Selected
Archive News Stories of Krakow Info in 2003
Year
2003 in the News of Krakow Info
2003
Head Start: 90,000 Had Fun, 40 Ton of
Litter
Some 90,000 revelers enjoyed the latest edition of
Poland’s traditionally biggest New Year’s Eve
party that takes place amid Krakow’s
Rynek
Glowny (Grand Square). This year they left behind
nearly 40 tons of litter, mostly broken bottles, but
no substantial property damage has been reported. It
cost the municipality an equivalent of $5,700 to clean
up.
City
Hall Offers Leniency to Biz Debtors
86 businesses might take advantage of local
tax
amnesty announced by the Krakow
municipality. They can
have 85 percent of their arrears written off to the
tune of some $1.5 million in total together with
interest due. Most failed to pay the real estate tax.
The acquittal is conditional on payment of other
liabilities, such as state taxes, social security
contributions, custom tariffs, etc., and companies
employing 50 or more should show a feasible rescue
plan.
Krakow
to Boost Polish Literature World-wide
The Adam Mickiewicz Institute, a government agency for
Poland’s culture promotion abroad, opened its
literature chapter in Krakow with seat in the Villa
Decius, a 16th-century Renaissance palace in the Wola
Justowska posh residential area. The new entity will
support translations of Polish books and look after
Poland’s presence at book fairs and other such
events throughout the world. The Adam Mickiewicz
Institute’s Krakow division has Mr. Albrecht Lempp,
Ph.D., as its head, a German linguist who settled in
Krakow in 1998.
Crime
in Krakow Dwindles If Not Fast Enough
Police records show that crime has slightly declined
in Krakow in 2002. Last year there were 12,200
burglaries in the city with population of 750,000 as
well as 2,100 robberies, 530 assaults, 2,900 car
thefts, and 17 (seventeen) cases of homicide.
New
Museum Shows Plants-Turned-Stone
Krakow’s Jagiellonski University opened a brand-new
museum of petrified plants at 31 Kopernika street. It
boasts exhibits dating back to all geological eras
that came since the first vegetation had appeared 400
millions years ago. They are part of the 15,000-item
collection the Krakow university has assembled over
the last 150 years. It cost about $57,000 to launch
the museum.
50
More Policemen to Walk the Streets Krakow’s new
police chief is reducing the number of the city’s
precincts from the current 13 to eight since February
1. Also, their staff will no longer deal with
traffic offenses and criminal investigations, nor
bring suits before the courts of law, etc. in order to
provide more time and resources for neighborhood
policing. The chief promises that his changes will
increase the number of officers patrolling the Krakow
streets from 350 to 400 on every single day.
Much
Impressed
An exhibition of American impressionists has opened in
the Galeria Miedzynarodowego Centrum Kultury
(International Culture Center) gallery
at 25 Rynek Glowny (Grand Square) to the enthusiastic
reception of Krakow’s enchanted public. The show “Masters of Light. Californian Impressionism
1890-1930” displays 58 canvases by such U.S. artists
settled in the south California in the early 20th
century as Franz A. Bischoff, Guy Rose, Colin Campbel
Cooper, Granville Redmond, Meta Cressey, Alson S.
Clark, and William Wendt. The paintings come from The
Irvine Museum and a number of private collections. The
exhibition stays open through May 4.
Pliva
Builds $11-million Plant in Krakow
Croatian Pliva pharmaceutical concern wants to
make the Krakow subsidiary its center of international
operations as regards non-prescription products. To
this end the concern is to invest further $11 million
in a brand-new plant for effervescent compounds
manufacturing to open in 2005. Pliva is
currently Poland’s second largest pharmaceuticals
producer with exports to 18 countries in Europe. Its
Krakow subsidiary employs 1000.
