Elections for the councillors of MO Drenova – why the elections should be held ...

Detailed planning plan (DPU) for incentive housing (POS) construction on Donja Drenova

Location 

Conceptual design

Huge excavations

 

Conclusion 

Drenovski list 18.

MoD Drenova - an example of successful local self-government

Although sometimes it seems that we are very often in a "conflict" with the city administration – it turns out that our argumented performance and struggle for a better position of local self-government and respect for local boards still meets with approval, MO Drenova will be an example of successful local self-government (letter from the Directorate for Administration and Self-Government):
"We also proposed VMO Drenova regarding the awards received for the Naj- Online and the best Local Committee Day, but also as an example of good practice, (the organization and working methods of council working bodies, division of tasks and activities to define the problems and needs of citizens to the way of realizing problems and needs through programs and activities to improve the living conditions of citizens in the area of MO through the establishment of priorities in interventions on municipal infrastructure facilities and devices - small municipal actions, through ecological actions, actions of the most beautiful garden, balcony and window, through the project of local partnership - arrangement of the promenade, continuous monitoring and reporting of the state of municipal disorder and damage to municipal infrastructure facilities, participation in discussions on urban planning plans, etc., as well as through the development of programs in the field of culture, sports and recreation , health and social care, childcare, and ways of informing citizens about the work of VMO through Citizens' Choirs, informative Journals and WEB site MO) to practically present the level of development of the local self-government in the city of Rijeka at the upcoming meeting of cities. ‘

Practically from the number in the number of the Drenovski list you can read about the doubts that I personally and other councillors have regarding the work we do. We often wonder if all this makes sense and are dissatisfied with the insufficient influence of the MO on some decisions important for the residents of the part of the city we represent. However, the fact remains that the effort pays off and that qualitative improvements can be made with constructive work. It is not unimportant that we are very often (perhaps) and too critical of our own work – especially when compared to other environments (it is enough to look at the websites of other cities and make sure that Rijeka is far ahead of everyone else), but we are encouraged by a more advanced EU environment and we should strive for these standards. Unfortunately, and this is also the situation in the whole of society, the requested moves are too slow and the question is always whether we will welcome these "better days". However, I believe that this meeting of cities on the topic of local self-government will be a great opportunity to exchange experiences with others and to promote results in the development of local self-government in the City of Rijeka and provide all the necessary information to colleagues from other cities.

Volunteer work and how to help the community in the age of rebalancing 

In recent months, the word rebalancing has become almost a catchphrase in everyday speech. The current economic crisis creates the need to reduce plans and postpone certain projects for better times. There seems to be a need for new reflection on what the priorities are and what alternative methods of financing projects can be found. The fact is that a good part of the activities/projects carried out in the communities have a significant share of human work and there could be great benefits for the local community with proper citizen motivation.

And now we come to what would greatly benefit us – volunteering. Although we have already written about it, let us remind ourselves of a few facts:
What (or who) is a volunteer?
The Act on Volunteering in Croatia defines volunteering as "voluntary investment of personal time, effort, knowledge and skills by which services and activities are performed for the benefit of another person or for the general well-being...without the existence of conditions for payment of a cash prize" (Official Gazette, 58/2007).
Why would anyone volunteer?
The motivations are different – for some people volunteering is an occasional contribution to society, while for others it is a way of life. There are many reasons for volunteering in the community – helping the community in which they live, raising my level of satisfaction with doing something useful in life, improving social relationships and making new friends, improving my skills or gaining new work experience that can later help with employment...
Where do you volunteer most often?
Volunteers can make the biggest difference in their community. They affect the lives of others and change them in a positive way. In today's age of total alienation and self-closure – working together on a project can help many to find themselves and learn how to work together and engage in dialogue. Volunteer work extends through many segments of life: arts, community development and youth work, peacekeeping and human rights protection, education, humanitarian emergency response, sport and recreation, tourism and environmental conservation and cleaning.
A large number of those who change the world around them agree in one “you can get much more from what you can give by volunteering” – satisfaction after a successful job can hardly be measured with anything. If you have decided to enrich your life with volunteer experience, think about basic education that will improve your understanding and knowledge of volunteerism, civil society, volunteering opportunities .... these skills contribute to a more successful inclusion in the organization that needs you and helps you to design and implement projects yourself. Volunteer Centre “VOLONTER – RIJEKA” conducts trainings on the topic of Being a volunteer for individuals/incidents who want to make a volunteer contribution to the community in which they live.
What is the financial contribution?
In fact, it is unbelievable that volunteering is most developed in the richest countries (someone will say – that is why they are the richest because they "grow" a culture of work and help). Richer society = more volunteers. In America, Scandinavian countries, Canada, Great Britain, Australia, Japan and the Netherlands, voluntary or community service (as it is called) is a very important item for the country itself.

According to some calculations in England, this form of engagement, when converted into money, ranks third in savings in the national economy. In the United States 49% the population volunteers in a variety of ways, a similar percentage is in Scandinavian countries, while volunteers in Germany are around 35%.
It is also interesting that most volunteers are represented by pupils, students, employees and pensioners, while the share of unemployed is very small.

In these countries, the system of symbolic rewards is also more developed. Caps and badges, thank you cards with enrolled hours of volunteer work are worn with pride, but they also have a concrete “benefit” because in various competitions engaged volunteers get a job beforehand. It is on this track that the Directorate for Local Self-Government is preparing some projects, but soon.
How is it with us – unfortunately, we like to "volunteer" in cafés and sportsbooks. We are even witnessing comments from highly educated fellow citizens (on the suggestion that they organize a cleaning action around their facilities where the MO will help with fairy tales with equipment and food for participants) – ‘why would we do this, so there are services that are paid for it’.

This comment shows the essence of the misunderstanding of the whole problem and the reluctance to help the community in which they live and settle the situation around the building in which they themselves live. By that logic we should do even less before mentioned Scandinavians or Germans because they are richer ?! In addition, a good number of fellow citizens behave exactly the opposite and "volunteer" to destroy municipal equipment or create pollution that "someone else" then has to deal with.
International Volunteer Day was proclaimed by the United Nations in 1985. Since then, governments, the UN and civil society have carried out individual or joint actions to mark the International Volunteer Day in order to make all activities involving volunteering and volunteers more visible at the local, national and international levels.
Our MO will be involved over the next two months in promoting volunteer work with lectures and proposals of interesting projects that could be realized and thus help to see the light of day even in times of friction.

Security, jurisdiction, opinions, traffic lights...

The re-start of the school year has once again updated the issue of crossroads safety at elementary school. Fran Frankovic. This has been a constant topic in recent years and the council has taken several measures that still (and unfortunately) did not solve the problem of the safety of our little ones on their way to school.
The main problem is extreme traffic non-culture and non-compliance with regulations by a part of the citizens, which directly endangers the lives of children. We are constantly witnessing rampage and chasing on the mentioned road, which cannot be prevented either by lanes (lying policemen) in front of the pedestrian crossing, installed speed meters and certainly not by real policemen who, according to their abilities, periodically monitor traffic.

The only solution is to install a traffic light, but previous attempts have failed because the traffic light was rejected on the grounds that it was not ‘traffic-justified’. This may be possible, but what about the "safety justification" – what is the life or health of the child worth?
They would ask the same question to citizens who are divided into two groups – those for (mostly parents of schoolchildren and especially first graders) and those against whom they claim that setting traffic lights will only create traffic jams and slow down traffic on the main Drenov road.
It is certain that today there are correct technical solutions ("intelligent traffic lights") – after all, the City of Rijeka boasts the most advanced traffic management in Croatia – which would enable an optimal traffic solution and maximize safety.

It is clear that today, in times of crisis, the investment in traffic lights is not a small item (and certainly other MOs have similar requirements), but the Council of MO Drenov believes that safety is always in the first place, and even this way we appeal to all competent services (and especially to avoid mutual switching of problems) to approach this problem in a structured way (other MOs also see it) and to launch development projects that would solve this issue in the long term.

Is it easier to organize a circus with television than to invite a local committee?

The "incident" we witnessed a few weeks ago saddened us at least as councillors who invested so much effort in the transparency of our work in the past period - we inform citizens about everything through the list you read, the WEB pages of our MO, not to say that our valuable secretary Dolores is always available to citizens for any information.

