks: near the cemetery and at Piłsudski Square.”
The city authorities’ preliminary concept is as follows: the car park at Piłsudski Square would be paid only during office hours. People wishing to go to the Forum cinema or the International Ceramics Centre in the afternoon would be able to park there free of charge. “For a long time we tried not to introduce this type of fee,” Roman noted. “But today the number of cars and people coming to Bolesławiec means that there are places in our city where greater vehicle turnover should be encouraged. We can either continue pretending that we do not have a parking problem, or consider what to do to increase turnover in these places.”
More parking spaces near the MCC
In 2012, the city also wants to build a car park on the other side of BOK-MCC. “We have PLN 350,000 earmarked for this purpose in the budget,” the mayor stressed. “Moreover, the investor building a shopping centre on Asnyka Street has declared that it will co-finance the project with PLN 150,000.”
Razik and Filipek made honorary citizens of the city
The councillors also adopted resolutions granting honorary citizenship of Bolesławiec to Zbigniew Razik and Jan Filipek, well-known local activists of “Solidarity”. “This is repayment of a debt to the whole ‘S’,” Council head Józef Pokładek said before the vote. “It is the rendering of due honour to those who, during martial law, repeatedly undertook heroic actions aimed at restoring normality and freedom in our country.”
PLN 100,000 for the hospital
The councillors also adopted a resolution concerning changes to the city budget for 2011. One of its most important provisions is an increase in expenditure by PLN 100,000, to be allocated to the relocation of the Infectious Diseases Ward at the Bolesławiec ZOZ. “On behalf of the Civic Platform councillors, I would like to express my great thanks for this money,” said Mirosław Sakowski. “Once again, we are doing something good for the hospital. The problem is that not everyone wants to do it good,” Piotr Roman remarked ironically. “Five municipalities in the county contributed just PLN 30,000 for this purpose, while we are contributing PLN 100,000. And the hospital is not only for Bolesławiec residents. What is more, if we calculate tax revenue per resident, Bolesławiec ranks only fifth among the county’s six municipalities. Gromadka, the rural Bolesławiec municipality, Osiecznica and Warta Bolesławiecka are all considerably wealthier municipalities than we are.”
Will the city clean county roads?
During the November meeting, the issue of possibly transferring summer and winter maintenance of county roads to the city also resurfaced. “I do not want to answer this proposal directly today. I ordered the services to photograph streets and pavements administered by Bolesławiec County,” [wszyscy obecni w Sali Rajców mogli je obejrzeć podczas sesji – przyp. red.] the mayor said. “A comprehensive analysis shows that without one hundred-odd million złotys—or at least in some places—we face a catastrophe. I saw the County’s draft budget for next year, and there is not a single investment in county roads within the city.”
“We are dealing here with potholes, blocked drains, crumbling pavements and a multitude of other things that need to be done,” the mayor continued. “Please do not treat this as criticism. I am only saying that too little has been invested in roads in recent years, which means their condition will continue to deteriorate. Of course, this excludes those that were completed in previous years with substantial city funding. Before we decide whether to take responsibility for maintaining county roads, however, we must answer the question: how much money would the county office have to give us for us to feel safe? Who would pay compensation for damage to a car that drives into a pothole on Staroszkolna Street? Because where the recently renovated section ends, a Swiss cheese road begins. Who will pay for cleaning the drains? Who will compensate a citizen who slips because of uneven tiles installed 30–40 years ago? Perhaps we should take over only some of these roads—those that are in reasonably good condition? I would like to take them over, but I am afraid of being responsible for sins that are not mine.”
We will return to this matter.
(information: ii)