There Is a Plan to Redevelop Popiełuszko Square

Readers' opinions following the mayor's comment

I support this project. This city is only beginning its long journey toward Europe, but we must not miss a single chance to find our place in it someday. Good luck, Mr. Mayor.

Jaga, Bolesławiec

Mr. Mayor, please remind our residents how you voted in the referendum on developing this square. I have the impression that this concept is another marketing ploy of yours, aimed more at distracting residents from an honest assessment of your soon-to-end term in office. Generally, I agree with those who say that this square should be sensibly developed. And, incidentally, what would the mayor do if another referendum on this matter were held?

Damazy, Bolesławiec

The concept for developing the square is not very interesting. It gives the impression of many blocks added without any order or coherence. Why not hold a competition for the development of the square? This is an important matter for many decades to come. Please give residents a choice.

Michał, Bolesławiec

In my opinion, this is very good. At last people are noticing that Bolesławiec is getting back on its feet. Something is being built all the time and Bolesławiec is expanding. The city will finally show its good side in Lower Silesia, and residents and young people will have somewhere to spend their free time :)

Mirosław, Bolesławiec

What a wonderful idea—to put such an enormous concrete complex here. We will be the best-prepared city for a nuclear war. Residents of Asnyka, Łukasiewicza, Bielska and Sierpnia '80 will have a bunker right under their noses. How could anyone allow such a piece of greenery—the lungs of the city center—to withstand the drive for "development"? These days, it even looks bad for something green to grow next to concrete. This concept is simply unacceptable. I already have a vision of a summer afternoon. I am writing to the residents of the streets mentioned above. I see black clouds over you. Almost literally. Has anyone considered air pollution caused by increased road traffic? Piotr Roman is right about one thing. If he does not do it, his successors will. This is simply the destructive mentality of modern man. If Piotr Roman is pursuing his own "Hollywood star," I suggest that the city authorities replace one of the paving slabs on Asnyka with a slab bearing the mayor's name (it will be cheaper).

Bolesławiec resident

More nonsense and demagoguery from Roman. And where have you been for the past few years? What have you done for the city? Microchipped dogs? Where are the new jobs and investments? It is not at all as easy to find work in Bolesławiec as you think. Most of my friends left after university because they found nothing here. Complexes like this can be built when there is money for them. As it is, poor residents are financing a project that is unprofitable for them.

Bartek, Bolesławiec

Well done, Mr. Mayor! Our city deserves to enter the 21st century with a complex like this, right in the center of Bolesławiec. I know Polkowice well; although it is much smaller than Bolesławiec, its recreation and service complex has made it very popular with tourists from Poland and abroad. It is high time our city had such an ambitious and modern complex in the center. I hope you will have enough patience to encourage investors to participate in the costs of carrying out this project. Your voice and encouragement will be an important signal to them. Congratulations, and I wish you patience and optimism in this difficult task!

Andrzej, Bolesławiec

Has anyone thought about what will happen if several hundred cars descend on such a facility? Our roads are what everyone can see. And such a facility belongs not in the center but on the outskirts. Those poor children will not be envious of those who use it.

Artur, Bolesławiec

I think it is a wonderful project. It is not only young people who are waiting for such a complex. Mr. Mayor, do not listen to the complainers; they are never happy with anything—especially when it is done by people outside their political camp.

Marta, Bolesławiec

It would be great if there were also an indoor skate park; please consider it!

Asha, Bolesławiec

To Kika and people who think similarly: Piotr Roman had the entire term to act. I do not see the results of his work. He boasts about declining unemployment in the city, but the truth is that not only unemployment is declining—the population is too. Young people leave to work, for example, in England or in large cities. No businesses are being established that would provide many new jobs. Of course, Roman can claim that half the unemployed work in the gray economy—as he recently said to journalists. Mr. Roman, I suggest you deal with matters more important to the local community than ribbon-cutting ceremonies and microchipping dogs.

