At least the same things can be promised again.
The mayor of Budapest launched his new campaign on March 15, the aim of which is to gain voters for himself in the June 9 municipal elections. He already made a lot of promises during the previous municipal elections. For example, he promised significant transport improvements - and now he is promising the same again... Health centers and free screening tests were included in the mayor's candidate program. But what happened?
Bankruptcy and chaos: apart from that, practically nothing can come to mind about the "results" of Gergely Karácsony's last 5 years. Gergely Karácsony produced a lot of slogans, but he fulfilled only a few of his promises, which are meaningless and do not require real work.
While the money of the people of Budapest was flowing out of his hands: he governed the city, which had become dirty, disorganized and chaotic, to the point of bankruptcy, which, according to his promises, would be "transparent, green and solidary" - of which there is no sign. Only among the many tens of millions of bonuses, which he secretly distributed to his friends, was the one to whom he gave nearly ten million after his discipline.
"Every year, we give HUF 20,000 for utilities..."
A confusedly realized promise: according to Karácsony, the purpose of the support was to provide assistance to low-income families and single people during the winter heating season.
But the implementation was not as promised, as it introduced a kind of band system, due to which many people did not receive the promised support.
In addition, it was not clear who was entitled to the support. To address these concerns, city officials promised a review to ensure transparency, but nothing came of it.
Gergely Karácsony, as the best student of Ferenc Gyurcsány, did not explain all the details of the truth when he campaigned, said Zsolt Wintermantel (Fidesz). As he said, Karácsony promised that all pensioners in Budapest would receive a 20,000 HUF subsidy per year. This, as he said, did not happen at all. These amounts were or are being determined in bands for retirement income conditions, so the promise that the mayor campaigned with was nowhere near fulfilled, but this is only one of the many promises that fell through.
Since the income conditions were established in such a way that they were tied to certain amounts, therefore many, many people were left out of this, it is safe to say that more than half of the pensioners did not receive support for this reason.
Health centers and screening tests - nothing came of them
Many people are arguing on the Internet about the fact that Gergely Karácsony promised health centers and free screenings as a candidate for mayor 5 years ago - but nothing came of them.
"All the health developments that have taken place in Budapest are due solely to the government's Healthy Budapest program. Therefore, all developments in the district clinics, additional orders, device developments, test equipment, ie MR, CT equipment, or construction developments where appropriate, are realized only and exclusively from the government's Healthy Budapest program. The capital did not do anything in this regard either," said Zsolt Wintermantel.
Nothing anywhere: where are the promised environmental protection and green investments?
Karácsony also promised many other things, which also came to nothing: for example, he also promised environmental protection and green investments. Or he promised that in order to stop water wastage, the public sprinklers will be sprinkled with water taken directly from the Danube, that is, not from drinking water, but from other networks. Zero cubic decimeter irrigation was implemented directly from the Danube, but energy-efficient investments in the capital's institutions were lacking, so the green program was only realized at the level of words. Right, for example, he promised a green Blaha Lujza Square, you just have to go to Blaha Lujza Square and look around to see what a sea of concrete has become from the square, which was previously dotted with large and sprawling trees...
According to Zsolt Wintermantel, only two major investments have been made in the past five years: the renovation of Blaha Lujza tér and the Chain Bridge. Both projects were prepared and planned by the previous city administration, and the city administration of Gergely Karácsony could only add that both projects were implemented later and more expensively, and with reduced technical content.
But what happened during Gergely Karácsony in Budapest?
He announced that he had steered the city into a situation close to bankruptcy, so he took out a loan.
By increasing the price of BKK tickets by 28 percent, he contradicted himself earlier - and in the process they even insulted the passengers, the BKK leader called them "turkeys ready for slaughter" - but he is still in place...
But shortly before the BKK ticket price increases, he paid several hundred million in bonuses to the managers of companies in the capital. In two days, Karácsony approved bonuses for almost 50 managers in the capital, and those involved could pocket a total of more than HUF 280 million. The managers of BKV and BKK received HUF 65 million in total.
The mayor raised the rent of market vendors (primary producers) by almost 100 percent, who are thinking about closing because of this. Here, too, Karácsony went against his own promise, as he said during the reorganization of the company operating the markets in Budapest that the vendors did not see any harm in the change.
The public toilet in Blaha, which was handed over much later and more expensively, is more closed than open. Besides, it's mostly used by the pros, as it turns out...
He charged for parking spaces, raised parking fees and expanded paid zones in places that used to be free.
Despite his written promise, he did not return the Chain Bridge to car traffic, causing major traffic jams, which was, by the way, much more expensive and with less technical content than was included in the original plans.
"Gerikarós" have appeared all over the city in addition to bicycle lanes: with the Üllői út and Váci út lanes, they have caused public outrage, not only among Budapest residents, but also among the ambulance crews - the gerikarós increase chaos and traffic jams throughout the city.
He repainted some bike paths - which would be fine, but unfortunately he spends much less on repainting the zebras than on this: even according to their own admission, the situation will get worse and more dangerous because of the invisible zebras and lane markings.
He installed more insect hotels, wasp garages and bee-friendly gardens in the capital's public parks. Although the mayor is most proud of this, the majority of Budapest residents see these areas as weedy, unkempt areas...
So if we look at the last 5 years of Gergely Karácsony, the balance sheet is deplorable: hundreds of Facebook posts and selfies, but no action... War with the government, which the people of Budapest won nothing from: the capital does not develop anything in Budapest, only the government...
In any case, after 5 years of doing nothing, Gergely Karácsony started campaigning again, that is, making promises. It seems that he has a serious challenger for the post of mayor: Alexandra Szentkirályi, the former deputy of István Tarlós, who has already gained experience in Budapest city management, is running as a candidate of the Fidesz-KDNP.
Cover photo: The public toilet - with which Gergely Karácsony took a selfie - has been broken down practically every day since it was handed over, and moreover, it is used more by prostitutes than citizens visiting Blaha
Source: Facebook/Gergely Kárácsony
