Quarter century of good practice

This year is exceptional – it has been 25 years since a partnership was entered into between Radotín and Burglengenfeld. Celebrations are spread throughout the year, the last of which will be a Concert for Friendship held in Radotín on 4 November.

However, several other extraordinary events took place before this. The first one on 1 April, during which, a festive act was held in the Burglengenfeld City Hall as a joint celebration of 25 years of local people partnership not only with Radotín, but also with Johanngeorgenstadt (located on the German side of the Ore Mountains (Krušné hory) – both contracts were practically concluded at the same time, and were to symbolize the opening of Europe after the fall of the Iron Curtain. In addition to the management of the City District of Prague 16 and its office, we were also represented by students and teachers from the Primary Arts School of Klement Slavický.

Studijní cesta do Burglengenfeldu, 5.-6.10.2017

The next step in a journey together, the exchange of information and the so-called introduction of examples of good practice came a few days ago: a study tour on 5 and 6 October of the management and other staff of the Radotín Town Hall to discover and find inspiration in a partner city, which had been planned many months in advance.

Studijní cesta do Burglengenfeldu, 5.-6.10.2017Studijní cesta do Burglengenfeldu, 5.-6.10.2017Studijní cesta do Burglengenfeldu, 5.-6.10.2017

Contemporary witnesses say that the last time Radotín residents had taken up a similar “campaign” was 18 years ago.It was also proven that those who regularly go to Upper Palatinate (Horní Falc) as part of work visits, exhibitions or concerts are not aware of many things, as these are “operational” matters that do not belong to the speaker’s desk. A total of 17 people from the Town Hall (led by Mgr. Karel Hanzlík and his First Deputy Mgr. Miroslav Knotek) were given a tour by the town’s mayor Thomas Gesche and his colleagues of the local office during regular opening hours.

An interesting observation was the rather different system of the exercising of delegated powers in Bavaria and of the town’s independent powers – the mayor (who is elected directly by citizens for a 6-year term of office) makes direct decisions on certain smaller building projects in the city without the need for further consultation or approval of colleagues from the city council.Another interesting location was a stop at the local Technical Services (“Stadtwerke”). As in Radotín, the Technical Services are responsible for maintenance of roads, greenery, town cleaning and management of cemeteries, but they also have production facilities (at the time of the visit, the production of wooden stalls for the Christmas markets was underway, and the information that the local workshop made the shelters for bus stops was also interesting).

The programme also included Bulmare, the local indoor and outdoor pool with extensive relaxation and entertainment zones, especially for children. However, it will not be a model for Radotín, which is just starting to build a pool – the investment cost amounted to almost half a billion crowns, and in addition to the repayment of the loan, the town subsidizes the operation of the pool with another 40 million CZK annually!The local firefighters provided for the final event on Friday afternoon. The Burglengenfeld Fire Station is roughly twice as large as the Radotín station for professional firefighters in V Sudech street, yet it is entirely full of equipment, and what’s more – all of the local firefighters there are volunteers (88 of them are active and 10 of them are women)! The closest professional corps is in Regensburg, so fires or technical interventions in the town and the surrounding area must be handled by the local firefighters, and the first vehicle has to arrive within 5–6 minutes of the announcement of a fire!

The Concert for Friendship will be held in Radotín on 4 November from 5 p.m. at the ČCE church in Na Betonce street. The culmination of the celebrations on this day will also include accompanying events.
Zveřejněno: 17.10.2017 – Jana Hejrová, DiS. ; Přečteno 4355 x