Category: Ljubljana

Proposed designs of Stožice (L) and Bežigrad (R) stadiums

It is almost ten years since Slovenia caught the football fever en masse. When Slovenia qualified for EURO 2000, then-mayor of Ljubljana Vika Potočnik – carried away by the football fever – promied to build a new football staduim in Ljubljana. This promise turned out to be the first of three steps to her political demise. She made the promise in 1999 (methinks), but Ljubljana still doesn’t have a UEFA-regulation football stadium.

Four years later, Vika’s successor Danica Simšič tried in vain to find some sort of a solution to a hot-headed promise which by then became a prime political issue, not in the least because building a new stadium (or renovating the old one in Bežigrad part of Ljubljana) meant making some serious cash. Thus lobbying par excellence began, and Danica Simšič tried to accomodate everyone instead of pushing for one solution. So one week she was in favour of building a new stadium in Stožice (north outskirts of Ljubljana), but the very next week she was in favour of renovating the old one. It all depended on who got to her good ear on a particular week.

Danica’s stint as a mayor ended after four years, and by that time “Ljubljana Stadium” became a symbol of an incompetent city administration. Things even so far that some people claimed that the project itself was cursed, because everyone who touched it (on any level) more or less dug his/her own grave.

Enter current mayor Zoran Janković, who, staying true to his style promised – during election campaign – to both build a new stadium and renovate the old one. What he cleverly ommited is that he will have other people do it for him. Namely: the old stadium in Bežigrad was recently bought by Joc Pečečnik of Interblock, a self-made millionare who made his fortune by building automatic roulettes (to extreme happines of casino owners all over the world). Pečečnik already owns FC Interblock, which is not doing all that good in Slovene First League, but which will (if all goes well) have a wonderful new stadium in late 2009. The city of Ljubljana will hold a 28-percent stake in the company running the stadium, but will apparently stay out of Pečečnik’s way.

The new stadium in Stožice will be built in a similar way: The city of Ljubljana will invest real estate (worth approximately € 100 million), but the stadium and accompanying basketball hall will be built by a retail chain which will in turn be allowed to built a giant, 82.000 sq. metres shopping centre next to the sports objects which would then become city’s property. It’s kind of neat. I’ll let you build a shopping centre if you build me a stadium.

But why does Ljubljana need to stadiums? I don’t know, actually. We don’t even have a proper football club, let alone a national team worthy of its name. But everybody remembers the good old days, compiled in the video below, and hopes, that if we build it, they will come:

_{*apparently a misquote from Field of Dream starring Kevin Costner}

If you hang around long enough in this city you’re bound to stumble upon a rare jewel. In this case it was a couple of Italian guys who set up an imprompru gig in the middle of Šuštarski most in the Old Ljubljana on Tuesday night. The trio was apparently joined by a passing trombone player and I came just in time to catch a funk version of Tu Vuo’ Fa’ L’americano, a legendary tune by Renato Carosone.

The gig ended with a traditional visit by the Bad Blue Boys and Girls (no offence, Blur), the crowd gave them the ritual booing, but in the end everyone went home happy… Well, some of us went for a glass of sangria 😉

It’s been nearly four months sice “vrtički” were the top issue in Ljubljana… As you might remember from this post, the little plots of land near Žale cemetary were demolished at the time, mostly by their owners. But it was said then that it was just the beginning…

Area of “vrtički” on the bank of the river Sava. You can actually see illegal buildings by zooming in

Obviously this is not the only case of illegal or semi-legal plots of land in Ljubljana. Perhaps even more explosive is a situation at the banks of the river Sava in the north of Ljubljana, where hundreds of illegally built cottages have been erected over the years and decades. The Mayor has woved to chase them away, but they refuse to go, filing lawsuits and being rather successful. Namely, they have just recevied a decision by a court that notices of removal of illegal bulidings, which the City Administration has issued carry no legal weight.

Thus they have called the mayor’s bluff who wanted to employ the same tactics as in the case of Žale, where a mere threat of destruction was enough. Not this time, though. It looks as if Zoki will have to use brute force if he really wants to clean a rather was area of Ljubljana of illegal buildings. Because that’s what they are – buildings, cottages, homes away from home. “Vrtički” are suppose to sport little huts to keep tools in, but in this case the building are – well – visible from space. Just zoom in on this map

So the point is that Mayor Janković will probably face an angry mob once again… Not a good thing for a mayor who rides the wave of populism…