Tomek, Poland

An interesting, another proposal? And what about the Forum cinema expansion project? Instead of supporting the expansion and dealing with it seriously, they put on a major presentation of a computer model and it ended with a citywide discussion about cinema seats! Is the complex model now supposed to help install new benches and a fountain in the square? Let us be realistic! The city has unemployment and self-interest, while the mayors are trying to blind us with beautiful projects! Why a Wrocław company specifically?! Do we not have enough architectural firms in Bolesławiec? And, by the way, I wonder how much the city's latest concept for developing the square cost. Expanding the cinema would have had a better chance of success for now.

Adam, Bolesławiec

Complaining. Do something? Bad. Do nothing? Also bad... Do what you believe is right. You cannot satisfy everyone anyway. At least the city will have a beautiful and very necessary facility. An ideal location! It is not the one who thinks but the one who acts.

Kika, Bolesławiec

Such a facility should be built with private money. A tender should be organized, and the interested institutions should become the owners—for example, Multikino or Gemax bowling alleys. Another company specializing in this could take care of the swimming pool. The city should not put public money into something like this. There are hospitals, schools, roads and safety. Only a private business owner will properly look after their own interests. And since, for example, Gemax has not built a bowling alley in Bolesławiec so far, apparently it is not profitable to maintain one.

Artur, Bolesławiec

The truth is that only a few people use facilities of this type.

Mirek, neighbor of Bolesławiec

Bolesławiec should have such a complex. If there is no municipal money for it, PPP is the only option. I have the impression that most of the malcontents do not go to the 20-meter swimming pool (an anachronism), let alone use the available sports halls, because they would write differently. If the facility can pay for itself (it must), then let it be built as soon as possible.

Jonasz, B-c

And I think this is demagoguery. What is happening with the renovation of the Forum cinema and the construction of the cultural complex at Piłsudski Square? This is just electioneering that cannot be carried out. Does the mayor think someone will pay that much for a project commissioned by other people? And what if he wants it to have four more floors? Will we throw taxpayers' money at new projects again? This is simply handing out taxpayers' money.

Tomek, Poland

Readers' opinions

To Gall Anonim: Young people are bored? And do you think this will be free? The young people will have to pay, after all, and where will the money come from in a city with such unemployment? What will the parents of poor people say? These are games before the approaching 2006 elections.

Artur, Bolesławiec

It may look nice, but it certainly will not solve 25% unemployment. The question is who will go there and whether Bolesławiec really needs these bread-and-circuses. And apart from that, it is a shame to lose this green space.

Marcin, Bolesławiec, Łódź

Well done, Mr. Mayor! I think it is a great idea. I believe it will succeed, and then those who, as usual, object to everything should be ashamed.

Halina, Bolesławiec

The city is missing such a complex, but for God's sake, not in this location. There are so many unused places that would be better suited to it. Come to your senses. Would you want constant noise under your windows?

Viola, Bolesławiec

Hehe. Another joke. But where will the money come from? We have a deficit of about 15 million złoty, and they want to build a complex costing more than 40 million. Interesting :-) And where is the shopping center on Zgorzelecka? I do not see anything happening. Of course—elections are next year, so something has to be thrown to the public. Business as usual.

Gotrek, Bolesławiec

This investment will certainly pay for itself after several decades. New jobs as well as new housing. It just needs to be carried out with the interests of our city's residents in mind, not for show, as Mr. Roman is capable of.

Daniel, Bolesławiec

I wonder when this will be built. There are always such big plans. But if it is built, the market on Wesoła will cease to exist ;-( And surely we do not want that? They should build it in Dobra City instead :-)

Krzyś, Dobra City

It is interesting that a place with only a swimming pool and an ice rink is called a sports and recreation complex (unless the retail and service complex, hotel, shopping gallery and apartments are to be called recreational facilities). But those are just details ;-) As for the swimming pool... An hour of swimming (a lesson-hour) at the MOSiR pool costs PLN 7.50 (or PLN 5 if you have a school ID). So how much will it cost to use this pool with slides? I hope customers will come from other cities too—as they do in Polkowice or Liberec in the Czech Republic—and that it will be possible to swim at a reasonable price. And, of course, that there will be designated swimming lanes rather than just lanes for silly water games (swimming in a lane where several children want to play is practically impossible). I wonder what MOSiR thinks about this. It will probably have to convert its own pool into something else. But let us leave that to their ingenuity.

