Prague 8 cannot be run from behind a desk.
It is too varied, too large and too different for its problems to be understood from a single office at the town hall. Life is one thing in Karlín, another in Bohnice, and different again in Ládví, Libeň, Kobylisy, Čimice, Troja or in Holešovičky and Rokoska.
Every part of Prague 8 has its own issues. In some places people are dealing with traffic and noise. Elsewhere it is access to schools and nurseries, green space, parking, local amenities, pedestrian safety, the upkeep of public space or the pressure of insensitive development.
And that is exactly why we believe every neighbourhood needs someone who really knows it.
Local contacts are not a role on paper
We have created the concept of 8 contacts for 8 neighbourhoods.
Our neighbourhood contacts live in their neighbourhoods. They meet their neighbours, walk the same streets, use the same parks and deal with the same pavements, crossings, schools, shops and transport links.
Their role is not a formal one. This is not about names on a website or a pre-election label. Local contacts are meant to be a natural point of contact between people in the area and the 8žije team.
They notice what works around them. And they see just as clearly what is being neglected, put off or handled without enough communication with residents.
Neighbourhood politics starts with specific places
Local politics is not an abstract debate about grand slogans.
It is the broken pavement in front of the building. The dangerous crossing by the nursery. The neglected park. The missing bench. Overloaded traffic. Uncertainty about development. Poor communication from the town hall. The feeling that nobody has been looking after a particular street or neighbourhood for a long time.
These are exactly the things that are best gathered in direct contact with people.
Local contacts are therefore not a replacement for the district authority. They are a way of making sure that suggestions from the individual neighbourhoods do not get lost and that they reach political work: council meetings, interpellations, draft resolutions and communication with the district authority, Prague City Hall or the road administrators.
We are not here only before elections
8žije was not set up as a group that turns up once every four years with a leaflet and a promise that everything will be better.
We are neighbours. We live in Prague 8, we know its everyday problems and we have been working on specific places and issues for a long time.
We share the same streets, parks, schools, shops and worries. That is exactly why we care that Prague 8 changes for the better — not just in strategy documents, but in people's everyday lives.
What neighbourhood contacts can help with
You can turn to our neighbourhood contacts with issues such as:
- places that are dangerous for pedestrians, children or older people
- broken pavements, roads, street furniture or lighting
- neglected green space, parks and public areas
- suggestions about traffic, parking or public transport
- problems with local amenities
- insensitive development or pressure to build more densely
- poor communication between the town hall and residents
- ideas for improving a specific place
Not every problem can be solved straight away. But every specific suggestion helps to build a more accurate picture of what the individual parts of Prague 8 really need.
Meet our neighbourhood contacts
We want you to know who you can turn to in your part of Prague 8.
That is why we are introducing our contacts for the individual parts of Prague 8. You may already know them by sight. They may live in your street; you may meet them in the park, at the school, in a shop or at a neighbourhood event.
And if you have an idea, a comment or a problem in your neighbourhood, get in touch with them.
Prague 8 should work up close
Prague 8 will not get better on promises from the town hall alone.
It will get better when problems are dealt with in time, specifically and with the people they affect. When every neighbourhood has its own voice. When residents' suggestions stop getting lost. And when local politics returns to where it belongs: to the streets, parks, schools, housing estates and everyday life.
That is what neighbourhood politics is about.
And that is exactly why we have 8 contacts for the 8 neighbourhoods of Prague 8.