Democracy civilises - at the local level

A day early - here they are, the results of last month's Participatory Budget for Warsaw, Ursynow and indeed Jeziorki. And looking at the Jeziorki results, a stunning victory for the Karczunkowska pavement, which topped the poll! Well, not the whole two kilometres, just the short stretch from ul. Puławska to ul. Sarabandy. But this is a start. It's the most dangerous stretch for two reasons - one is forced to walk along the roadway, as there is no pavement at all for some 80m, secondly because primary schoolchildren must use this thoroughfare to get from the bus stop on Karczunkowska to their school round the corner on Sarabandy.

Further excellent news - the traffic calming proposition - all residential roads in Jeziorki and Pyry to have speed limits of 30km/h ("Twenty's Plenty" in mph) with signage and speed bumps - also made it onto the list. All the rat runners trying to escape the traffic jams on ul. Puławska by taking to the side streets will know they are breaking the law if they drive egregiously.

And for residents of Jeziorki, our recultivated lake will have a proper park placed around it, with a footpath/cyclepath in place of the muddy track. This means anglers will have to walk to their favourite spot, rather than churning up the un-asphalted part of ul. Dumki. An outdoor fitness park, where we can all get fit, is also in the plan. The nearby ponds, Wąsal and the one on ul. Pozytywki, will get litter-bins.

In total, 1,079,000 złotys will be spent on the Jeziorki lakeside park, 17,500 złotys on the pavement and 100,000 złotys on traffic calming measures.

A project that didn't make it (it was too expensive at 800,000 złotys) was a proposition to run a bus route down ul. Baletowa from ul. Puławska to W-wa Dawidy station. This would have necessitated a brand new bus terminus at the station, widening the road substantially between ul. Farbiarska and Puławska, and making a new junction allowing traffic to turn left onto Puławska from Baletowa. Maybe next year...

An entirely separate project that has been promised is the widening of Puławska all the way from Piaseczno to Wilanowska, allowing for bus lanes in both directions. Like the local participatory budget projects set out above, everything should be ready by 2016.

The way the voting was conducted was excellent. Full consultation, a local meeting, plenty of information in the local press and online. Citizens were told the total size of the budget they could vote for and the cost of each project. However, voting - which was carried out mainly online - was thin, with only 7.8% of those eligible to vote actually bothering to do so, far fewer than the 15% turnout last year. Which gives more power to the activists.

I guess this is because last year's process was poorly constructed. All the money went to just one expensive - though necessary - project, this may have put people off. Yet this year there was a greater choice, more information and a clearer process. I hope that once citizens see the fruits of this year's participatory budget actually being delivered, there'll be a greater turnout for the 2016 vote.

I look forward to seeing progress and development accelerating in Jeziorki!

Thanks to Marcin Daniecki for the tip-off!

This time last year:
Rustic retreat rained off

This time three years ago:
Thunderstorm over Jeziorki

This time four years ago:
Getting lost on top of Łopień

This five six years ago:
Regulatory absurdities in Poland

This time seven years ago:
Czachówek and Alignment

This time eight years ago:
Joy, pain, sunshine, rain

Rainy night in Jeziorki tests new retention ponds

"It rained and it rained/Both night and day" [John Lee Hooker, Tupelo]. Not a biblical downpour that would have had Noah reaching for his hammer, but steady, uninterrupted, heavy rain that lasted over 16 hours. Yesterday evening, rain water was rising up the drive, by this morning the front garden was inundated.

The amount of water that fell on our property was similar to that experienced in the Corpus Christi storm of 3 June 2010. This was no cloudburst, no thunder or lightning, no tempestuous winds, just hour upon hour of heavy rain - the equivalent, we were warned, of a month's rainfall in a single day.

Yet another anomalous weather event; a good opportunity to see how the new retention ponds have fared. Their task - to prevent flooding of local houses, roads and fields. I set off by bike to inspect the neighbourhood and how it's been affected by the rains.

Above and below: certainly looking around the nearby fields, there's been a good deal of podtopienie (localised flooding). Many of the fields around ul. Trombity have had their level raised by humus dredged from the bottom of the pond. It seems not to have done the trick.

Below: the road itself is relatively dry; there's no long stretch of submerged asphalt as there was in June 2010, nor are the spur roads (ul. Dumki and Trombity 24) too badly affected.

Below: the same spot, 4 June 2010 - a massive difference; here the renovated retention ponds have proved their worth.

Below: at the end of ul. Trombity, looking along the drainage ditch running parallel to ul. Kórnicka; brim-full of rainwater. The bottom end of the field immediately behind me (between Trombity and the railway line) is flooded, as usual. The new retention ponds have done little or nothing to protect the most vulnerable fields; my advice would be to dig more drainage ditches and make existing ones wider and deeper.

A similar story by the retention ponds along ul. Pozytywki (below). The fields are flooded, the road is dry...

...and the retention pond has swallowed the rainwater, its banks are dry and secure. Note the turf that has been planted at the water's edge. Starting to look quite attractive around here!

Below: Wąsal pond, between Pozytywki, Katarynki and Czarkowskiego. Again, it's been edged with new turf, and as we can see, it's nowhere near full. [Panoramic photo - two pics merged into one.]

Below: most important proof that the renovated ponds are working (at least as far as protecting roads and buildings - as we can see fields are still liable to flooding). Looking north along ul. Puławska, towards the junction with Karczunkowska. Three years ago, that security guard box in the foreground had floated off into floodwater, and Puławska was a river from one side to the other.

Below: ul. Puławska on the morning of 4 June 2010...


In terms of preventing this kind of catastrophe, the newly-renovated ponds have done their job well. Let's just hope they will not be put to a greater test by anomalous weather events in future. However, better drainage of fields into the ponds would do our local farmers a great favour. Despite the millions of zlotys that have been spent on flood prevention in Jeziorki, the lower-lying fields remain vulnerable.

This time last year:
Wide-angle under Pl. Wilsona

This time two years ago:
Ranking a better life

This time three years ago:
Questions about our biology and spirituality

This time four years ago:
Paysages de Varsovie

This time five years ago:
Spring walk, twilight time