And then we experience that a group of citizens, without having previously informed themselves or contacted the MO, call the local TV channel KanalRi and attack the MO not to take care of the needs of the inhabitants of Gornja Drenova, and especially children and youth - in this particular case, the arrangement of the playground in Put ulica to the playground. So then it is supposed to take self-organization to do anything. That our fellow citizens have invested only 5% efforts and verified some of the above sources of information would see that the arrangement of this playground was repeatedly the topic at the sessions of the MO Council, that the councilors supported the activities on the arrangement and that by the decision of the Council last year (!) was included in the list of priorities for this year with planned funds in the amount of HRK 20,000 (Item 16 Additional landscaping of the playground in Put k street) and that the project will be realized when the necessary preparations are made or contracts are concluded with the contractors.

In any case, it is a little unusual that citizens – actually children – have so self-organised and carried out the whole operation, but we can accept this as part of our local "political outsmarts". But as this is indeed the case, let these same "political points" be collected on positive and constructive projects in cooperation with the Ministry of Science, Education and Sports, and not on cheap politicking, which is too much in everyday life and which constantly overwhelms us with the media.

Drenova on Wikipedia! 

Nowadays, when you need some information, the easiest way is to go to the Internet and "google" (for those who are not adept at modern technologies, it is using the most popular internet search engine Google). Today they say if there is no data on the Internet then it is not relevant. Great progress has been made by the presence of MO Drenova on the website of the City of Rijeka, but if we want an encyclopedic presentation of data and facts, then there are specialized services such as Wikipedia for these purposes. Wikipedia is a public online encyclopedia based on free volunteer work created by websites and information.

It turned out that there is very little information about Drenova and important historical figures from our region. Prompted by this fact, we decided to open special pages about Drenova on Wikipedia, where we will try to systematically publish all the data at our disposal.

What it looks like you can look at
http://hr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Drenova
or in the English version
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Drenova
Of course, the work is only at the beginning, so we hereby invite all Drenovka and Drenovka to engage in collecting and upgrading our pages.

VMO Drenova 2005 -2009, look back ...

Time passes quickly, the end of the mandate of this term of VMO Drenova is ahead of us, so the occasion in this jubilee edition of Drenovski list is to comment on the past period.

Of course, at the beginning the question arises whether we are satisfied with the results of the work of the Council and what we have achieved in our mandate and the answer is actually dual. If we look at the real powers and possibilities of MO and the fact that councillors work as volunteers (most of them are employed and have numerous business obligations) we can be more than satisfied.  The basic function of the MO is to communicate with citizens and channel their demands and needs to the relevant city services and timely information on events in the MO area.
It was Drenova who was (and is) the leader in this field, as shown by the awards we received in the past period. From Drenovski list, which has become irreplaceable in informing and interpreting the council's attitudes towards key problems that bother us, through up-to-date web pages where all materials from the scope of the council's work are published transparently, to regular meetings with citizens when it is necessary to discuss an important topic.

Another important task of the MO is the organization of subcommittees and work on building cooperation, animating citizens and improving various aspects of life on Drena (culture, health, etc.), in which great progress has also been made. The days of Drenova have regained their "old glory" and are now the real measure of the event on this – an important date in terms of money (and this is again confirmed by the award for the best MO day we received this year). It is also difficult to list everything that happened in the past period organized by the subcommittee MO (exhibitions, concerts, lectures, receptions of Sv. Nikola and many other activities) – there is practically always something happening in our area or in the area of the city library branch.

With active cooperation with volunteers and associations from our area, MO Drenova supported the realization of several significant projects in our area and showed that civic initiative and good ideas always find the way to realization. And of course, the project from the local partnership program for the arrangement of the promenade (three tracks) and the construction of the exercise site on Veli Vrh, according to the idea and organization of Demir Barić and with the help of DVD Drenov, also received recognition!
Otherwise, Mr. Barić is also the winner of the annual VMO Drenova award for physical persons for a great contribution to the work of MO through the mentioned project and another project of decorating a neglected shelter in the center of Drenova into a gym for sports climbing. The Council believes that it is necessary to stimulate volunteer work and motivate young people in particular to become more actively involved in the work of associations operating in the Drenova area or the work of the Council itself.

In the past period, the City of Rijeka itself has invested significantly in the development of Drenova, although unfortunately citizens usually do not notice this because it is mostly done on infrastructure works (sewage, water supply and gas installations) that are carried out in accordance with the plans of utility companies and in accordance with the available funds.
Let us also recall the completion of the reconstruction of bus stops and the introduction of a minibus for Kablare, which received excellent reception of students and citizens.
A brief look at the Archives of the MO website or past numbers of the Drenovski list will remind you of these activities.
MO Drenova is probably the most active committee in terms of promoting and valorising the function of local committees as a "basic building block of democracy", because it is the MO that is the first instance where citizens determine the composition by voting, and on the other hand it is the closest instance to which they can address their problems and ideas on a daily basis.

But here we come to that "other side of the coin", which is the dissatisfaction of councillors with the current powers and capabilities of the MO Council to fundamentally influence the most important aspects of development and direct the progress of Drenova in accordance with the wishes of the citizens. The opinion of the Council does not bind anyone to anything and formally has no greater weight than any individual opinion of citizens, which the Mayor clearly indicated to us at our last meeting.
Given that this is true and that it actually stems from existing legislation, only the hope remains that some future legislative changes will more accurately (in our opinion) define the MO function.

Precisely the previous fact is the reason that a satisfactory progress on important issues (urban plans, sports hall, traffic issues) has not been achieved, but this convocation of the Council believes that it still leaves its heirs with a fair situation in the autumn and that they will continue successful cooperation with the competent city services, in order to, in these times of financial scarcity, still realize all the promises given to the citizens of Drenova.
And finally, instead of concluding, we can say that, taking all of the above into account, we can still be satisfied with what has been achieved. Of course, citizens have the opportunity to express their opinion in the elections for the new Council in autumn.

Meeting with the Mayor - many plans but the question is whether there will be funds for the realization

After more than a year, the councillors of the Drenova MO had the opportunity to meet with the mayor, Mr Obersnel, and his associates and discuss issues of importance to the Drenova MO. Detailed minutes of the meeting are published on the MO website so here we give only the most important elements. One of the most pressing problems for our MO is the (non)adoption of the urban development plan of Gornja Drenova, which has been waiting for more than 2 years. This situation causes significant problems for the owners of the terrain because the final purpose of the space is not known, which makes it difficult to sell the land or economic activity. On the first variant of the plan, the Council had a large number of comments (as did the citizens themselves) and this (in addition to the difficulties experienced by the contractor itself due to the departure of employees) led to the current situation. According to Mr Škunca, a corrected version of the plan would probably be available in early autumn, when a new public presentation would also take place.

Further to the topic of urban plans and the question of what happened to the sports hall on Drenova, Mr Škunca noted that the question of the sports hall should be defined in terms of whether a central sports hall should be built on Gornja Drenova, which is not so populated, or two sports halls for Drenova should be planned, and that sufficient areas should be defined to accommodate such programmes. One of the locations that is possible for the construction of the hall on Donja Drenova is the area northeast of the school or another location, even more acceptable, would be on the contact zone between Donja Drenova and Škurinje, below Škudarovska Street, where the corridor of the railway that was a problem for planning and construction on the specified location will most likely be removed and where a better spatial and traffic solution for the access to the hall itself. This is probably the optimal location because the hall would be in the center of the area gravitated by almost 20,000 people from MC Drenovo, MC Škurinje and MC Škurinjska draga.

The next important issue is solving communal problems (appropriate roads or connection with the main road and sewage) in the area where the construction of POS apartments is planned (next to university buildings). Given that this project is undoubtedly starting in the autumn, the Council has requested guarantees (when our objections to the location have not already been taken into account), to make sure that communal issues are resolved before the completion of POS facilities, otherwise major problems can be expected. The mayor concludes the topic with the statement that the construction of the road and sewerage will follow the dynamics of the construction of facilities. It also stresses that the interests of citizens as a whole must be above individual interests at the micro-location (in this particular case, apartments have priority over citizens' objections and MOs to the location) and asks that MOs respect this in accordance with their authorities. Decisions are made in the city council and demands that these facts be reflected in the inscriptions in the Drenovski list so that citizens do not get confused about the powers of the MO.