Ballet
Festival: Five Months, Ten Nights
Krakow’s 2003 Dedications ballet festival
takes place May through November and is dedicated to
the art of Mats Ek, the renowned Swedish choreographer
famous for his cunning and humorous interpretations of
classic works. On May 19 and 20 Maurice Bejart’s Compagnie
M company dances his ‘Mere Teresa et les
enfants du monde’, followed by Stockholm’s Royal
Theater production of Mats Ek’s ‘Andromaque’
based on Racine’s play on June 20 and 21,
Barcelona’s Compania del L’Institut del Teatre performing
‘It Dansa Jove’ on July 4 and 5, Sankt
Petersburg’s Ballet Theater shows of Boris
Ejfman’s ‘Who is Who’ in October, and
Warsaw’s Grand Theater ballet dancing Mats
Ek’s ‘Carmen’ and ‘A sort of...’ in
November. The organizers also hope to bring Monte
Carlo’s Ballet Trocadero in May.
Prince
Charles Champions Jewish Center in Krakow
Britain’s World Jewish Relief organization secured
the patronage of Prince Charles for its project to
build a Jewish Center in Krakow at the cost of $1.6
million. According to the WJR spokesman, Shimon Cohen,
the heir to the British throne not only donated an
unspecified ‘considerable’ sum himself but he is
also to attend a series of fundraising events in
London. Krakow’s Jewish Center, scheduled for
opening in 2005, will provide day care to the elders
and serve as a social hub for the younger members of
the city’s miniscule nowadays yet active Jewish
community. The WJR, founded in 1933 to give support to
the needy Jewish families abroad, is already engaged
in similar projects in Argentina, Belarus, Bulgaria,
Ukraine, and in the former Yugoslavia.
Euro
Windfall Short of Expectations
Polish government has earmarked euro 500 million from
the European funds for the Malopolska province in
years 2004-2006 out of the total of €11.4 billion
that Poland expects in financial assistance from the
EU. This amounts to €153 per capita, less than in
any of the country’s other 15 provinces, and well
below Poland’s average of €284 per person. No
wonder local politicians cry foul.
Krakow
Has New Budget
City Council voted Krakow’s 2003 budget with outlays
to the tune of an equivalent of $427.5 million, 4.9
percent increase over the previous year, and deficit
of roughly $25 million. The municipality’s debt is
to reach 58.9 percent of its revenue this year,
slightly below the law-permitted 60 percent threshold.
The city hall is going to spend equivalents of $107
million on education, $67 million on public transport,
$31.75 million on housing, $13.25 million on culture,
and $8.75 million on public safety. Administration
will take roughly $26 million, while the debt service
should cost some $15.75 million. The 43-strong City
Council passed mayor’s budget bill with 26 ayes, 6
nays, and 7 abstentions.
Leonardo’s
‘Lady with an Ermine’ May Wander More
Two ‘biggest museums’ of the USA and France seek
Leonardo da Vinci’s ‘Lady with an Ermine’
from Krakow’s Czartoryskich Museum for their planned
exhibitions, the museum’s management revealed
without naming the solicitor institutions. The
500-year-old painting, arguably the best portrait by
Leonardo and possibly the world’s finest female
portrait ever painted, appears the most traveled
masterpiece of this rank. Right now it is expected
back from its 8-month American tour from the Milwaukee
Art Museum to Houston’s Museum of Fine Arts to San
Francisco’s Fine Arts Museum. And before
Leonardo’s beauty left Krakow for the States the
Czartoryskich Museum’s trustees had vowed that after
its return the picture would stay put in the city for
ten years at least. Now some doubt the promise will be
kept.
Lufthansa
Launches Its Back Office Center in Krakow
Germany’s national carrier Lufthansa is opening its
Europe’s accounting center in Krakow. It is to
handle the bulk of the Lufthansa Group’s back office
financial operations outside Germany, namely 90
percent of sales processing and 45 percent of
bookkeeping workload. The airline’s managers praise
Krakow’s virtues as a city of high-quality workforce
and low costs.
Krakow
Film Festival Likes It Short
62 movies, picked from a total of nearly 1300 entries
from all over the world, will be showed at this
year’s Krakow International Film Festival, May 28
through June 1. The festival is traditionally confined
to short films, i.e. currently those under 50 minutes.
