Referendum Ends Krakow’s Winter Olympics Bid
Krakow will not proceed with its bid to host the 2022 Winter Olympics following a 70 percent ‘no’ vote in a referendum held on May 25.
The referendum saw a 34 percent voter turnout – just exceeding the 30 percent required for the vote to be legally binding on the city council.
Cracovians voted ‘yes’ to the three other questions posed in the referendum.
55 percent were in favour of building a metro system in Krakow. 70 percent supported an increase in public security camera monitoring and a striking 85 percent agreed that Krakow should build more cycle paths.
Krakow’s mayor, Jacek Majchrowski, was a strong supporter of the Olympics bid, but confirmed on Monday that the city must now withdraw.
In European Parliament election for the Małopolska region held on the same day, Law and Justice, the main opposition party, polled 34 percent, the ruling Civic Platform party scored 27 percent and the New Right party took 9 percent.
The decision on Olympics shows that Poles know how Olympics work financially and that they are wise.
Although It would have been great to host the Winter Olympics, I have to agree with Alex.
But great news about the cycle paths.
@ Alex Wolf: The decision on Surveillance instead show that Poles doesn’t know how Surveillance work financially and that they are not wise.
Pervasive security cameras don’t substantially reduce crime. If surveillance cameras were the answer to reduce crimes, London, with 500,000 cameras (with a cost of more than €500 million), would be the safest city on the planet.
The funds now spent on Surveillance would be far better spent on hiring and training police officers.
Your comment is the most stupid I read so far this year. Speeding cameras on the road do not slow down traffic…… It does. And second thing about your stupid thinking is that crimes on the street like unprovoked betings or robbery could put theese perpretrators behind bars. London is for sure not the safest city in the world, having Two murders a day in general. But did it cross your mind how many more crimes there would be without surveillance. How many more crimes to innocent people that would not be solved. Meaning that dangerous psychopatic criminals can continue to destroy other citicens lives.
Think again. / C
It seems that you are a little confused: your fist comment is about Speeding cameras, but the referendum is not for Speeding cameras but for “public security camera monitoring”. There is a huge difference. Speed Cameras works because they take a picture of the licence plate so they basically identify the owner of the car when speeding happens .
You also wrote “But did it cross your mind how many more crimes there would be without surveillance” and you right, but we are not talking about Surveillance, that is a much more generalized concept compared to “Public security camera monitoring”. For istance cops on the streets in patrol would do Surveillance just fine.
For the nature of Camera Monitoring the reaction to a crime would be the dispatchment of some officer to arrive much later. Cops on the streets on the other hand can respond to crime in progress blocking it while it happens.
“Public security camera monitoring” as it is called in the article may work in some particular situations but is highly ineffective. In many cases infact cameras do not help prevent crimes nor do not help identifing the criminals, a simple hat or a hood may be enough to hide the identity. Criminals know that and they can easily move their crimes to places not watched by a camera or destroy a camera.
For example Kazimierz at night in the present situation would be too dark to identify criminals. So other money would be needed to brighten all the area at night. I don’t think this will happen, it could ruin the atmosphere.
Then we forget the “Big Brother is watching you” Effect. I really imagined that the Poles, having experienced the Mass Surveillance during the communism (e.g “Rozmowa kontrolowana”) would know better the trade off between security and privacy.
This is the reason I affirm that money spend in Security Camera Monitoring can be spent better otherwise.
Winter Olympics was for sure a megalomaniac plan first place. Only good for some egos not exactly for the good of the people of Krakow.
As for the other 3 question I would vote against the metro. For the other 2 I would vote yes.
Again for the metro! I would vote against because Krakow has a good transportation system. If they had the will to improve roads and replace old tram cars (that mostly break during the winter) and old buses I think the city would gain much more than metro.
Living in the English Cotswold countryside I always find Krakow’s network of buses & trams to be cheap and efficient. A modern metro system would not greatly add to the existing network. But if I were a Cracovian I could see how a metro system would be a benefit to local commuters in getting around the city, especially in winter. The costs, like the winter olympics, will be expensive, but the city will get a much greater economic benefit from investing in the city’s infrastucture with a metro than any long-term econimic benefits obtained from being an olympic city.
I find Krakow to be a relatively safe city to visit, but do not see how people could object to secuity cameras being introduced. Anything that assists in monitoring potential crime is a positive step to take.
Being a keen cyclist, I can only agree with more cycle paths. I would not feel safe cycling around Krakow at present, but I’m not used to cycling in a city…I look forward to seeing the introduction of both the metro and new cycle paths over the coming years.