Although the mayor is formally right, and certainly does not have an easy job of matching all the wishes and needs of citizens, it remains a "bitter taste" (after all, expressed in the citizens' assembly) that the local community can actually have little influence on some decisions made somewhere before. But this is actually a fundamental question about the powers of MO, which I said a few words in the introduction.
Below is the information that the upgrade of our kindergarten starts in the autumn and that all the little ones will be taken care of in alternative locations during the construction. The mayor noted that despite our doubts about the price and performance of the kindergarten, everything is within the planned limits and that the price is fair.

Representatives of utility companies (Energo and ViK) informed the councilors about the plans for the construction of infrastructure, and we can, taking into account the financial situation, be satisfied with the plan and implementation. It has also been confirmed that activities (design and property and legal preparation) are being carried out for the completion of road A (in Boka), which would finally solve the dangerous intersection in this part and correctly direct the majority of traffic through road A.

The Mayor concluded that in the next period it will be a great challenge to secure financial resources for the planned facilities so that the dynamics of construction is difficult to predict, but it is possible that some new opportunities will open up in the future (through European funds, etc.), but certainly all preparatory actions can be done.

Arrangement of sidewalks along the Drenovski put and St. George's Street – strong support from citizens

As announced, a meeting was held in the House on Lokva with citizens on the topic of pavement design and we can say that the response was very positive. Citizens have recognized the need to finally solve the problem of sidewalks after so many years and I can say with special pleasure that an agreement has been reached with the owners of the land on the section of the church of St. Peter and Paul. Juraj to the junction on Lokva, which will give the terrain a width of about 1 m for the construction of sidewalks. As compensation to the owners, retaining walls will be built and the entrances to the yard will be arranged (according to the model already elaborated in Bruno Francetić). Given the available funds this year, this first section will be realized, while in the coming years, according to the plan, other sections along St. George's Street will also be realized. According to the current Rijeka Traffic plan, the works should be completed by autumn this year and we hope that in the next school year, our little ones will go to school and church much safer.
Thank you all once again for your understanding and cooperation and I hope to continue next year.

Refurbishment of Cvetko Square – conceptual design presented at the citizens' assembly.

In accordance with the concept that all key projects essential for the development and arrangement of Drenova are publicly presented and exchanged views with citizens at the appropriate assembly of citizens, a conceptual solution for the arrangement of Cvetkovi trg was presented by the author Ms. Radojka Juretić, d.i.a. from Arhitektonski Studi d.o.o. and with the presence of Mr. Vladimir Jauk in front of the City Administration Department for the Utilities System.
The problem of Cvetkovi trg has been tormenting councillors for a long time because Drenova lost its natural centre in the transition from a village to a suburban settlement.
For historical reasons, there are actually two centres – the Cvetkovi trg area for the Lower Drenova area and the Lokva Social Home as the centre for the Upper Drenova area.

The area of Cvetkovi trg is thus a natural gathering place for the citizens of Drenova, but unfortunately in the past period it has been turned into an ordinary parking lot. Councillors believe that it is necessary to restore to this area the mark of the square that it had over more than a hundred years and lost in the last ten years.
According to Jane Jacobs, a well-known American urban planner, "stores are the souls of settlements" and have always been, and today especially (due to the alienation brought about by modern civilization), necessary for socialization and socializing.

But it doesn't work if people have to sneak between cars and have nowhere to sit. Therefore, one of the main requirements for architects was to block traffic in front of the church and to ‘open’ the space for pedestrians. However, the fact is that we are also obliged to provide tenants of premises in the MO building with undisturbed performance of crafts and parking for their clients. The key problem of the square and the wider surroundings is the chronic lack of parking spaces for residents of the surrounding buildings (primarily from Cvjetna Street) so that the square is used as well as their long-term parking lot. The Council's position is that the problem of parking should be seen in a wider context and try in the coming period and before the start of works on the square to provide additional parking spaces for these tenants primarily in the circle of the Flower Street itself and nearby (it is already planned for this year).

In addition, there will undoubtedly be a need to change our habits – commotion, as there are around 200 parking spaces (university buildings) near the square, but it is difficult for most people to take a few steps. The Council considers that the author has successfully responded to the tasks set out and that she has given an appropriate solution by returning Cvetko Square to the function that only suits him. Citizens made some useful remarks that will be taken into consideration, e.g. to include the area of a pine forest in front of the monastery, which should be arranged as a park, and it is considered that this is the best place for a monument to fallen defenders from the area of Drenova that is planned to be built in the next period. It was also proposed to cover the space between the Church and the MO building and to arrange the way to the children's playground at university buildings, which would finally adequately arrange the entire area and form a single space.

As for the solution itself (details are available on the MO website), the basic idea of the author is to align the existing space with a large slope and form several logical and functional units - one unit is the space in front of the Church that continues towards the entrance to the MO building. The second unit is the central area of the square, which is lowered by three stairs and the parking lot as the third unit. The materials that will be used are natural stone for the first two units and asphalt for parking. As part of the decoration of the square will be solved and drainage and lighting.

In the end, of course, the question arises as to when the arrangement will begin, according to the current dynamic plan, after taking into account the proposals of the VMO and the citizens, the development of detailed project documentation will be started and the location permit will be obtained, which is expected by mid-Autumn. It is realistic to expect that the reconstruction of Cvetkovo Square could be carried out in the course of next year.

Is it worth being polite?

This convocation of the VMO has invested great effort in the past four years to actively cooperate with numerous city departments, which was somewhere excellent, and somewhere slightly weak. The basic idea of the guiding principle was to have decent and reasoned communication, always send clear views supported by facts because it was believed that then the competent city services would have an easier job. We have never called dramatic press releases, published open letters in Novi List, brought ministers, etc., but have patiently waited for "our turn" to come.

The fact is that there are a lot of citizens' needs on Drenova that have not been met and that they are waiting to be solved for years or decades, and when we start solving them, then we always have the impression that solutions are too expensive or inappropriate and that much more could have been done for hard-to-find funds.
It can be said that Drenova is the most successful MO in Rijeka (judging at least by the awards we received because we won the first places in all categories where we competed), but there is still a perception that Drenova is the "last hole on the pipe" of the city to which we belong. What makes you feel so drained? – first and foremost, the problem of not solving major and capital interventions on Drena (traffic, sewage and gas infrastructure, halls and sports facilities for our young people) and the particularly incomprehensible delay of UPU Gornja Drenova for which there is no coherent justification – or it cannot be obtained. Clearly, when there is no basic document, everything else stands and cannot be realized, so the dissatisfaction of citizens and us aldermen becomes justified.

It can be said that the fundamental problem (but at the same time an advantage) of Drenova is that it is part of the city of Rijeka. This fact also defines the purpose of the space, which according to the GUP is a space for living and recreation practically without industrial and economic zones. From this side we can also be satisfied because we live in a clean and peaceful environment, but the problem arises that we are at the end of the construction of city infrastructure facilities. The city must certainly take an integral view of its development and at certain moments give preference to individual projects or parts of the city. And then it must be clearly communicated that citizens know what they are on and when exactly they can expect solutions to the problems that torment them.

And now we come to the crucial part – everything seems reasonable and acceptable beforehand, but then we hear the following statement:
"... may you be polite and get rewards, I bang my fist on the table and get what I want (hall, sewer, gas)"
It is possible that this statement by one of our colleagues is exaggerated, but it is obvious that citizens, reading the newspaper, conclude that the more "aggressive" MOs achieve better results and "get more". A particular issue is the understanding of the planning process (in four-year cycles) and that, for example, the hall cannot be obtained ‘over night’, but a waiting period of twenty years is also not acceptable.

We want to believe that our path is the right one, and therefore we will ask Mr. Mayor to give us clear information on the status of solving all the problems that plague the residents of Drenova as soon as possible, so that everyone will be clear on what and when we expect and if something is delayed why and until when. It's really the civil minimum we expect.

