News from the participative budgeting initiative in Ostrava-Jih

The participative budget of the Ostrava-Jih municipal district is now in its second year. So what’s new?

At the end of last year, a number of key stakeholders from the participative budget initiative met to discuss one of the winning proposals – a project to create three pedestrian crossings on Volgogradská Street, which should significantly improve pedestrian safety. Also present at the meeting were the authors of the project, a representative of the police, a traffic engineering and design consultant, officials from the municipal district’s roads and transport division, and the coordinator of the entire participative budget initiative. The meeting took place at the proposed sites of the crossings, and the team discussed a minor change in the location of one crossing; it will now be positioned nearer to the local shops, where it will be more useful to pedestrians. In line with current legislative requirements, all three crossings will have special overhead lighting to maximize safety – and this will increase the cost of the project.

Other projects are also in progress. The contractor for the Agility Park project has already been selected via a tender process; construction will begin when the weather permits. Work is almost complete at the play area of the Provaznická primary school; the main part of the site is ready, and in the spring the contractor will return to carry out the final landscaping work.

The participative budget team met again in early January to discuss progress; the project proposals are now being forwarded to project managers, who will draw up detailed plans and compile all necessary documentation. The team is also organizing a financial donation from the district to pay for senior citizens’ computer room. Two proposals – a wooden tower for children, from the first year of the participative budget, and a public space project from the second year – have been combined into a single project, because they are both located at the same site (B. Dvorského Street).

https://ovajih.ostrava.cz/cs/o-jihu/jizni-listy/rocnik-2018/rocnik-2018/JL_02_2018_web.pdf