Russia’s input consists of 8 pictures against
British 6, French 5, German 4, and Polish 4, while
most countries will be represented by a single movie
including the recent Oscar winner from Denmark, Martin
Strange-Hansen’s ‘Der Er En Yndig Mand’.
The international festival is followed by a Polish one
that features 40 native-produced short films.
Krakow’s
Marathon Runs May 10
Male winner of the Krakow Marathon race on May 10 may
expect award in cash amounting to an equivalent of
$5,000 whereas the best woman half the sum. The
Cracovia Marathon takes two 21.1-km loops through the
downtown area with both the start and the finish at
the city’s historic Rynek Glowny grand square. In
2002 some 1,000 men and women ran the marathon and
organizers expect even more entries this year. Last
year’s winner, Kenyan Thomas Magut, who finished at
2 h 19 min, is said to run again. He’ll face
Poland’s top marathon runner Leszek Beblo among
others.
Krakow’s
Ludwig van Beethoven Easter Festival
The world’s biggest classical music festival in the
holiday season, takes place through April 21. This
year the 11-day series of concerts, recitals and other
events features Beethoven’s masterpieces alongside
works of his Baroque predecessors. The main festival
venue is the Filharmonia hall at 1 Zwierzyniecka
street but some major offerings can be also watched in
the open air on giant TV screen amid the city’s
central Rynek Glowny square. The Ludwig van Beethoven
Easter Festival belongs to the European Festivals
Association (EFA)
Leonardo’s
Belle Hardly Turns Cowboys
On Barely 49,000 visitors saw Leonardo da Vinci’s
famous portrait of ‘Lady with an Ermine’
from Krakow’s Czartoryskich Museum in Houston’s
Museum of Fine Arts from December 12 to February 18.
The unrivaled Renaissance beauty was the centerpiece
of an exhibition of 70 outstanding treasures from
various museums in Poland. The same show had enticed
150,000 to the Milwaukee Art Museum between September
13 and November 24 last year. And over six months in
Japan at the turn of 2002 Krakow’s Leonardo
attracted the record 700,000 attendance in three
cities, Kyoto, Nagoya, and Yokohama. On March 7 ‘Lady
with an Ermine’ has been moved with the
accompanying exhibits to San Francisco’s Fine Arts
Museum. Leonardo’s masterpiece is expected back in
Krakow before the end of May.
Krakow’s
Landmark Goes Opaque, For Its Good
One of Krakow’s signature landmarks, the
14th-century basilica of the Virgin Mary’s (Kosciol
Mariacki) at the Grand
Square, is to undergo a
$250,000 repair of its steep Gothic roof, starting
mid-May. Replacement of covering copper sheets is the
next stage of thorough renovation of Poland’s most
famous church, after renewal of its indoors and
cleaning of its external walls in the past years.
Unfortunately, the overdue work requires 40-meter
scaffolding to conceal and disfigure the landmark’s
frame for the time being.
Leonardo’s
Is Back!
Leonardo da Vinci’s famous portrait of ‘Lady
with an Ermine’ has returned to its Krakow’s
domicile in the Czartoryskich Museum from 8-month
American tour. The unrivaled Renaissance beauty was
the centerpiece of an exhibition of 70 outstanding
treasures from various museums in Poland. The show had
enticed 150,000 visitors to the Milwaukee Art Museum
between September 13 and November 24 last year and
49,000 to Houston’s Museum of Fine Arts from
December 12 to February 18 before it was moved to San
Francisco’s Fine Arts Museum. Over the last ten
years ‘Lady with an Ermine’ made five
journeys abroad and spent a total of 31 months in
foreign lands. The Czartoryskich Museum’s trustees
has vowed that now the Leonardo’s belle stays put in
Krakow till 2010.
Soup
Coup
Last year’s success has encouraged Krakow’s
Kazimierz district’s restaurateurs to launch second
edition of the Soup Festival on Saturday, May 24.
