Cleaning up Chynów

The concept is straightforward; volunteers gather at a given time and place, get gloves and bin bags, and set off to pick up rubbish. Last year, I took part in three of these, organised by Stowarzyszenie Przyjaciół Gminy Chynów (the association of friends of the Chynów municipality).

This year, there were 13 people taking part; we split into two groups. I was in the group cleaning up the street I know best from my countless walks to the the local shops – ulica Współna (lit. 'Common Street'). Until this afternoon, the street was blighted by hundreds, if not thousands, of empty vodka bottles, beer cars and energy-drink tins, along with cigarette packets, sweet wrappers and lesser detritus. A real eyesore. 

From school children and their sweet wrappers and young adults and their vape accessories through to the outdoor-drinking community, thoughtless littering is a feature of modern life. Volunteer clean-ups are an answer (the real answer is that everybody gets it in their head that you take your litter home with you or put it in a bin!). Below: cleaning up ul. Wspólna, the mayor of Chynów municipality, Piotr Bernaciak. By the by, it's amazing that he was elected less than six months ago – he has got so much done in such a short space of time. Leadership by example.

The problem drinkers dump their empties by the road, in ditches, on the grass verges. Ideal fieldwork material for sociologists and market researchers. I notice the local geography of consumer preference; along ul. Wspólna, opposite the old Mirabelka supermarket, half-litre bottles of raspberry-flavour Soplica vodka predominate; further down Wspólna Cytrynówka Lubelska in 100ml małpki are the preferred tipple. Round the corner on ul. Kolejowa it's 200ml małpki of Żytniówka, while along ul. Wolska its the 100ml małpki of Żubrówka Biała that are found in greatest numbers. Beer in plastic bottles – an unusual material, associated with the cheapest brews like Kuflowe, is commonplace among the litter. When it comes to energy drinks, Black and Tiger are the brands with most thoughtlessly disposed-of containers

Below: the day's haul, from the two teams. An estimated tonne of rubbish, including 11 tyres, all properly disposed of at the PSZOK (Punkt Selektywnej Zbiórki Odpadów Komunalnych – Selective Municipal Waste Collection Point). Five kilometres walked (plus another five walking from home to the meet-up location and back).

It was good to sit down by a bonfire and grill kiełbasa along with other volunteers and their families. A happy, friendly atmosphere. Good people. Cleaning up after thoughtless folk.

"What we gotta do as the people – we got to get together and clean that up, you understand" – James Brown, Talkin' Loud And Sayin' Nothing (Complete Version).

This time five years ago:
Between the rains

This time eight years ago:

Towards a circular economy

This time nine years ago:
Ralph Vaughan-Williams - two song cycles

This time 17 years ago:
Spring scenes in Jeziorki

This time 18 years ago:
Modernist wheels

This time 19 years ago:
Mammatus clouds over Jeziorki

Solving problems, not winning arguments

The by-election to choose a new wójt for gmina Chynów (leader of rural municipality council) resulted in an overwhelming victory for Piotr Bernaciak, the youngest of the three candidates – the one associated with neither PSL nor PiS. 

I was surprised by the turnout (57%) – astonishingly high for a local by-election – and by the scale of Piotr's victory (55.6% with the other candidates, Stanisław Mróz on 30.6% and Zbigniew Sobieraj on 13.8%). Local media had conducted an opinion poll which placed Mr Sobieraj first on 34% and the others on 30% each. My own observational polling (based on the number of banners hung out on fences) had Mr Mróz on first place.

But it's not just banners. Piotr Bernaciak was active on social media. Change is in the air, even in the Polish countryside. There seems to be a desire for a break with the old ways of doing things locally.

So hearty congratulations to Piotr Bernaciak, whom I'd met picking up litter, before the sudden death in September of the previous wójt, Tadeusz Zakrzewski, had triggered the by-election.

What I liked about Piotr's CV was the fact that this was a young man who has been active in local politics since the age of 18 and who was born in the gmina, in Sułkowice. He had also set up Stowarzyszenie Przyjaciół Gminy Chynów (the association of friends of the Chynów municipality), which organises those local clean-up events – I took part in three of them this year and Piotr was present at each one.

