sex and politics

So, apparently we’ll know for a fact today who will win the bid to build the footbal stadium in Ljubljana. A story which began in late 1999 when then-mayor Vika Potočnik blurted out the promise to build a new stadium in light of successes of Slovene footbal team (which had then just qualified for Euro 2000, against all odds), might at last get a move on.

The proposed look of the new stadium

But truth be told, I’m not really holding my breath. Yes, we’re marginally closer to getting a stadium than we were a year (or ten years ago) and yes, Mayor Janković did a lot to breath life into the project (it is afterall central to his political platform) and the project he proposes seems to be sound: The municipality will sell the land to whoever bids the highest and this investor will then build a shopping mall for himself and a stadium and a sports hall for the city (we’re still waiting for the details, though), but as long as I’m not seeing the mayor kicking off the game (as he promised he would do), I’m not buying the tickets.

BTW: there are seven bidders for the stadium. Any bets as to who will get the contract?

EDIT: In the end the job went to a consortium of Gradis construction company and retail company Merkur for a total sum of € 81 million. SCT bailed out just before the deadline, as did four other potential ivestors. The only other bidder was Red d.o.o., a consortium of the infamous Jurij Schollmayer and a group of Dutch investors. Schollmayer and Merkur crossed paths some years ago when former sold his limping Big Bang stores to the latter, which turned out to be one of the worst deals Merkur ever made, spending a lot of money to get Big Band out of the red and pay outstanding debts.

This one was waiting to happen… Ljubljana mayor Zoran Janković has joined the ranks of politicians who on occasions wouldn’t even make it to the qualifying round of a spelling contest. While never short for words, Zoki tends to mumble a bit while speaking. But this time around it got the better of him and Janković joined the distinguished company of Janez Janša and George W. Bush, supplying us with the first-ever “zokism”…

Just to give you a bit of background on this video - the municipality finally went about fulfilling a long-standing commitment to build a home for elderly people in Trnovo. But then it transpired that the next-door neighbour has appropriated a piece of land belonging to the municipality and was now demanding money to give it back. At first the mayor and his people tried talking him out of his folly, but this person wouldn’t budge as he could apparently already demand the 60 k€ he demamnded for a speck of land. Or as the mayor put it:

The end result (apart from fumbling the word?). The city took this person to court, won, got the land and sued him back for a lot more than just 60.000 euros, trying to make an example of him.

So, can anyone guess which word was the mayor trying to pronounce? In Slovene and English, please

P.S.: For all of those who are covering Slovenian EU presidency and are based in Ljubljana: Mayor’s office has opened a press centre on the ground floor of the town hall. Its use is free of charge and all you require to enter it is some sort of press ID. It sports phonelines, computers with internet access and a Wi-Fi hotspot if you want to use your own laptop.

EDIT: Hummmm….. It seems that the video about Janša’s stuttering is gone from Youtube…. Well, I never….

Often being dubbed as the town’s sheriff, Ljubljana mayor Zoran Janković can regurarely be seen chasing away double parked vehicles in downtown Ljubljana. I saw that for the first time some six months ago as he took the “press core” on an impromptu tour of nearby development sites. He put on his trademark “this-is-my-turf” look and just tapped on a glass of a taxi parked on a zebra crossing. The taxi driver looked up, and as he saw the mayor peering down on him, he bugged out without saying a word.

A part of this routine can be seen on this video, taken almost two weeks ago. Zoki made his speech, called the traffic wardens and the van was no more.

I’m just not sure if it’s becoming for a mayor to direct traffic….