Drenova Kindergarten – why simple when it can be complicated 

The citizens of Drenova have waited for more than 20 years to expand the kindergarten, and now that they have welcomed it, it remains a bitter "taste in the mouth". Following the introduction and here we can ask ourselves how taxpayers' funds are spent and whether we really need to have and accept such solutions. Instead of taking a good look at what is the optimal solution in these times of crisis and how to make it economically optimal in addition to the required functionality – what we have welcomed (according to Novi List) is the least inappropriate. The expansion of a kindergarten that costs HRK 10 million with some kind of rooftop gardens, elevators and other great solutions requires the need to ask a fundamental question – who needs such a kindergarten? Citizens and their children or an architect to prove their ‘ideas’. Someone will say that nothing could be done in a limited space, which is why such a complex and expensive solution is needed. But I don't know which time we were put in front of the finished act and our suggestions were not taken into account (see the following annex). It is always an excuse that now everything is over, so it cannot be postponed any longer – because any changes mean further delays – and then it is the citizens who revolt and of course the local committee who are to blame. On one side, citizens and councillors are expected to be "hosting" and on the other side, we are constantly witnessing terribly expensive buildings that are expensive to build, let alone maintain. You can think how much it costs to maintain a green roof, an elevator and the like in one kindergarten. Who will pay later when the insulation subsides and begins to leak or the elevator breaks down. What about the safety of the children on that roof – is it not easier to play on the ground? Of course, the answer is "someone has probably thought about it", but these "thinking" ones are usually not close when the bills arrive. And now what? Well nothing, the wheel of history cannot be stopped – we will get a high-tech kindergarten and the costs will be borne by some future generations (but this is their problem anyway).

Anthology proposal by Mr Škunce – setting up a truck parking lot next to the nursery and the Drenova nursery

Of course, the obvious solution that would probably make construction cheaper (namely, the argument for a complicated kindergarten project is the lack of space) was to increase the floor area of the kindergarten space and find a way to compensate for the loss caused by construction elsewhere. VMO Drenova made a proposal that was accepted by the City Department of Education to allocate the existing parking lot that is not operational to the kindergarten and to arrange it in a way and according to the needs of the kindergarten itself in order to form an integral whole. Since its construction, this parking lot has not been operational due to the obvious comfort of the residents of the surrounding buildings, who are not allowed to walk a dozen meters so that they mostly "gap" empty. A few years ago, it was an idea to turn parking into a local market, but it was abandoned because there was no interest from the tenant. After three competitions failed and the idea of the VMO Drenova market was finally abandoned, VMO Drenova concluded that the idea only made sense. This would solve the problem of the playground and prevent the delivery of waste to the parking lot.

However, the proposal was of course rejected by Mr Škunca on the grounds that no minimum effort had been made to find a correct solution. Particularly scandalous is the part of the proposal where it is "recommended" that MO Drenova puts parking into operation in the sense that it is used by trucks ?!
I don't think this needs a special comment. But when the whole story is put in the context of an expensive kindergarten that is expensive because there is no place ...

Arrangement of sidewalks along the Drenovo road and St. George's street and establishment of pedestrian crossings 

The problem of sidewalks and pedestrian crossings has been going on for years if not decades. We've gone through all the stages: from a debate whose road or more precise sidewalk is, who should finance it, who should collect citizens' permits, etc., etc. This is coupled with the problem that a pedestrian crossing cannot be made without sidewalks as well as other complications. Of course, all correspondence and outsmarting over the past time (the most recent observation is that this is a backlog from the previous system and a way of not taking care of it – which is of course correct, but this does not mean that the problem cannot be tried to be solved) has not diminished the fact that our children and citizens are in constant danger on their way to their homes, to school or to church. In recent years, traffic has increased exponentially, especially in the last year – two when Viškovo was built and now half of the inhabitants of Viškovo are "driving" over Drenova.

In order to at least partially solve this problem, VMO Drenova has secured funds in its priorities for this year to build a sidewalk wherever possible and not to waste energy on sections where there is obviously no solution.
The whole project will of course not succeed without the participation of the citizens of the drainage and landowners along the road. The principle applied when introducing the minibus for Kablare would be used, and it consisted of the owner's permission to use the necessary part of the parcel for expansion (typically 0.5 to 1 m) as a public good (road or pavement). Compensation to the owners was realized through the construction of stone walls arranging entrances and small works along the route. I have to say that the turnout was 100.% This allowed the introduction of minibuses, for which I would like to thank them once again.

In accordance with the previous 21 April 2009 at 18:00 in the social home on Lokva, a public meeting would be held where they would present the sections where the realization of sidewalks is proposed primarily along St. George and the Drenov road.
The conference would also consider some other ideas that could be realized in the next planning period on these routes if there is the interest of citizens and of course the will of the owners of the terrain to give up the terrain for the proposed purposes at an appropriate fee (an example is the problem of parking near the church of St. George where there are several ideas to solve it) and listen to the comments and wishes of citizens.
I hope for a good response and cooperation because this project can only be realized by our own efforts.

UAB Drenova – Disappearing Antifascism...

It was rather gloomy at the annual meeting of UAB Drenova, where the "fatigue of materials" of the Drenov anti-fascists and the complete lack of youth were evident. Why this is so and why it is "not popular" in our society to be an anti-fascist is an interesting question that can hardly be answered in the Drenovski list, but it is worth trying. Why right now – because at this very moment, and in fact constantly over the past 20 years, there is a replacement of the thesis and equation of anti-fascism with communism and all the problems arising from such an attitude. Historical facts are constantly distorted, only the dark side is "drawn out", and everything that has been done and has been positive is deliberately ignored. Undoubtedly, terrible crimes were committed at the end of the war, any punishment without a court is unacceptable and those who did it should be held accountable, but the historical context is also important. In our case, it is certainly necessary to determine the responsibility for the committed and identify the perpetrators for a simple reason – that the stain does not fall at all. Unfortunately, history repeats itself and today our generals sit in The Hague precisely because the real criminals were not punished in time.

What does this have to do with UAB Drenova – simply, instead of the honourable society of people (with many young people) who fought for Rijeka and Istria to be in Croatia and for us to belong to the free world today, they are an extinct society. And if something is not done safely in a few years, no one will be able to testify "why they fought". Archives are thoroughly emptied, books are inclined, they have no one to share their experiences with, which is even worse, even modern defenders are not in any better position – where are they able to tell how they were doing and why they fought ?

We've become the only nation on the planet that doesn't have its own glorious past. Who lost her heroes (both former and new). This is not normal and healthy for the development of society and long-term values. And real patriotism and patriotism.
So the next time you walk past the monument on Lokva, look at these names and these people and ask yourself why they laid down their lives and what they thought when they went to the partisans. Where would we be today if it weren't for them? Maybe I'm sensitive because my grandson gave his life for that idea too, but at least I owe him that much. I hope that in the next numbers of the Drenovski list we will be able to collect a part of that history that is disappearing ...

Should we give up and allow Drenova to turn into a "ghetto"?

Citizens often ask me if it makes sense to try and work in the local committee on various projects for the community when we are daily faced with a sea of belittling and destruction towards everything that is done. The question is really important because it shows the silent impotence of the vast majority of decent and peaceful citizens who can consternately observe how groups of the spotless destroy the quality of life of us as citizens on the territory of our local board.

In fact, it is fascinating to observe that it takes less and less time from the moment something is set or edited (an example of a castle in a newly renovated playground next to the infirmary) to the moment of destruction or disfigurement – less than two weeks, which is a new infamous record. Or let's say the constant devastation of bus stations or benches where we no longer even have time to follow everything, but unfortunately we can count the bills that come to payment and the financial damage that becomes unbearable. However, the "attacks" are expanding, so a few weeks ago, glass was broken on the entire south side of the elementary school. Fran Franković caused damage of 50.000 kn. The tragedy is that instead of investing that big money in improving students' standards, the school has to repair someone's insanity.

What does this mean for the functioning of our community? Well, primarily that it will soon happen that repairs will no longer be possible and that we will find ourselves in the environment of broken benches and waiting rooms, devastated playrooms. And the unsafe streets...
Citizens say that they are afraid to go out in the evening to some streets (especially on Fridays and Saturdays) in our neighborhood because they have had inconveniences with aggressive alcoholic (or drugged) individuals.
Is this the direction we want to go and the direction we want to allow?  Is this the society for which we have fought for generations and who has the right to cast us out of a truly high social and social standard into a dark age? I believe that it is not necessary to spend words on the pages of this newspaper about the problematic achievements of "liberal capitalism" on a global level, but it is hitting us more and more hard on our local level. To us, justifications for violence and destruction – on the contrary, it is precisely in times of crisis that we need to preserve what we have, because we will need the resources for something more essential.