Chefs of 23 local Krakow
restaurants have entered the
competition and promised to issue free helpings of
their liquid specialties since 6 p.m.
US
President in Krakow
President Bush
visited Krakow briefly May 30/31 accompanied by the
First Lady, Secretary of State Colin Powell, and
Condoleezza Rice, the National Security Adviser. He
dropped in the city on Friday night and stay overnight
through Saturday morning on his way to Sankt
Petersburg’s, Russia, anniversary celebration and
then to the G8 summit in Evian, France. Air Force One
landed at Krakow’s Balice International Airport at
9:40 p.m. on May 30. Next morning, after spending the
night at a Krakow
hotel, George W. Bush visited the
Auschwitz death camp site some 50 km west of Krakow.
Later on the American president meet his Polish
counterpart in the Wawel Royal Castle and at noon he
delivered a foreign-policy speech to a congregation of
roughly 2,000 local notables at the castle’s
courtyard. Then he left for St. Petersburg.
Bush
Visit: Krakow’s Mayor Is Unwelcome
Krakow’s mayor, Professor Jacek Majchrowski, was
banned from attending President Bush’s greeting and
farewell ceremonies at the city’s airport, on May 30
and May 31 respectively. The American side suggested
that Prof. Majchrowski should be excluded after he had
published an article in a local newspaper, critical of
the Iraqi war. The item had appeared in ‘Gazeta
Krakowska’ daily in April. The Krakow mayor, lawyer
and accomplished historian who was elected in popular
vote last November, has commented that the American
wish infringes upon Poland’s sovereignty.
Wieliczka
Salt Mine Opens for the Disabled in Wheelchairs
The handicapped in wheelchairs can now see Krakow’s
world-famous Wieliczka Salt Mines thanks to four-year,
million-dollar adaptation. They may tour the most
popular parts of one of Europe’s prime tourist
attractions, in that number two of its subterranean
lakes, underground churches of St. Kunegunde’s and
of the Cross, and the Dwarfs’ Cave. Till the end of
2003 the handicapped has been entitled to free
admission after arranging the visit in advance through
a phone call put at (+4812) 4159119 and (+4812)
4158635, or fax (+4812) 4158685.
Krakow
Has Voted in Favor of EU
67.41 percent of Krakow’s registered voters cast
their ballots in the nation-wide two-day weekend
referendum, June 7-8, on Poland’s accession to the
European Union. They voted by overwhelming majority,
with 83 percent ‘ayes’ against 17 percent
‘nays’, in favor of joining the EU. Turnout in the
whole Malopolska province was 60 percent, with 76
percent votes in favor. This mirrors the whole-nation
results where turnout amounted to 58.85 percent and
“yes” votes to 76.9 percent.
Krakow
IT Make a Foray in Microsoft Heartland
One of Krakow’s IT companies, ComArch, has won $2.2
million contract to provide USA’s state of
Washington, Microsoft’s home, with software to
administer its government’s communications and
computer networks. In the bidding the Krakow firm
outdid American giants. The Washington State has
resolved to buy its two applications, Tytan and
InsightNet, as well as their implementation. ComArch
is a rising star of Poland’s high-tech sector, its
2002 sales amounted to mere $43.5 million.
Land
of Fertility
Malopolska province, whose largest city and capital is
Krakow, beats Poland’s other 15 administrative
regions in its inhabitants’ virility, according to
freshly released data from the 2002 census. Over the
intervening ten years from the previous census
Malopolska had the largest population increase in the
country, 4.7 percent, mostly due to its high birth
rate. It also bests other provinces in the number of
American expatriates.
Grand
Square On Line
Krakow’s central Rynek Glowny grand square has been
turned into a zone of free wireless internet access,
Poland’s first and one of world’s few to date. All
you need to get connected is a laptop with a PCMCIA
card or an external WiFi device. Once online, there
appears a welcome window with ads that are source of
revenue for two firms, Xylab and DRQ, providing the
service.
