4th August 2014, Prague
ZELENÁ PRO JEDNIČKU (Green for Prague 1) is a coalition of the Green Party in Prague 1, independent candidates and the “For Prague 1” association. We are standing in the Prague 1 municipal elections on 10-11 October, 2014. If you are a citizen of a European Union member state and have permanent residence in the Czech Republic, you are eligible to vote.
The Green Party, independent candidates and members of the civic association For Prague 1 have agreed on a joint list in the municipal elections in Prague 1, entitled ZELENÁ PRO JEDNIČKU. The leader is Filip Pospíšil, with Kateřína Klasnová second on the list. Both have worked together for years as opposition deputies in Prague 1.
ZELENÁ PRO JEDNIČKU wants a livable centre, not a centre that is losing inhabitants as a result of the tourist industry, developers and, above all, poor political administration. Our candidates are active citizens, involved in the fight against night time noise from clubs, bars and pub crawls, against the crime that surrounds casinos, and also against the disadvantageous sell-off of city property, inflated public tenders and the poor economic management of municipal property. We are against the negative influences of car transport and insensitive developments in Prague’s heritage zone.
“The aim of ZELENÁ PRO JEDNIČKU is to ensure that existing inhabitants can enjoy a pleasant and quiet life in Prague 1, and to attract new residents to the centre. This means ending the arrogant and incompetent ruling coalition of TOP09 and ČSSD, which in the past electoral period has been supported by ODS deputies,” says Filip Pospíšil, leader of the ZELENÁ PRO JEDNIČKU candidate list.
“We want to make use of our years of effort and criticism of the dodgy practices of previous administrations in Prague 1. We know what previous administrations have done wrong, and we know the direction in which we would like the centre to develop, ” adds Pospíšil, who has been a deputy for the Green Party and a member of the Financial Committee for the past two electoral periods.
Kateřína Klasnová has been a deputy for the same length of time. “During my eight years of work, a large number of people from Prague 1 have turned to me and continue to do so. They are forced to take an active interest in local politics by a town hall and authorities that are failing to work properly. It is these people who have joined together in the “For Prague 1” civic association. Some of them have decided to stand in the autumn municipal elections as independent candidates,” says Klasnová, who as chairwoman of For Prague 1 is in second place on the joint candidate list. “We decided that we are stronger together, and that we need to join forces against the way in which the Prague 1 town hall has functioned over the past twenty years. All the scandals can be traced to the ODS, TOP09 and the ČSSD. The only potential partner to come into consideration for our independent candidates was the Green Party, with which I share many years of work together in the opposition, joint proposals and voting together at assembly meetings,” says Kateřina Klasnová, explaining the reason for the joint list.
“We want life in the centre to be good. We don’t want more and more people leaving in order to live elsewhere. We intend to do all we can to ensure that the Prague 1 town hall stops putting its own business before care of its citizens and of the municipality,” say ZELENÁ PRO JEDNIČKU candidates Filip Pospíšil and Kateřina Klasnová.
ZELENÁ PRO JEDNIČKU offers strict noise controls and sanctions for the violation of noise regulations, limits on pub crawls, the observance of closing times of restaurants and clubs, regulation of busking and the use of Segway vehicles on the pavements of Prague 1, zero tolerance of gambling slot machines, municipal offices that are open to the needs of citizens, consultation with residents when renovations and new developments are planned, more greenery in the centre and more transparent and economical dealings with municipal property.
For citizens of Prague 1 it is also important that healthcare facilities are maintained within the administration of the municipality. For this reason, the former head physician of the Na Františku hospital, Lubomír Hruška, is on the candidate list. Other candidates include Michaela Valentová, currently a deputy for the Green Party, award-winning Hollywood sound engineer Martin Maryška, art historian and restorer Janka Šiňanská, writer and scriptwriter Tereza Brdečková, public administration auditor Štefan Kabátek and the former child star of Flying Čestmír, Lukáš Bech.
Why a joint candidate list? What makes the Green Party and For Prague 1 similar, what have they done together (either as organisations or in terms of cooperation between Green Party deputies and Kateřina Klasnová)?
- Campaign against excessive noise – petition against noise signed by residents of the Old Town, memorandum on cooperation with the SOHO organisation of business people in the Old Town, repeated meetings at the town hall and with the city police, specific proposals for changes, of which most were taken on by the town hall, which itself has been incapable for eight years of dealing with disturbance in the streets.
- Campaign for zero tolerance of gambling slot machines and petition for referendum on them, proposal for zero tolerance put forward at the assembly, pressure on the finance ministry.
- Campaign against Segways – attempt to regulate the use of these vehicles in Prague 1, negotiations with the Transport Ministry on regulations against them.
- Proposal for a change to the Prague city hall’s decree on busking, introducing greater regulation.
- Petititon for the maintenance of the branch of the City Library at Pohořelec, Hradčany.
As opposition deputies, they have together led long-term struggles against:
- non-transparent and poor economic management by the Prague 1 authorities (poor and inaccessible records of contracts, non-functioning internal controls, mistakes in book-keeping that have repeatedly been stated in audits, insufficient publicizing of public tenders)
- inflated and non-transparent tenders such as the renovation of the Thurn-Taxis palace for 200 million crowns, Střelecký ostrov for amost 100 million crowns and the purchase of a camera system for 80 million crowns.
- disadvantageous sales and leases of city property (such as the planned sale of no. 39, Wenceslas Square to a non-transparent company in which Ivo Rittig was involved, the disadvantageous lease of Na Poříčí 36 and 38, originally to Bohumír Ďuričko’s company, excessively high compensation for the end of the lease of U lužického semináře 42 – 78.9 million crowns – to Sebastian Pawlowski’s Immovision company, the sale of attics to the Arta and Meltex companies to businessman Pavel Tykač, now involved in a court case with Prague 1 municipality.
- Megalomaniac developer projects such as the construction of Palladium and the Copa Centre – Quadria, the complex on the corner of Mikulandská and Národní and the planned construction of a five-star hotel between Železná, Celetná and Kamzíková streets.
- against bars and clubs and other businesses that create excessive noise and fail to observe closing times (pub crawl operators, M1, Chapeau Rouge, Coco bar, Katr, Red Pif restaurant).
- against illegal construction, alterations and planned demolitions (the demolition of a building on Wenceslas Square, the transformation of the former Klimentská healthcare clinic into a hotel, the illegal construction work in Úvoz and alterations to a house on Loretánské náměstí)
- against non-transparent methods of privatisation and privatisations that have disadvantaged some tenants.
For more information, please contact:
Mgr. Filip Pospíšil, Ph.D. – deputy, leader of the ZELENÁ PRO JEDNIČKU candidate list
tel: 604173328, e-mail: filip.pospisil@praha1.cz
ThDr. Kateřina Klasnová – deputy, chairwoman of the For Prague 1 association
tel: 724 815 124, e-mail: katerina.klasnova@projednicku.cz
Filip Ježek – chairman of the Prague 1 organisation of the Green Party
tel: 606542440, e-mail: filip.jezek@zeleni.cz