Pacting with developers? Čižinský’s “distortion” annoyed Marvan
At the beginning of February this year, Prague councilors decided to object to the R2G project (backed by billionaires Oldřich Šlemr and Avast founders Eduard Kučera and Pavel Baudiš) in the territorial proceedings. According to Mayor Zdeněk Hřiba (Pirates), only the planned new building at the end of Pařížská Street is a problem. The municipality, the Institute of Planning and Development (IPR Prague), which was commissioned to prepare the objection – also due to insufficient participation with local citizens – approved the previously inclined “cube”.
At Monday’s meeting of the Prague City Council, she proposed to vote on the revocation of the consent of the municipal department of property registration with the use of neighboring municipal land from the end of April 2021. But this item did not get on the agenda at all. The chairman of the representative club of the coalition movement and the mayor of Prague 7, Jan Čižinský, subsequently gave the daily Právo an interview with the headline “Pirates and Marvanová gave way to developers”.
According to Čižinský, the building authority of Prague 1 initiated territorial proceedings in violation of the law. The consent of the owner of the neighboring lands was issued by the municipal officials only retrospectively and in conflict with the resolution of the councilors. “If I were mayor, something like that wouldn’t happen. And it never happened that I said and corrected the mistake, “One of the municipal leaders.
As many political points as possible
Hana Kordová Marvanová (United Forces / STAN) first reacted via social networks, noting how Čižinský “distorts reality”. The current Prague councilor and former deputy said: “I am the last one to back down, let alone negotiate with the developers.”
The lawyer reiterated in a Facebook post that she wants the area in front of the hotel to remain a square and that politicians promised the unstoppability of the incriminated place even before the 2018 municipal elections. In addition, through IPR, Prague appealed against the zoning decision due to a conflict with the zoning plan. According to the councilor, the head of Prague wants to collect as many points of political statements as possible.
“Despite these clear facts, President Čižinský decided to attack his coalition partners, but mainly not to look at the laws as a big risk to take steps that could damage the capital if the whole thing went to court,” said Kordová Marvanová. She mentioned that the legislative department of the municipality cannot guarantee the legality of the procedure proposed by Councilor Hana Třeštíková (Prague to herself) and which promotes the Čižinský movement.
Theater for voters
“And even though I support activism, it is always within the limits of the law, Mr. Čižinský!” Kordová Marvanová added to the address of one of the municipal leaders. Pavel Čižinský (Prague 1 to himself), Jan Čižinský’s brother and ex-mayor of the central city district also vehemently participates in the subsequent discussion.
“The capital city of Prague is probably the only owner of the land, which in practice will allow a neighbor to obtain a building permit, but at the same time he claims that he will then challenge this permit in court,” Hřiba et al. to the “theater for voters”. Čižinský considered the former lawyer’s argument to be insufficient.
For the average person, however, the case of a new department store is very confusing. Chaos evidently also prevails among politicians, some of whom have the powers of self-government and the performance of state administration. “It is a pity that for such clashes, when they both have the same goal in the given topic, which is the unstoppability of Miloš Forman Square,” said the municipal association Citizens of Prague 1, which has long protested against the developer’s intentions. The (safe) disposal of asbestos during the reconstruction of the hotel is currently being addressed.