It would take us a long time to consider why this is so. We live in a culture of violence, from the political arrogance we witness daily, to the true glorification of violence in movies and television, violence in the press, disrespect for privacy and the creation of dark stars from the realm of the half-world. Socially, it has become acceptable for wealth to accumulate in dishonest or criminal ways (it is unpredictable to talk about ethics) – and as memory is short in today’s times – suddenly we have a solid number of ‘respectable businessmen’. What message is this to young people, is it worth studying and studying for almost two decades, or is it better and faster to deal with drugs and "buy" a reputation and position in society ?

The further degradation of the general social image is "greatly" permeated by public media, primarily television, with programmes that scandalized us a few years ago (Time of Truth or Big Brother) and where we could not believe that such content (?!) would also appear in our space. So, in such an environment, with existing social problems and injustices and the state of the education system – what can we expect from our children or minors?

We mustn't leave them to the law of the street. I'm sure we should work with them and talk to them. We must show them what comes next if we indulge in the evil that is around us. I believe that even they would not be comfortable living in an environment like the pictures I bring from the "ghetto", watch out, Philadelphia USA. The theory (and practice unfortunately) says that the degradation of social systems (and this is the community in which we live) begins gradually and if it does not stop in time usually ends badly. This is also called ‘broken glass syndrome’, when an area starts to decay, the structure of the population changes, people move to ‘safer’ areas, which loses economic strength and accelerates the spiral of decay.
Someone will say - these are nonsense, so it is not so bad on Drenova. Exactly the opposite! We need to fight NOW to stop the negative trends immediately and to take corrective measures while it is still time. What do we have to wait for – the damage from hundreds of thousands of kuna is raised to millions and then we react. But then it will definitely be late because those millions of repairs are gone and we end up as safe as in the pictures.

Do we need a new sports hall?

What can certainly help is a greater involvement of all "structures" than kindergartens and schools, sports and cultural societies (ultimately political parties) in youth work. They should be offered interesting content and above all a space where they can express their aspirations and interests. It is quite certain that it would be of great importance to build a suitable hall and perhaps some other sports facilities as soon as possible. Of course, now someone will say that there are more important things than the hall, but if we add up all the damage in the city of Rijeka, we would quickly come to lose just one smaller hall in a decade.

It is precisely youth work that should be one of the main priorities of work for all of us, and as far as violence is concerned more in the following text.

Initiative for the establishment of a police station for the area of MC Drenova, MC Škurinje and MC Pehlin (and other neighboring MCs)

Faced with problems in traffic, safety of citizens, devastation of public infrastructure and at the initiative of the president of MO Škurinja, Mr Šantić, a joint meeting of representatives of MO Drenova, MO Pehlin and MO Škurinja was held on November 25, 2008. It was concluded that the mentioned problems can no longer be solved with the existing methods (community policeman) because this is an area with almost 20,000 inhabitants and two policemen despite their great efforts can not cover this area.

It was concluded that an initiative should be launched to establish a police station or outpost in the area of our MOs because we believe that the very existence of such a facility would significantly improve the situation in all respects. The station should be located in a convenient place, but of course all the necessary details should be defined by experts.

New building DVD Drenova and police station

Given that DVD Drenova is successfully operating in the Drenova area, which today operates in completely inadequate conditions, the idea arose to combine this request for a police station with their needs and to try to find a common solution (that is, to provide the space needed for the operation of a police station or outpost when building a fire station). The initiative for the construction of a new fire station in Drenova has been mentioned for several years, and this year it was included in the Work Programme of the City Fire Department of the City of Rijeka, with the aim of finding a suitable area of approximately 3000 m2 in the Drenova area, including it in urban plans, and starting with other activities on the construction of a fire station for the needs of the Drenova DVD.
Possible location

By analyzing the space and ownership of the terrains, a suitable plot owned by the city of Rijeka was found in the area between the Drenovo MO and Škurinja MO. The location is optimally located between Škurinjski naselje and Donja Drenova on the main road that connects them. It provides fast access to the main road network and is located in the approximate center of gravity of the settlement. There is enough space to branch out the facility in which the Drenova DVD could be placed in accordance with their requirements and needs and the police station or branch office.

According to the current GUP, construction on this plot is allowed, so we do not see major obstacles to realization. During December, proposals were sent to the competent services and we hope that a solution can be found that will allow to increase the level of security in the areas of our (and neighboring) MOs. Furthermore, we believe that the establishment of a police station should be viewed primarily in a preventive and less repressive context and will allow to deepen the already existing cooperation with the Police Administration. Of course, there are quite a number of obstacles that need to be overcome (financing the construction of the facility, the problem with hiring police officers, etc.), but we believe that all are solvable and representatives of the aforementioned MOs will seriously engage in the search for realistic solutions.

Citizens’ assemblies – one-smart street or communication highway ?

The main event of the past period was certainly the citizens' choir held on the occasion of the planned construction of POS apartments on Drenova. Details of the dispute and the discussion itself are presented below in the form of minutes from the choir, but I consider it necessary to open the right topic and that is the (non)communication of certain city departments with local committees and citizens. The fact is that in the last few months, the dissatisfaction of local committees with the way in which certain decisions are made is very important for the life of citizens in certain areas and these are no longer isolated cases but become the rule (Orehovica, Srdoči, Pehlin, Luka, etc.).
One gets the impression that many problems are solved "by the cabinet", from the office, without visiting the terrain and talking to the locals, or dialogue that would certainly produce better solutions.
There is no doubt that people living in the area have a much better overview of the situation on the ground as well as an idea of possible solutions. It is possible that not all of them are acceptable, but it would be polite at least to consider them and offer answers. The argument that there is "no time" for this is inconclusive because every thing has been dragging on for months, so consultation with the local committee cannot be a reason for any delay.
It is clear that problems are not always simple and that solving them requires some expertise, but analyzing some of them shows that the proposed solutions do not pass the "healthy-reasonable" test, let alone the expert test, even though expertise and expertise are a convenient disguise for concealing superficiality and negligence. Examples are numerous and you can find them almost daily in the New List. A good part of the dissatisfaction would also be solved by the timely submission of complete official information and documentation and not if the local committees were forced to carry out research work in order to get the right picture.

The "you are not competent enough to discuss it" or "you take too much power or it is not in your jurisdiction" thesis may be correct but does not eliminate the need to give citizens clear and unambiguous answers to the questions asked.

The concept of offering a new "development" (a convenient legal definition which states in the Spatial Planning Act that spatial planning is carried out for the needs of the population and development projects of the local self-government unit, where the needs of the domicile population should be in the first place) without solving all the accumulated infrastructure problems (transport and sewage as the most current) is completely unacceptable, especially when pushed through statements of the type that the people of Drenovci are insensitive social cases and people who need these apartments, so they should probably now agree to any solution.

Drenova is not an elite Rijeka settlement, indeed we can consider it just workers' because it was built in this way, so there is certainly no "social insensitivity", but it certainly has sensitivity to rudeness and the imposition of ready-made solutions without any discussion. There are certainly places for POS on Drenova, but not at the proposed location without considering alternatives.
If all alternatives prove to be unfeasible, the Council will insist that all citizens' demands and problems in the area be resolved first before any intervention, and not that, as usual, only vague promises remain.

The problems are not simple, but it is certain that communication with local committees and citizens and finding solutions that will satisfy everything (or at least the majority) has no alternative. The collapse of this communication can only deepen the mistrust of citizens in the system ("everything has already been agreed", "this is a farce") and then raises the question of the function of local committees and local self-government in general. If everything is determined in advance, then there is no need for a local committee and the opinion of citizens (and the local committee just articulates this opinion of citizens), but I fear that this would lead us quite the opposite of the direction towards which we as a society strive.

Background to the problem of POS apartments

1. Location at issue

 

The key problem of the proposed location is the wider environment, which is infrastructural (primarily traffic) unresolved and, moreover, considering that this area belongs to urban rule number 6. The General Urban Development Plan of the City of Rijeka (07/07), which provides for the construction of predominantly family and multi-family typology, does not allow the construction of multi-apartment buildings (and it is necessary to change the Drenova DPU). The construction of large buildings is completely inappropriate for the narrower environment, i.e. on the contrary – family houses are more suitable for this zone. Even in the old convocation (2002) the Council proposed alternative locations on Drena (according to Škurinje or Kablara), but these were never considered or information about them is unavailable. It is incomprehensible that the entire process is conducted without consulting the Council, which leads to such reactions of the Council and citizens.