There's something inherently practical about local politics; it's about outcomes rather than worldviews. It's about getting things done, solving problems, rather than winning arguments or scoring party-political points. Listening to Polish Radio Trójka, I get sick listening to the perpetual mudslinging between representatives of political parties and simply switch the radio off when these dreadful bores take to the air. What does matter locally is practical stuff like pavements, water-treatment plants, street lighting, waste recycling and zoning/planning permission.

Local leaders (wójt, burmistrz or prezydent miasta depending on the size/population of the administrative unit) tend to stay on in power for many terms of office if they deliver development and order. Those that focus on ideology at the expense of practical achievements quickly get the boot. The previous wójt, Tadeusz Zakrzewski, was on his fourth term of office, for which he'd won 78% of the vote. He was well-liked because he'd been delivering tangible results since 2010.

Gmina Chynów has come a long way since I bought my działka here eight years ago. In fact, it had already been moving rapidly in the right direction before that. The fact that there was asphalt up the lane and proper drains rather than septic tanks was crucial in my decision to buy here. Since then, plenty of new asphalt has appeared here and there, improving life for drivers, cyclists, pedestrians and farmers. New shops, new eateries are opening up, and generally things are getting better and better.

I'd say the biggest issues facing the new wójt will be handling the two big infrastructure projects that hang over the area. These are the route that Warsaw's orbital motorway will take south of the capital, and the railway part of the grand CPK project as it runs through Chynów. Both are ultimately decided at national level, but the interface between the works and the local population as these projects as they are rolled out over the coming decade will have a huge impact on quality of life. Will, for example, my two local level crossings be closed? Will pedestrian access to the station be improved?

Personally, my local issues are the fight against fly-tipping and litter (this disgraceful view, left,  I snapped today on Chynów's ulica Główna – literally our Main Street), better connectivity for walkers (more footpaths through fields, forests and orchards) and a clearer gmina website where you can see what infrastructure projects are being discussed and which ones are being proceeded with, and when. And improvements to the bus service. Sure, there are new bus stops and new buses, but they run empty because there's little information on the bus stops themselves and no app for local services. Sure, PKS Grójec does have an app, but only for its bus routes going into Warsaw; Chynów and Góra Kalwaria don't even get a mention. Want to buy a ticket online? Sure, but only for the next day and print it off before you board the bus. This needs to change. I'd like to be able to buy a bus ticket to Grójec with the same ease I can buy a train ticket to Warsaw.

Below: I hope the DK50 does not end up being turned into Warsaw's orbital motorway. 

Update, Saturday 13 December: a nice touch; Piotr Bernaciak thanks his voters – simply sticking the word 'dziękuję' on his banners gives them extra shelf-life.

This time last year:
Twanged!

This time four years ago year:
The ego and evil

This time six years ago:
Warsaw's Christmas lights 2019-20

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Pawlikowski's Cold War

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"Extreme weather events are now a feature of the British climate"

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Cheaper public transport for Varsovians

This time 13 years ago:
Swans on ice

This time 14 years ago:
Cars 

This time 15 years ago:
What's the English for kombinować?

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A day in Poznań

Will a motorway roar through Chynów? And if so, when?

The DK50 (Droga Krajowa Nr. 50), Warsaw's de facto southern ring-road, runs from Sochaczew to Mińsk Mazowiecki, crossing the Vistula at Góra Kalwaria. It is the official east-west transit route bypassing Warsaw. Together with the DK60, the northern ring-road, the DK60 forms an orbital route around the capital. But the DK50/60 is a series of local bypasses, typically with one carriageway in each direction, connecting roads that run through villages. A bit like London's North and South Circulars. There are plans to build a proper orbital motorway around Warsaw, with a minimum of two carriageways in each direction. 

This is the AOW (Autostradowa Obwodnica Warszawy), or A50 (motorway-grade sections)/S50 (expressway-grade sections). 

But which route should this new orbital motorway take? 