Taking
a Look Under the Rynek Glowny Sq.
Krakow’s huge central Rynek Glowny grand square have
been partly turned into a site of archeological
excavations. Archeologists have got an opportunity to
explore the plaza prior to next year’s long overdue
thorough renovation of its paving. The Rynek Glowny,
whose vastness surpassed any square in other cities of
medieval Europe, used to have many buildings amid it
and most of them have not survived. The ancient Krakow
forum still remains the city’s hub.
Soldiers
to Police Krakow
Under new scheme to boost safety in Polish cities the
Krakow police has been reinforced with 98 conscripts
who volunteered to walk the streets rather than join
the army. They have undergone basic police training
and will stay on the beat for a year. Military service
is mandatory in Poland but nowadays number of
available conscripts far surpasses needs of the armed
forces.
More
of the World’s Heritage in the Krakow Region
UNESCO has added further four sites in the Krakow area
to its prestigious list of the world’s culture and
nature heritage. Of south Poland’s six wooden
village churches newly entered in the register on July
3 those of Debno Podhalanskie, Lipnica Murowana,
Sekowa and Binarowa are situated in the Malopolska
Province whose capital city is Krakow. They all date
back to the 15th century. The region’s other World
Heritage sites are Krakow’s entire Old Town historic
district, the Wieliczka Salt
Mine, Auschwitz, and
Kalwaria Zebrzydowska’s Calvary sanctuary.
58
Tests HIV-Positive in the Province
Seven more inhabitants of the Malopolska
province, of
which Krakow is the largest city and capital, has
tested HIV-positive in the first half of
2003–freshly released health data reveal. It adds to
the total of 65 cases that occurred in years 1989 to
2002, in the province’s population of 3.2 million.
Since 14 of the infected with the virus developed AIDS
and died to date, now the number of known HIV-positive
patients amounts to 58, or one in roughly 55,000
inhabitants. Last year nine new instances of HIV
infection occurred throughout the entire
province.
Krakow’s
Police Have Got State-of-the-art Command &
Control
The state police has introduced a $11-million modern
system of command and control in Krakow. Its heart is
a state-of-the-art operations room with digital wall
map of the entire city that traces every move of 60
new patrol cars equipped with computers with access to
central databases. The operations are integrated with
number 112 police call center and remote-TV
24/7-surveillance system. The latter now consists of
four cameras at Krakow’s central Rynek Glowny grand
square but soon another 20 are to be installed
throughout the city in vital points.
New
Immigration Law Makes It Easier for Aliens
Illegal aliens in Krakow–or anyplace in this
country–may take advantage of abolition if they
apply to the province’s ‘wojewoda’ (prefect)
between September 1 and December 31. Those who have
lived in Poland at least since the end of 1996 are
entitled to yearly, renewable residence permit
provided they own or rent a dwelling and have either
job or proven resources to support themselves and the
family. Newly introduced law allows also for
‘tolerated residence’ of foreigners who are unfit
for refugee status but cannot be returned to their
native countries for humanitarian reasons. A wojewoda
grants the ‘tolerated resident’ a right to stay in
the country for limited time that can be extended if
necessary, and such person don’t need any work
permits and is eligible for social security, universal
health care, and state-funded education.
Krakow’s
Triennial Lives Up to Expectations
Some 300 artists from 52 countries have sent their
entries for Krakow’s International Graphic Art
Triennial 2003. They make the central show in the
Bunkier Sztuki and Palac Sztuki adjacent
galleries at
Szczepanski Pl. that opens September 19. On top of it
come 50-plus other exhibitions in various venues all
over the city, from the National Museum’s main hall
(Grand Prix 2000 winner, Poland’s Tomasz Struk,
since Sep. 19) to Austrian Consulate (Austria’s
young artists since Sep. 20). The Krakow triennial has
been for decades one of the world’s prime festivals
of graphic arts, from woodcuts to serigraphy to
digital.
