Oliver Adámek, who according to his own words attended the Prague council for four years, stated that Prague is moving forward, but its development is hindered by the limited powers of local government. He identified the Metropolitan Plan and the continuation of tram line construction as the greatest successes of the past period. He considered the pressure on secondary schools and the Libeň Bridge as the biggest problems. Adámek wrote that elected politicians have only a limited influence on the shape of streets, closures, and construction. He advocated for the abolition of delegated powers, stronger powers for local governments in land-use planning, direct election of the mayor, and reducing the number of city districts by at least half. He noted that these changes would need to be approved by Parliament. He also rejected the claim that nothing is being built in Prague. He recalled the development on three major brownfields, 14 new tram lines in 10 years, metro line D, the Dvorecký Bridge, the railway to the airport, and the construction of the outer ring road. Regarding the inner ring road, he mentioned the complicated amendment to the land-use plan and stated that the Vltava Philharmonic had been waiting for building permits and financing. According to him, however, Prague needed significantly more apartments, both private and municipal. According to Adámek, the traffic jams in Prague are caused by three times as many cars compared to the 1990s, not by current closures or adjustments to tram islands. He believes that the ring roads would not change traffic in the broader center much, as nearly 90% of cars on the main road drove into the center. A vast P+R system, he argued, would require tens of billions of crowns and would not make sense. He considered the railway hub to be more important, as it would speed up commuting from Central Bohemia: while he claimed that 23% of Prague residents used cars daily, the majority of residents from the Central Bohemia region did. He criticized the current mayor for not engaging enough in public debate according to him and for not describing his vision for Prague in 10 to 20 years. He stated that most of the other current leaders had some vision. #Praha #volby #politika (translated)