Now, between the A2 east-west motorway in Sochaczew and the S7 north-south expressway in Grójec, there are four optional routes marked out by Poland's highways agency, GDDKiA (Generalna Dyrekcja Dróg Krajowych i Autostrad). Three variants have been staked out for a long time now, a fourth has come into play. This fourth option assumes a route that will emerge south-east of Grójec and connect with the existing stretch of DK50 between Grójec and Góra Kalwaria. And that the DK50 will be widened to form a stretch of the A50 between those two towns – with no junction in between for Chynów. So Chynów, Sułkowice, Grobice, and other villages strung out along the DK50 will get all the noise and nuisance that building and operating a motorway will entail with none of the benefits. 

So! "Say No! To Option Four!" is the view of the people of Gmina Chynów. But then "Say No! To Options One, Two and Three" are the view of the people of Gmina Tarczyn, Gmina Mszczonów and Gmina Pniewy. One way or another, the motorway will cut through people's lands and orchards and blight their views and their peace; the only question is which people? Us or them?

The people of Tarczyn (pop. 4,500) are clear on this one: they want the motorway to run through the land of the people of Grójec and Chynów. Options 1, 2 and 3 all run to some extent through Gmina Tarczyn, so clearly its citizens want it shoved off to their south. They are already promoting Option 4 on the social media (below). My disagreement is marked in red.

This evening, there was a public meeting held in the village hall in Chynów (pop. 1,100) to discuss this. The hall was full, with maybe 10% of the village's adults present, there was much interest in the topic, and much concern about the fall in local quality of life for those nearest (within 750m) of the motorway. There will be compensation for those living within that distance; my działka is 1,250m from the DK50.

One way or another, the stretch of A50 linking the A2 in Sochaczew to the S7 in Grójec will not be completed until 2032 at the very earliest, and work on extending the A50 eastwards towards the Vistula will not begin until 2035 at the very earliest. Knowing how slow projects proceed, how many missed deadlines along the way, it's likely that the full ring of the A50 will open around 2037-38 or so. However, the decision as to which of the four options will be chosen has to be taken fairly soon. This will affect land values.

To follow the debate online (in Polish), the best source of information and opinion is Skyscraper City, which has sections on every major infrastructure and construction project in Poland. Click here for the OAW A50/S50 thread (from the beginning, in 2019). Back then, building works were foreseen to start in 2026 with completion by 2029, so it's already slipped a lot.

There are no voices calling for the project to be scrapped, just a heated debate about where the motorway should (or rather should not) run. On the basis of those who protest the loudest are most likely to be listened to, the NIMBY in my suggests that the people of Chynów lock arms with the people of Grójec (pop. 17,000) and jointly Say No! To Option Four (and indeed Four A). Option Four cuts through the top end of Grójec itself, its edge-of-town shopping centre, and many orchards. Option Four A swings round south, bypassing Grójec, but then ensuring that the A50 has no other path to take than along the current DK50.

All of this is going on against the backdrop of a spirited election for wójt (mayor) of Gmina Chynów, following the unexpected death of Tadeusz Zakrzewski. All of the candidates are against Wariant 4 (option 4); the winner may be decided by which candidate demonstrates the most convincing strategy to ward off the prospect of a motorway running through our land.

This time last year:
The pathetic fallacy – are animals sentient?

This time three years ago:
Sunny Sunday meditations

This time nine years ago:
To Dawidy Bankowe, Łady, Zamienie and back

This time 14 years ago:
Town planning and the Sublime Aesthetic

This time 15 years ago:
On the long road from Zero to One

This time 16 years ago:
Łódź Rising

Local elections, Poland, 2024 (Pt II)

As it happened, despite what I observed at Polling Station No. 626 (primary school on ulica Sarabandy), the overall turnout across Poland was disappointingly low at 51% (far lower than the 74% in last autumn’s parliamentary vote). In Jeziorki, turnout was 64%.

Warsaw's Rafał Trzaskowski won 57.4%, a resounding first-round victory for a popular mayor. He was one of four big-city mayors who won in the first round, along with the incumbents in Łódź, Gdańsk and Katowice. Other than Katowice’s mayor, a local independent, these are all Civic Coalition (KO) members. 

Kraków, Wrocław and Poznań will require a second round of mayoral elections as no candidate received more than 50% of the vote; the second-round mayoral elections will be on Sunday 21 April. 