2. Unresolved transport connections

DPU Drenove foresees a correct traffic solution, but unfortunately it has never been realized (primarily in the segment of connections towards the Drenovo route) and there is no clear plan or timeline for realization. It is clear that it takes considerable time to resolve primarily property-legal relations, that there must be adequate means for realization and the most important will to complete the road. Given the above situation, any new investments until the infrastructure is completed are ineffective. In addition, the council has numerous complaints from citizens who complain about the cracking of water pipes in the road body and other problems they have, so a complete solution is needed. Unfortunately, what is the current situation before 2010-12 can not be expected is that the road is simply not in any plans.

 

 

3. The problem of protecting the environment and natural habitats

There is a dense pine forest in the area ‘reserved’ for POS and, as the authors of the programme tasks themselves stated:

‘It is necessary to preserve to the maximum extent possible the perceived ambient value of the space: the existing wetland habitat of flora and fauna, panoramic views towards the wooded areas of Veli Vrh and the hilly hinterland of Rijeka. In the central part of the area, there is a wetland habitat of special flora and fauna that contributes to the biodiversity of the area. It is necessary to preserve and arrange this space for the movement and stay of people, but at no cost should the natural condition of the habitat be disturbed", but it is completely unclear how this is meant to be realized if 100 apartments will be built on this area, and the complete illusion is that the wetland habitat or pine forest will be kept in the middle of the planned dimensions. Not to mention that "parking with trees" also enters green areas, so the result is completely predictable. The main determinant of sustainable development of Drenova is precisely the preservation of greenery and it is clear that such interventions in greenery provoke resentment of citizens.

 

4. Sewerage

The problem of inadequate sewage network at Dreno's Council has been dealt with for a long time. Particularly problematic is the part east of the Drenovo Route because there is no public sewerage network. Since there is no sewage network, all existing buildings have a solution for wastewater drainage by a system of individual connections to separate three-part septic tanks. It is absurd that even multi-apartment buildings (university buildings – one of them) are built with septic tanks, as this cannot ensure an adequate communal standard in such a dense urban area.

In addition, with the existing sewage system there are constant problems (unpleasant odors) and there is obviously some structural problem. In any case, before any further activities, it is necessary to resolve this situation, build collectors of adequate capacity and only then can further plans be discussed.

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Why are we always dissatisfied?

I have repeatedly written about the problem that we live in a society that is mostly defetist and depressed. The media is dominated by black chronicles and bad news, and when something positive happens, it is probably for the "believe it or not" section.  Both in the wider society and on our Drenova. Here are just a few of the last examples.
After a long wait, we finally got a minibus for Kablare, which hopefully solved the problem of transporting our little ones and older citizens, but even after a week of driving, there are already "a bunch" of remarks (type: no timetable, the minibus does not operate on Sundays and Saturdays evenings, drives too rarely, etc.). It seems that citizens forget that minibuses are completely unprofitable for Autotrolej and that in any case they represent a significant step forward in terms of quality of life in an area, but unfortunately, we are not rich enough to have no restrictions. The compromise reached (benefit/price) is just in force because we believe that it covers most of the needs, and Autotrolej has also given the possibility to make modifications to the timetable after a few months – once the number of passengers has been determined. Any idea and comment must be substantiated and cannot simply express someone's "feeling" that something is wrong, but must also take into account the economic reality of the solution.

Another example is calling the Council through anonymous letters on Radio Rijeka. Without going into the writer's motives and through us completely meaningless content, the Council finds it regrettable that after all our efforts that we are doing in this term (issuing the list that you are just reading, up-to-date information via WEB, transparency of all our main documents that you can also find on WEB), some of our fellow citizens instead of directly contacting us and trying to find a solution to their problem together, use this way of communicating with the Council. It is not at all difficult to arrange a direct meeting with any councillor through our secretary. Although most councillors are employed and have numerous daily responsibilities, we will always take part of our time for citizens' problems because we accepted this job for that very reason.

The third example is the fabrication of stories about some kind of "conflict" between MO Drenova and the Drenova Provincial Association. On the contrary, the Council has always supported the activities of the Provincial Association and will continue to do so. The cooperation is based (and so must be) on the relevant acts of the city of Rijeka, where rights and obligations are clearly defined in the domain of co-organization of various activities, the way of using public spaces, the issue of financing and donations, etc. The Council is the holder of the main activities in the domain of the organization of the Drenova Days, for which we received significant funds from the city of Rijeka this year, while the County Association did an excellent job of past masquerades.
Holding such events is a huge financial and organizational burden and citizens often do not have the right information about what is needed to successfully and safely perform such events. According to the custom of volunteers who will personally "plant" (often financially) in the realization there are too few and "critics" who look for hair in the egg and do not need anything too much. It is quite clear that everyone who works sometimes makes a mistake, but this is not a problem as we learn from the mistakes together and prepare for the next activities to be even better. And this is certainly the main and common goal of both the Council and the County Association.

The formation of two new sub-committees (for health and social care - to be headed by Mr. Jarvis) is currently taking place. Katherine Trinajstić, and the Subcommittee on Communal Issues – will be led by Mr Zlatko Perković) in order to improve the activities of the Council also in these domains and I invite you to definitely join the work of the Subcommittee.

Therefore, citizens of Drenova, think and act positively, help in the work of associations and join in as many different actions that will soon be organized. And if you are dissatisfied with something – contact MoD Drenova, by phone, email or in person – we are here to help you and find a solution together.

Plan of activities for 2008.

This year, further municipal landscaping of the premises of the local board continues. The agreed items are given in the table, but I would especially point out that the project of landscaping the area between the clinic and kindergarten and the construction of the staircase between the road “A” and the market will finally be approached, which for years represents a mockery in the strictest center of Drenova and a source of danger for children on their way to school. The completion of this project would finally complete the issue of safety at this certainly most dangerous transition to school.

MO DRENOVA TOTAL: 974.000,00

• Decorating the branch of Bok Street in the direction of house number 7 125.000,00
• Decoration of the Grohovski Street branch road from house number 22 to house number 26, connection to the Skull climb from house number 18 to house number 22 25.000,00
• Landscaping of Drenovski put street house number 170 50.000,00
• Renovation of Brca Street from house number 3 to the end 25.000,00
• Refurbishment of Bruno Francetić Street branch to house number 25 and house number 31 140.000,00
• Refurbishment of the Drenovski Street branch towards house number 73 50.000,00
• Execution of staircases from the “A” road to the ambulance and the market 88.000,00
• Expansion of public lighting in Kučićki put street 68.000,00
• Expansion of public lighting in Ravan Street 6.000,00
• Expansion of public lighting in Brca street at house number 13 2.000,00
• Paving the sidewalk on Grohovski put from Doma na Lokva, Drenovski put house number 176 to the building of the local cemetery Gornja Drenova 50.000,00
• Landscaping between the infirmary and the nursery on Drenova 120.000,00
• Setting up benches between the infirmary and the nursery on Drenova 12.000,00
• Technical preparation (preparation of the preliminary design and obtaining a location permit) for the establishment of an official access to facilities in the settlement of Kučićevo selo 30.000,00
• Expansion of public lighting in Kablarska Street from house number 33A to house number 37 38.000,00
• Technical preparation for arranging a children's playground in Cvetkov trg street 30.000,00
• Construction of concrete track in Žminjska street at house number 24 10.000,00
• Environmental remediation in Kučićki put street at house numbers 1a and 1e 25.000,00
• Technical preparation for the arrangement of Flower Square 80.000,00

At this point, I would point out the old problem of the dynamics of realization where, due to procedural reasons (publication of tenders, approvals, etc.), works start relatively late, so that every year more and more works appear in the so-called ‘transitional works’, so that out of the planned HRK 959 000.00 spent in the area of MC Drenovo, HRK 567,605.40 was spent – that is, HRK 390,000.00 ended up in this status. While the Council makes considerable efforts to coordinate activities with the responsible services to ensure that all activities take place in a timely manner, the situation is not significantly improving.

One way to avoid any delays is for the Council to have more projects ready in advance for implementation, which can then be used as alternative options if certain problems arise with the plan (always property rights !). Thus, in agreement with Rijeka-Transport, the plan is to collect consent for the construction of sidewalks along St. George's Street (in places where possible) on the principle that this was done on the expansion of Bruno Francetić Street. It turned out that this model was a good compromise solution because the owners received the construction of stone walls and the arrangement of access to the land in exchange for space for the extension of the road (in the case of St. George's Walkway). Let's hope that in the case of St. George's Street, the response will be just as good.