Old
Tunes, New Fiddle
The moving spirit behind Krakow’s Beethoven Easter
Festival, Elzbieta Penderecka, has launched a private
association to organize the next year’s edition of
the city’s premier classical-music event, parting
ways with the erstwhile patron, municipal Festival
Bureau. The new body has its seat in Krakow but Mrs.
Penederecka, privately wife of renowned composer
Krzysztof Penderecki, hasn’t ruled out moving the
festival elsewhere altogether or in part. Krakow’s
mayor, Professor Majchrowski, says the municipality
claims no rights to the musical event it has
underwritten since the very beginning in 1996.
Krakow’s
Hospital at the Forefront against Cancer
The Krakow university hospital’s 1st Surgery Clinic
has got a brand-new, state-of-the-art tool to fight
cancer. The $500,000 Mobetron machine destroys micro
metastases round the tumor that are otherwise left
behind after the surgery. Krakow is just ninth place
in the world, and the only one outside the USA and
Japan that can boast such device.
The
Oldest and Still Growing
Over 38,500 students have enrolled at Krakow’s
639-year-old Jagiellonian University, Poland’s
oldest and most respected, this academic year
2003/2004 that began on October 1st, an increase of
seven percent. New studies added to the university’s
curriculum include applied economics, international
economics, Ukrainian studies, applied computer
science, biophysics and molecular biophysics.
Krakow
Has Got Brand-new School
Yet another institution of higher education has joined
vast array of Krakow’s university-level education
establishments this year. On October 1 the Jozef
Tischner Higher European School, named after
Krakow’s late philosopher-priest, entered its first
year of teaching. For starters its curriculum consists
of sociology, international relations, European
integration, public relations, and business
communication. It has managed to enroll 440 freshmen
to date.
Krakow
to Tap EU Money, Fingers Crossed
Krakow’s municipality has applied for around 46.5
millions euro next year in subsidies from the EU
assistance funds to finance the city’s various
projects, from transportation to tourist promotion.
Yet only a fraction of the sum can be reasonably hoped
for since for beginning just euro 30 millions or so
will be made available this time to all municipalities
in the Malopolska
Province, whose capital city and by
far the biggest subdivision is Krakow. Now the
proposed projects are subject to evaluation by the
provincial government and those authorized will come
under still closer scrutiny of the Brussels
bureaucracy. Polish government has earmarked euro 180
millions of the EU money for the Malopolska province
over the next three years.
You
Are Watched
Seventeen new surveillance TV cameras have been
installed in the busiest spots of Krakow’s downtown,
the bulk in places often frequented by foreign
visitors, in addition to the four that already
surveyed the central Rynek Glowny grand
square. They
all relay images in real time to five district police
stations and the operations room in the police city
headquarters via an integrated computer system that
also enables to control their movements. The cameras
give resolution high enough to read newsprint 20-30
meters away. They cost $3,750 apiece, and the whole
system $500,000.
Krakow’s
Main Musical Event Goes Warsaw
Organizers of the Beethoven Easter Festival have
announced they are moving it next year from Krakow to
Warsaw, Poland’s capital city. To make up for the
loss of one of the city’s signature cultural
events,
Krakow’s municipality contemplates some other
classical music festival in the early springtime,
though no details have been disclosed to date. Since
1996 the Beethoven Easter Festival took place in
Krakow annually, over the week or two preceding Easter
and on the holiday itself.
Museum
Shows Sweet Home of the Past
Brand-new museum of period interiors has opened in The
Hippolits’ House (Kamienica Hippolitow) at 3
Mariacki Pl., next to the basilica of the Virgin
Mary’s. The branch of the City of Krakow Historical
Museum recreates the dwelling of a Krakow burgher
family from the 17th through the 19th century. Genuine
period furniture, works of art, bibelots, and various
homey artifacts fill the well-preserved residence of
The Hippolits patrician family, with rooms rich in
architectural details, elaborate stuccos and graceful
frescos.