In a result mirroring October’s parliamentary election, PiS won the largest vote share (34.3%) but lost power overall. KO won 30.6%, Trzecia Droga won 14.3%,  Konfederacja/Bezpartyjni Samorządowcy 7.2% and Lewica 6.3%. Trzecia Droga (including PSL, the agrarian party) really should have done better. The brand, now established as a part of the government coalition, was expected to push PiS aside across rural Poland, but failed to do that. Lewica was the real loser of these elections, maybe because so few young people bothered to vote. This will weaken them within the governing coalition, of which they are the junior party.

The next few days will see deals being made between parties at voivodship level to determine who will have overall control of them. Despite winning a higher vote share, PiS is likely to lose power in two or three voivodships, leaving the party with a majority in six of the 16 local parliaments (sejmiki), in the south-east corner of Poland. 

Once the deals have been made and the constitution of all local councils is known, there will be a clearer picture as to what effect the local elections will have on citizens' lives on a day-to-day level. 

I am a great believer in the influence of local governments in shaping quality of life. Environmental quality (air quality, waste collection and recycling, traffic management, public transport). Poland today has advanced hugely over the country to which I moved in 1997, to the benefit of all in the above regards. I'd like to see better public transport, less dumping of household waste and litter, better air quality (less burning crap to warm houses), and more provision of pavements and footpaths for pedestrians. 

Compared to the UK, where local taxes ('rates') are astronomical, Polish land tax is laughably low, although this is augmented by income tax, which is collected locally and remains with the local authority in which you are registered. Corporation tax and VAT are collected and spent at the national level. 

Next up will be the European parliamentary elections – I hope these are taken seriously by Poles young and old, and that populism will not be given a free hand because of indifference and complacency.

This time seven years ago:
Conscious prayer

This time nine years ago:
History repeating - or is it?

This time 11 years ago:
Sunshine, snow, April

This time 13 years ago:
In vino veritas

This time 14 years ago:
Are we getting more intelligent?

This time 15 years ago:
Lenten recipe No. 6

This time 16 years ago:
Coal trains, Konstancin-Jeziorna

This time 17 years ago:
Jeziorki from the air

Local elections, Poland, 2024

This morning I travelled into Jeziorki to cast my votes in the Polish local elections. Four ballot slips – for Mayor of Warsaw, the Warsaw city council, the Ursynów district council, and the Mazovia provincial parliament. Polish democracy is alive and well; the polling station was full, maybe not as full as at the national parliamentary elections in October. Maybe of all the elections I have voted in since moving to Poland, this had the second-highest turnout. People with ballot papers were standing around waiting for a table to fill in the ballot papers. There were as many young people as old people voting, and the atmosphere was more festive than in October when voters were eyeing each other thinking "is he/she going to vote for the existential threat that is my political enemy?"

Today, in the spring sunshine, knowing that there's less at stake than the future of Poland (more autocratic or less autocratic?), the electorate still turned up en masse to take part in the due process of democracy. On the agenda today were bus lanes, rubbish collection and local infrastructure, rather than rule of law, women's rights and macroeconomic policy. Just as important to the way we live our lives.

Some local observations, then. Central Warsaw is booming. A modern, prosperous, safe, clean city (according to visiting Londoners), which has witnessed phenomenal growth. Mayor Rafał Trzaskowski was comfortably re-elected for a second term. Warsaw's outer suburbs – a story of sprawl. New estates, lacking in amenities, lacking even in asphalted roads in and out. No public transport, so everyone's condemned to car use, and cars are choking outer Warsaw. "We can't afford to live in Warsaw, because we've got the upkeep of two cars to pay for," is a usual moan. The idea of living in Warsaw, well-connected with public transport, but without a car, is too much of a stretch for most.

Further out, in Chynów, the pre-election campaigning, visible in the form of banners stretched out on fences, showed a strong preference for PSL, the agrarian party, now part of the PL2050 coalition. Posters and banners for PiS came second. Interestingly, a number of PSL banners were slashed – across the faces of the candidates. 

