Krakow Local News: Wednesday, 3 February 2016

Podgórze residents to protest poor city planning

Residents of Podgórze Duchackie in southern Krakow will hold a demonstration today at 14.00 by the city hall against what they view as poor urban planning. Among other things, they accuse the government of issuing building permits for blocks of flats, mostly in Osiedle Piaski Nowe, without properly adapting the narrow streets to accommodate them. [LoveKrakow]

Euro 2016 hailed as a success

The 2016 EHF European Men’s Handball Championship in Poland, which concluded at the end of January with a German victory, is being celebrated by organizers and city officials as a great boon for Krakow as the statistics from the event roll in. Although the Polish team finished in 7th place, the Krakow matches were attended by over 200,000 spectators, bringing 40,000 people to the fan zone set up on the Mały Rynek and the attendance of the Tauron Arena up to 1.1 million since its opening in 2014. [Gazeta Wyborcza]

Lesser Poland head of police replaced

Tomasz Miłkowski, formerly an inspector in Lower Silesia (Dolny Śląsk), will be the new Chief Inspector of the Lesser Poland (Małopolskie) police forces. He replaces Mariusz Dąbek, who was removed after four years at the request of the Ministry of the Interior. The PiS government, which came to power last October, has offered no specific explanation for Dąbek’s dismissal, but it comes amid a wave of similar replacements of top police officers across the country, and in general PiS officials have cited the desire to purge the government of anyone with ties to the former communist regime (though Dąbek began his service in 1991). Miłkowski has been greeted warmly by Krakow Mayor Jacek Majchrowski, and faces the imminent challenge of managing security for the massive World Youth Day coming to the city in June. [Onet]

Punishing winds leave thousands in region without power

Lesser Poland (Małopolskie) experienced some its strongest winds in recent memory last night, resulting in damage across the voivodeship. Trees were destroyed (in some cases blocking village roads), the roofs were ripped off of several houses, and over 5,000 homes were temporarily left without electricity. The worst-hit area was Nowej Jastrząbce, near Tarnów, where firefighters have attempted to protect the damaged buildings against the rain. [tvn24]