Artur, Bolesławiec

Piotr Roman has quite a nerve! He is dropping a rotten egg on someone before the local elections, while he himself escapes to Warsaw or abroad. We will see what Ujazdowski has prepared for Roman's departure, so that our chairman of the Jelenia Góra Regional Assembly, Bolesławiec county head, mayor of Bolesławiec, etc., can climb the "Golden" mountain. After all, he has done so much for its residents over all these years.

Bolek, Bolesławiec

Where does Roman intend to get the money for this? The construction costs are similar to the city's entire budget!

Tomek, Poland

Science fiction! Or... who has an interest here? It is simple. If it is a public-private partnership, I would gladly apply to be a shareholder (a very small one). I already suspect who one of the main shareholders will be and why the project is being pushed so forcefully. The sheikhs are on top again! The current mayor is acting in great haste—he will not "survive" the next elections, after all!

Filutek, Bolesławiec

I believe this could be a very good investment. First, however, let us deal with unemployment in our city, and then we can have fun restoring the city...

Daniel, Bolesławiec

At last someone has taken charge of this city and something is finally happening. I hope this is only the beginning! Overall, I view it very positively!

Mazurek, Bolesławiec

An idea solely for Mr. Roman's future campaign. It will certainly never be carried out. It reminds me of a pre-election wish list for our city. It is a pity that it remained only in the realm of "dreams."

Beata, Bolesławiec

Why did the dear mayor fight so hard to save this piece of land before the elections? Now that he is already mayor, does he want to build something there? Pure hypocrisy.

Disgusted, Bolec

I hope this complex will be open to everyone and properly used. Not like the hall at I LO has been so far.

Radek, Bolesławiec

Let us remember that elections are next year. An impression has to be made on people so that they will vote for Roman again. This all smells like pre-election deception to me. I hope people will not fall for it ;-)

Michał, Bolesławiec-Wrocław

It may be a good idea, but if we are going to build something, let us add a bowling alley too. We have a GeMax representative office in Bolec, after all; they are the ones building bowling alleys throughout Poland.

Thor, Bolec

Well done! This part of the city should have been developed long ago. I hope those responsible for the project will follow through and that it will not end as a complex existing only on paper.

Marek, Vancouver, Canada

I am afraid that a new complex for the nouveau riche will be built, while others will only be able to look at it.

Aga, Bolesławiec

It is a great idea. At last an entertainment center will be built, because young people here are constantly bored.

Gall Anonim, Bolec

You must have gone mad. Develop such a wonderful open area in the city center?! It would be like putting a Biedronka or Lidl in the Market Square. Why not on the site of the former eastern railway station, which is unused and neglected?

Zalew, Wrocław—formerly Bolesławiec

In my humble opinion, it is all smoke and mirrors. Two years ago we were supposed to be shopping in the retail and service center that was to be built there. Unfortunately, there are more similar examples: the boulevard along the Bóbr, the reconstruction and shops in part of the municipal plantations near the pools, paving stones in the Market Square instead of asphalt, the PKP railway station, development of the site of the former eastern station, the new housing estate near the cemetery (already two houses!), restoration of the park behind the municipal hospital (the road toward Jelenia Góra). There are certainly more examples. It is a shame that they are not being carried out, while our money is spent on increasingly bolder projects :-(

Disgusted, Bolesławiec

I do not understand why they are building this at all. Small shops will go under because of it.

Daniel, Bolec

Great project! Now it is time to begin the investment, because a complex like this is essential in Bolesławiec!

Szymon, Bolesławiec

As always, unrealistic dreams.

Piter, Bolesławiec

A very interesting project. Bolesławiec certainly lacks something like this. Let us hope it does not end with a nice model!

Marcin, Bolesławiec