Conservation
vs. Cuts
Though Krakow’s prime landmarks are now well
preserved, 234 of the city’s historical buildings
urgently need renovation till 2010, says document
released jointly by the city’s conservation authorities. The total cost of over $100 million is
manageable if the government current subsidies to the
tune of roughly $7,500,000 a year will stand.
Unfortunately, as Poland’s crippling budget deficit
looms large in the country’s politics the parliament
seems set on cuts across the board.
Krakow’s
Downtown To Get a New Mall
Construction of 112,000-square-meter Galeria Kazimierz
shopping and entertainment center has started in
downtown Krakow on the six-hectare site of
125-year-old meat-processing plant that at long last
has moved uptown a couple of years ago. Developer, the
Globe Trade Center corporation, promises the mall with
160 shops, a 3,000-sq-m deli, and a ten-theater cinema
multiplex will open in the first quarter of 2005. The
70-million-euro project fuses together brand-new
architecture and relic industrial buildings of the
former plant.
Say
Sayonara
Construction of 360-square-meter Japanese Language
School started by the Manggha Center for Japanese Art
and Technology at 26 Konopnickiej street, on the Wisla
river bank just opposite the Wawel Royal
Castle.
Japan’s rail workers trade union donated $200,000
for the building while the Japanese government has
given $400,000 for state-of-the-art equipment.
Krakow
Has Attracted 5.5 Million Visitors in 2003
Some 1.8 million tourists visited Krakow this summer,
and roughly 240,000 of them came from abroad. In the
whole year 2003 about 5.5 million visitors are
expected to show up in the city that is Poland’s top
attraction, and more than million to stay overnight.
Among the foreigners the largest contingent, 12.1
percent, form Germans followed by Americans (10.5
percent), Britons (9.7 percent), Frenchmen (8.1
percent) and Italians (8.1 percent), Israelis (8
percent), and Norwegians (6.5 percent). The busiest
months are June and August, while the quietest prove
January and February. An average tourist spends some
$55 while in Krakow (a foreigner, $255 or so) and the
windfall for the city totals roughly $450 million a
year.
Comfy
Kiev Connection
New comfy express train service has been launched
between Krakow and Kiev, the capital city of Ukraine.
On a 16-hour journey in brand-new air-conditioned
sleeping cars with facilities for the disabled the
passengers can enjoy DVD and radio, and take shower.
The night express runs three times a week either
direction, and a one-way ticket is an equivalent of
$40 first class and $35 second class.
City
Bus/Tram Ticket Is $0.6 in 2004
Krakow’s municipality has resolved to raise fares at
the city’s buses and streetcars since January 1,
2004. New price of a one-way ticket is 2.4 zloty (an
equivalent of roughly $0.6). An hourly ticket allowing
for changing lines is to be 3 zloty, while the cost of
a 24-hour unlimited-travel pass for all municipal
buses and streetcars has been set at ten zloty, it’s
48-hour equivalent at 18 zloty, and a 72-hour one at
24 zloty. A monthly pass is 90 zloty.
And
Public Toilet Is $0.25
For the first time since 1994 Krakow’s municipality
has increased fees at the city’s 29 public
lavatories it manages. From January 1, 2004, a use of
urinal entails cost of 0.5 zloty, while the privacy of
a cubicle has been valued at one zloty (i.e. an
equivalent of $0.25 or so). The municipal yearly
outlays for maintenance of the public conveniences
total an equivalent of about $375,000.
Krakow’s
Authorities Hope to Lure Cheap Carriers And Boost
Tourism
Krakow’s municipality, the Malopolska
Province’s
government, and a property-management agency of
Poland’s Ministry of Defense have launched together
a joint-stock company, Krakowski Port Lotniczy (The
Krakow
Airport), with a single purpose to bring cheap,
no-frills airlines to the city. In 5-8 months the new
firm is to build a passenger terminal near Balice
international airport in order to use its landing
strip. Krakow’s officials behind the project expect
the first carrier to start regular services this June
or September. Without naming names, they revealed that
six interested airlines have already approached them
about signing up.
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