The grass is always greener...
Warsaw is a developer-friendly city, which has been immaculately planned. For example, Mokotów (its former industrial district) is now the biggest business district in the CEE region, something it has achieved thanks to the wise actions of the city authorities.
This is not my opinion - it is how Warsaw is viewed by people who do not live here. Investors, developers and representatives of investment funds are all delighted with Warsaw. Here they can see dynamism, openness and the willingness to change. However, when I was reading the account of the first debate in our new 'Executive Talks' series held in Prague, my eyes popped out in astonishment. Most of the participants were tearing this beautiful city to pieces. In their opinion the city authorities lack a vision for its development, developers complain about the lack of zoning plans, there is no ring road, the airport is too small...
And yet all of these opinions seemed rather familiar to me. Yes. This is exactly how we perceive Warsaw here in the Polish capital. We keep repeating the mantras that we are tired of traffic jams, the public transport functions badly, there are no zoning plans, the airport has lost its chance to become the main transport hub in our part of Europe... we could even go as far as to exchange the word 'Prague' for 'Warsaw' in the transcript.
But is it really so bad? Not really. We simply like to complain. Unfortunately, we are often unable to see the positive changes that are happening around us. Together with Ukraine we will be the hosts of the Euro 2012 football championships in a year's time. Organising this event has provided us with the impulse to start sports projects on an unheard of scale. We will gain a few excellent stadiums, there will be more motorways and expressways, and railway stations will become more beautiful. Well, it now seems that not all of this is going to happen, so maybe we should just stop there. So let's not complain - there will always be time for that later. Instead, let's look at Warsaw through the eyes of foreigners. What do you think? It isn't so bad, is it?