Decoration of Cvetko Square, presentation of variants of solutions at the citizens' assembly 

The publication of the text about the beginning of the arrangement of Cvetkovo Square in our Drenovski list has caused great interest of citizens and numerous comments. The first phase of decorating the square consists of decorating the well and securing the space in front of the church in terms of preventing parking, and making project documentation for the final reconstruction of Cvetko Square. It was precisely around the final arrangement of the square that a multitude of often opposing proposals emerged (one is against the abolition of parking on the square, the other is in favour of a more radical closure of the entire space for vehicles). In order to make the solution acceptable to the majority of citizens, the MO Council decided to organize a citizens' assembly in the second half of April to present possible variants and transparently determine the appearance of the future central Drenovski Square. Of course, it is not always possible to satisfy all wishes, but we hope that we can come to the most appropriate solution by mutual agreement.

UPU Gornje Drenova - continuation

After a minor delay in the development of UPU Gornja Drenova, which arose due to personnel changes in the Department of Urbanism, the Council of the Ministry of Interior held a meeting with the representatives of the Institute led by Mr. Gornja Drenova. Ed Rumor d.i.a., leading associate for spatial planning and representatives of the Urban Planning Institute from Zagreb Tamara Mihnijač d.i.a. and INA Korošec d.i.a. At the meeting, spatial planning issues were discussed and detailed explanations of individual (for the council of disputed) proposals of the developers were obtained. We highlight the most important ones:

• The Council accepted the detailed explanation of the ‘new’ location of Mr Drenova’s centre in terms of the quality of the premises and the possibility of further expansion. The proposed position of the roundabout (around the monument on Lokva) was also accepted as the most optimal.
• The proposed position of the new school and kindergarten was accepted and proposed after receiving additional arguments in the form of urban standards and the center of gravity of the settlement
• The developers of the plan have accepted the council's comment on the lack of a craft zone (for a quiet craft) and will consider the establishment of such a zone along the edge of CGG Drenova in positions where possible.
• The authors confirmed the need to build a sports hall on Drenova (adequate capacity) and predicted its position in the R4 zone. The exact location and other parameters will solve DPU Kablar.
• Acknowledging the comment of the councils and citizens, the road of OU XIII is as close as possible to CGG Drenova so that it remains a green belt between residential buildings and roads or cemeteries.
• The Council's objection was respected and Tonići Street was correctly resolved.
• The proposal of the Council was accepted and the turning point of line 11 was moved to the very edge of Gornja Drenova (towards Benčani), a position for the turning point of the minibus in Kablari was also adopted.
• All doubtful positions (sewage pumping stations, pumping wells, etc.) will be checked so that the final version of UPU Gornja Drenova is correct.

Although the Council is satisfied with the agreement reached, unfortunately, the most important piece of information – when the plan will be completed, we did not receive it. However, quality communication with the project manager has been established and we hope that we will not wait too long for the most important document for the development of Gornja Drenova.

Local Partnership Programme – Refurbishment of the training ground in Veli Vrh

It is with great pleasure that we can announce the news that MO Drenova in cooperation with the RiRock Climbing Club has won the most points in the program of the Rijeka Local Partnership and that the city of Rijeka will co-finance our joint project of arranging training grounds and access trails at Veli Vrh. This project would not have been possible without the great engagement of our fellow citizen, Mr Demir Barić, who is the "spiritus movens" of this and several other initiatives in the area of our IOC, in which he has the full support of the Council, and the Council is especially grateful to me. Mr. Barić has prepared most of the project documentation and we hope that now that the financial resources have been approved, there will be no obstacle to the realization of which we will inform you in a timely manner. We will tell you more about the project in the next issue of the Drenovski list. We also hope for a great response from the citizens of Drenova because a good part of the project relates to the decoration and cleaning of Veli Vrh, we will truly be able to all join.

Drenova – "Digital" local committee ?

According to the statistics of the City of Rijeka's WEB site, the Drenova MO leads a group of more active local committees in terms of the number of published content as well as the number of accesses to the MO's WEB site. On this occasion, we have confirmed some more statistics and found out that out of about 2,800 households (according to the list since 2001) on Drenova almost 1,300 have broadband access to the Internet (ADSL), which is actually an excellent and surprising result that confirms the high level of IT literacy of the citizens of Drenova. It is precisely these advances on "broadband internetization" that give us the right to start with more dynamic content on our website, primarily in the domain of video presentation from the opening of events and other events, and the possibility of greater distribution of Drenovski list by e-mail, or ultimately, in the evolution towards the portal MO Drenova, which would not restrict us to such an extent with space and finances. Of course, Drenovski list certainly remains the main source of information for citizens and we hope to finally provide a stable (and long-term) source of funding.

Working meeting with the Mayor of the City of Rijeka, Vojko Obersnel on topics of interest to the inhabitants of Drenova

On 31 January 2008, the mayors of the City of Rijeka Mr. Vojko Obersnel and his associates, representatives of the City Administration met with the mayor of the city of Rijeka and pointed out to him the problems encountered by the councillors themselves.
citizens of Drenova.
The meeting was attended by:

• Mayor of the City of Rijeka, M.Sc.Vojko Obersnel
• Representatives of MO Drenova:
  • Damir Medved, M.Sc. President of the Drenova MO Council
  • Zorka Ćoso – Deputy President of the Chamber
  • Katherine Trinajstić – City Hall of MO Drenova
• Representatives of the city administration:
  • Head of Department for City Self-Government and Administration, M.Sc.Mladen Vukelić
  • Director of the Directorate for Local Self-Government, Dušan Širola, prof.
  • Head of Public Relations and Protocol Department – Cabinet of the Mayor, Doris Šajn
  • Head of Maintenance Department, Department for Communal System, Zrinko Mičetić
  • Leading Associate for Spatial Planning, Eda Rumora
• Secretary of MO Drenova:
  • Dolores Linić

After a short greeting and introductory words by the Mayor and the President of the Council of MO Drenova, with a PowerPoint presentation visible on the illustrative panel, the President of the Council of MO Drenova addressed the attendees with the envisaged topics.

The topics were as follows:

• Communication problems between the Drenov MO and individual city departments where, in the opinion of the councillors, there is too long to wait for answers or no answers at all
• Inappropriate position of the VMO in various protocol situations (non-referral or late invitation to participate, inability to directly participate councillors, etc.)

Discussion

It was a good year

First of all, I would like to thank the donors who actively participated in the financing of our list. These and the previous two numbers were financed from donation funds, which shows that the effort invested in the past two years is justified and that citizens and companies have recognized "Drenovski list" as a valuable source of information about events in our MO. Of course, without the efforts of our technical editor, Mr Graiach, it would be difficult for this pace of exit to take place, and the Council would like to thank him in particular.

Plus...

Given that we live in a civilization of "criticism" where we are always overwhelmed only by negativity and where we ourselves are often inclined to see only the "black" side of life, it seemed necessary to first emphasize what happened positively during this year, so let's start with:

