Michal Smitka

18 years oldPraha 2TOP 09

Running for Spolu pro Prahu 2

Main topics

housing

Prague 2 currently has a housing stock that makes up 11 % of all flats in the city district. Thanks to that, we're able to provide social housing, flats for employees in essential professions such as teachers, police officers and firefighters, and commercial flats that can be obtained in electronic auctions held by the city district. The municipal housing stock is key to keeping housing policy under our control, which is why the city district should keep it and ideally expand it too.

schools and education

Primary schools are a key part of children growing up, so schools should be able to provide not only teaching in the basic subjects but also education in areas such as media and financial literacy, working with AI, critical thinking and other skills children will need when they grow up. The town hall has a big influence on what opportunities our schools have. I still remember what an impact it had on teaching when, thanks to help from the city district, a new outdoor playground was built at my primary school, ZŠ Slovenská. Investments like that in our youth make sense.

public space

In my view, looking after public space is one of the town hall's most important tasks. A well-planned renovation of a square, a park or, say, a children's playground can easily improve life in Prague 2 and make our city district a nicer place. A shining example is the recently reopened U draka playground, which came back to life after its renovation and can serve children again. Whether it's playgrounds, parks or squares, we'll keep up both the pace and the direction in maintaining and renovating them.

A few words about me

I'm 18, I've lived in Prague my whole life and in Prague 2 since first grade. I'm studying at an eight-year grammar school and this year I'm starting my final year before the school-leaving exams. In my free time I work with children at a floorball club.

I decided to run because I think it's not enough just to follow public affairs – you have to actively take part in them. In my view, local politics is the cornerstone of politics, because it's not just about slogans, populism and negative campaigning, it's about who has the best vision and plan for our city district.

TOP 09 and ODS have been running Prague 2 for a long time, and over that time it's become clear that our vision makes sense. As a young student, I'd like to bring a different perspective to the issues the council deals with. Because local politics is about people, and I think young people should also have a say in where we'll be heading in Prague 2 in the coming years.

The candidate's texts have been machine-translated from Czech.