The representatives of Prague 10 did not approve the referendum for the construction of the town hall

Prague - Representatives of Prague 10 did not approve the holding of a local referendum regarding the construction of a new town hall building. The coalition had proposed to hold it together with the second round of the Senate elections. However, there were not enough votes in favor of the proposal during today's meeting. The opposition TOP 09 did not participate in the voting today. They claim that the town hall leadership only wants to gain visibility before the upcoming municipal elections. ODS will propose that the council meets again.
    The controversial proposal for the construction of a new building has been a long-discussed topic in Vršovice. Local initiatives, civic associations, and the opposition TOP 09 have long been striving for the declaration of a referendum, gathering nearly 10,000 signatures. Based on these, the town hall would be obliged to organize a local vote. The petition sheets were submitted a week ago. However, the secretary of the office, Martin Slavík, told the council today that a preliminary check of the petition indicates a high error rate, and the petitioners probably would not reach the sufficient number of valid signatures required to declare a referendum.
   "I therefore take the initiative as my own," said Mayor Bohumil Zoufalík. "I would like to adopt the petitioners' proposal and, despite the deficiencies, accept their proposal, specifically in its exact wording, so that it is clear that we do not want to change the questions," he told the council. The petition organizers requested that the voting take place along with the municipal elections, as more people participate in them than in Senate elections. The validity of the referendum is, in fact, tied to the number of voters.
    According to them, residents should decide that the costs for the construction of the town hall will be limited to 500 million crowns. They demand the announcement of a public architectural competition. A similar local vote took place in the past, among other places, in Prague 7.
    Prague 10 expects to pay 775 million crowns for the new headquarters. The winner of the tender, which has already been announced, is to secure the land, the building itself, a study for the new headquarters, as well as technical supervision and project documentation. A hot candidate is a plot in Hagibor, which has already been offered to the city district.