• This year, a lot of work has been done to improve social life on Drenova, primarily through various events that were held throughout the year, and especially successful Drenova Days, by which we have established a new standard that we will strive to only improve in the coming years. The key is the activation of the Drenova Provincial Association, with which the VMO successfully cooperates and supports their actions within the framework of its capabilities. However, we should not forget the activities of all other associations, such as the activities of the DVD Drenova choir or the Women's Activa, which resulted in a large response of citizens to the events held.
• Our branch of the City Library has moved to new premises (Brca 8a) and in its place a club of pensioners and elderly people has been opened, which will certainly facilitate socializing and addressing the needs of our elderly fellow citizens
• Despite the problems, the moment of the introduction of the minibus to the Kablari is approaching, which we regularly report on. As in many other cases, the process is much more complicated than it seems at first glance and many administrative obstacles need to be overcome. But it looks like we are at the end of the road and the minibus will start operating at the beginning of next year.
• Municipal priorities are implemented according to the set plan (details can be viewed on our website), but there is a growing problem that we cannot implement projects due to property and legal issues (privately owned terrains). In view of this, the Council decided to focus the available funds on resolving those positions that are unquestionable, so that in 2008 and 2009 efforts will be made to arrange Cvetkov Square, which was discussed in the previous issue. This year began with the arrangement of the well and the surrounding area in the traffic sense as a prerequisite for the establishment of the final solution.
• The initiative to improve sports activities was re-launched, primarily in the field of support to sports associations on Drenova (founding of MNK Drenova), especially through the re-launch of the project for the decoration of the bowling alley on Lokva, whose reconstruction (behind the building of the home would build 4 yoga) would ensure more appropriate conditions for training and competition. Since we have a promise that in 2008 funds will be provided for this purpose, we can only hope that there will be no more common property and legal complications that can only stop this project
• Capital projects such as improvements to the water supply and sewerage system as well as further expansion of the gas distribution network on Drenova continued. It was also agreed to start solving the remaining traffic black points, primarily the completion of road A towards Shooting Range. It is necessary to develop appropriate projects, but the dynamics of realization will depend on the available funds. The Council will insist that they try to find the funds through budget rebalancing.
• The main building on CGG Drenova was completed, which gave Drenova a representative building in its spatial center.  The two-storey central building consists of several units, namely a representative ceremonial space, facilities for the reception and preparation of the deceased, service and burial premises and administrative spaces with a funeral equipment exhibition salon, and a crematorium space is also provided within the building.
• Active efforts were made to increase traffic safety through the "refreshment" of horizontal and vertical signalling, as well as by installing speed meters in elementary school. Fran Franković, which will further affect the safety of our little ones. Further actions are also planned to improve the situation on a permanent basis.

Minus...

However, there were also problems, but the Council believes that all are solvable with the additional engagement of all actors:

• The problems of the construction of new buildings in the green belt at university buildings, the change of the UPU center Drenova without public debate as well as the impasse on the finalization of the UPU Gornja Drenova continue past the VMO Drenova baz with any information, although we have repeatedly requested that the competent services respond. Not only are decisions made about activities on Drena without consulting the VMO at least, but we are completely ignored (example of new buildings in the vicinity of already existing university facilities) and, to put it mildly, rudely does not respond to our letters. This is a blatant example that everyone on Drenova is against this construction, but it doesn't seem to matter. VMO Drenova does not want to repeat the scenario from Pulco (for which we are fully and unanimously ready). VMO is in an unpleasant situation that citizens' dissatisfaction is channelled towards us and instead of constructive cooperation and partnership with the City we get a wall of silence and ignorance. We have been elected by citizens to represent their interests and we consider this as our primary function and obligation that we intend to fulfill. In doing so, we are (as always) constructive and offer to consider alternative locations on Drenova that are, above all, much more favorable from the point of view of infrastructure and quality of life. It is clear to the Councilors that there are also restrictions in the domain of property-legal relations and land owned by the City that are suitable for housing construction, but it is unacceptable that there is no dialogue or at least no attempt to find a solution.
• VMO Drenova is constantly marginalized in all events that take place in the area of our MO and we are reduced to the position of “guests in their own house”. It is extremely unacceptable that we are not contacted at all (or at least informed) about the activities that individual city services carry out on Drenova, but it all boils down to the politics of the “perfect act”. The last example is the opening of rooms for older citizens (and this is already the fifth or sixth case). Our marginalization in such events also devalues the importance of local self-government and gives a signal to citizens that MOs are just a figure without meaning. In order to understand each other, we are not looking for a personal promotion or opportunity for speeches (although we might also like to say something to our fellow citizens sometimes) but for respect for the elementary order. This is not a "protocol" issue at all, but encroaches on the very essence of the function of the local committee and its position in the hirejarchy of democratic institutions, which we usually think of only at the time of elections.
• It is obviously considered that the VMO is good only for determining communal priorities (bench, mirrors, etc.) and when it is necessary to “knock” with citizens and ask them for consent to allow projects to be realized, and for the other we are not worthy and representative. As councillors we live on Drenova and together with the citizens we share good and bad events, joys and problems and certainly know the local situation better than someone who appears once a year not at an opening. We believe that this Council is ready, both in terms of education and experience, for “greater challenges”. If someone thinks that we are exaggerating or misinterpreting what we are allowed to do as councillors (i.e. if we are not working, then at least ask) let him say it clearly. In this case, we will seriously consider redirecting our energy to other socially beneficial activities.
• Councillors of MO Drenova (regardless of party affiliation!) invest great personal effort (in terms of today's precious free time and even in terms of direct donations or financing MO) and it is really the minimum that we expect a fair attitude of the City towards us. What and how we do can be checked with the citizens of Drenova, and we believe with the director of the Directorate for Local Self-Government Mr. Širola, as well as other city departments with which we cooperate.
• The escalation of the drug problem on Drenova despite the efforts of the police to put an end to it. Councillors were shocked by the information that in the past month about thirty drug dealers and people who owned narcotics have been detained in various raids on Drenova. The problem has clearly outgrown "normal" frameworks and threatens with unforeseeable consequences. For its part, the Council will undertake activities in cooperation with the police and associations dealing with the problem in order to improve the information and education of citizens and children about the dangers of narcotics, and the need for joint action at the source of the problem – preventing the distribution of drugs on the streets and in schools.
• The destruction of municipal equipment continues despite numerous appeals. Obviously, there is no other way to combat this phenomenon than to collect all damages directly from the perpetrator (or their parents/guardians).

Given the importance of these topics for the residents of Drenova and that all instances have been exhausted, we contacted the mayor directly. We have been informed from the mayor’s office that the meeting with the councillors will take place as soon as an appointment is found – probably at the beginning of next year.

In any case, it is certain that without greater engagement of citizens, either in direct communication with the VMO, or through the Homeland Association and other organizations, these burning problems will not be solved, i.e. we cannot expect someone else to do it for us.

Antennas, antennas, antennas... on the rooftops of the city.

Although today we live in a time when life without a mobile phone is almost unthinkable – no one likes to have antennas around them. And this leads us to the absurd situation of citizens protesting to the operators that their "singal is weak" and at the same time writing petitions against base stations. After almost a year, the TELE2 antenna from Žminj was removed, which resulted in a significantly worse quality of service for this operator in the Drenova area. In the meantime, the request of a group of citizens to remove the VIP antenna in Bruno Francetić Street, which has been ‘temporarily’ installed there for the sixth year, has been renewed. We contacted VIPs and got a clarification that they have been "spinning in circles" with locations on Drenova for years because they are nowhere able to meet all the requirements (from legislative and planning to citizens' consent) and therefore fail to solve this problem. It is evident that with such a methodology there will never be a solution, but it should be solved at the level of the regulator or ensure that the number of antennas in an area is minimized, with the obligation that all operators with a concession share the same pillar. VIP further explained that for optimal signal quality (UMTS) 3 cells should be formed and 3 base stations installed on Drenova. In further contacts with VIP, we will try to suggest some alternative locations (such as this one in the cemetery), so if they are technologically appropriate, we hope that some solution will still be found.

Ecology at work – action to clean up the environment on Drenova

Despite the cold on Saturday, November 17, 2007, organized by a group of students of the Faculty of Civil Engineering led by Maja Gaćeš and the Drenova Local Committee, a clean-up action was successfully held on Drenova.

Environmental cleaning action held on the move from university buildings to the water reservoir at the shooting range. 26 people responded and although the temperatures were only a few degrees above zero, this did not prevent valuable students from collecting 4 full fairies of various debris. Unfortunately, given the amount of waste, it would take 44 bays, but Saturday 4 is also a great start. Large waste was collected as well as a large amount of discarded clothing items.

Special thanks goes to the Department of the City Administration for the utility system, the Department of the City Administration for Development, Urban Planning and Ecology and the Directorate for Local Self-Government, which provided financial resources and an additional tool to support the action. Initially, it was planned to use two "bajas", but as we quickly recharged them, two additional ones were provided in record time. We especially commend the valuable employees of the utility company “Čistoća” who ensured the transport of waste from the cleaning site to the landfill.

Saturday's activities ended in the premises of MO Drenovo with a lunch for participants. At the end, new actions have been agreed that will take place in the spring, which we are especially looking forward to. Although it is the unquestionable will of the participants to put the entire space in order, a great challenge is a real dump of building materials that is measured by hundreds of trucks and solving this problem is not possible with such actions. It is evident that in cooperation with the competent services we need to find some systemic and permanent solution.

Finally, I wish all residents of Drenova a Merry Christmas and Happy New Year 2008!