Decisions made at local level include planning permission, environmental protection, water, sewage and waste management, traffic management; these are all responsibilities of the gminas (municipalities).  At the poviat (district) level, powers include public transport, maintenance of district roads, land surveying and the issuing of work permits to foreigners. Powers at voivodship level are shared between the voivode (governor) appointed centrally by the prime minister; the sejmik (regional assembly) and the marshal, serving as the provincial chief executive. The voivode acts as the head of central government institutions at regional level (such as the police and fire services, passport offices, and various inspectorates). The sejmik passes by-laws, including the voivodship's development strategies and budget. It also elects the marshal and other members of the executive, and holds them to account. The executive, headed by the marshal, drafts the budget and development strategies, implements the resolutions of the sejmik, and deals with regional policy, including management of EU funding. 

Results tomorrow.

This time five years ago:
Morning flashback

This time eight years ago:
In which I learn to speak

This time nine years ago:
Sunshine and snow, Łazienki Park

This time ten years ago:
Shopping habits in the wake of Lidl's opening 

This time 11 years ago:
In vino veritas

This time 12 years ago:
Are we getting more intelligent?

This time 13 years ago:
Lenten recipe No. 6

This time 14 years ago:
Coal trains, Konstancin-Jeziorna

This time 15 years ago:
Jeziorki from the air

Local democracy, winners and losers

After winning bigly in the 2015 participatory budget (budżet partycypacyjny), the finished results of which are our splendid park, this year saw Jeziorki missing out. The results were announced a week ago. The top three projects voted for by residents of Zielony Ursynów (green Ursynów - the part of the district west of ul. Puławska) were all to the extreme north - on ul. Kłobucka. The projects garnered between 700 and 900 votes; the project everyone in Jeziorki was rooting for - comprehensive traffic calming measures - got just 420 votes.

In previous years, 400 votes was enough for one of our local projects to get through. Since then, the urbanisation of Kłobucka - a formerly run-down industrial part of Ursynów - has moved on apace. Google Maps satellite view shows the area as a massive building site. But now the work's completed, people have moved in, and they're voting for pavements and parking bays. And winning. Next year, more people will have moved in, and no doubt because of the housing density (flats rather than houses set in large gardens), they will continue to win projects for themselves. In a few years' time, the notion of Kłobucka being a part of Zielony Ursynów will become patently untrue. It would be fairer to apportion a part of the overall Ursynów budget for the new blocks to the north of ul. Poleczki. Different specifics, different needs.

Still, their need for pavements are greater than ours down here in Jeziorki Południowe. Full list of projects, the winners and the losers, here.

Our greatest need is traffic calming measures. Far too many drivers use the local roads as rat-runs to avoid the notorious Puławska traffic jams. And far too many of those drivers drive too fast. In an area where pavements are few, they have little idea of how stressful it is to walk as a vulnerable pedestrian faced with cars zooming past, not separated from you by a kerb. Sitting protected by a ton or more of metal, it is easy to ignore the fragile human beings walking, or pushing prams, or cycling. And far too many drivers are using their phones while at the wheel.

The answer is more signs limiting speeds to 30km/h, and more speed bumps. Don't like it? Use Puławska. Keeping speed down to 30km/h, massively reduces the chances of injury should a pedestrian get hit.

In the meanwhile, I am deeply thankful for our lakeside park. It is beautiful, it's wonderful for walks, for birdwatching, for exercising, for relaxing. Below: bench and bin, marked with the cogwheel-and-circle logo of Warsaw's Budżet Particypacyjny.

Next year, I'll make a greater effort to mobilise neighbours to suggest and vote for projects. It's worth doing. Just look at that lovely lake...

Below: bonus shot - new industrial premises on ul. Baletowa. Nice neo-moderne architecture.

Finally - a pleasant surprise this evening soon after taking the above shot. I turned into ul. Sarabandy and was warmly greeted by a young man and his mother who are regular readers of this blog. They said how funny it is that the only regular source of local news about Jeziorki happens to be in English!

This time three years ago:
The Second Summer of Cider

This time four years ago:
North Wales in the sun

This time five years ago:
Back at Penrhos

This time seven years ago:
A farewell to Dobra

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