Brno central station referendum, 2016
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Brno central station referendum, 2016, is a municipal
referendum A referendum (plural: referendums or less commonly referenda) is a direct vote by the electorate on a proposal, law, or political issue. This is in contrast to an issue being voted on by a representative. This may result in the adoption of a ...
on the location of
Brno main railway station Brno main railway station ( cs, Brno hlavní nádraží, abbreviated as ''Brno hl. n.'') is the principal railway station in Brno, the largest city in Moravia and the second largest in the Czech Republic. The railway station is situated in the c ...
, in Brno,
Moravia Moravia ( , also , ; cs, Morava ; german: link=yes, Mähren ; pl, Morawy ; szl, Morawa; la, Moravia) is a historical region in the east of the Czech Republic and one of three historical Czech lands, with Bohemia and Czech Silesia. The m ...
,
Czech Republic The Czech Republic, or simply Czechia, is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Historically known as Bohemia, it is bordered by Austria to the south, Germany to the west, Poland to the northeast, and Slovakia to the southeast. The ...
and the way of its future modernisation. Citizens will vote on whether to retain the station at its current location and modernise it, or replace it with a new station at another location. The result of the referendum binds only
local government Local government is a generic term for the lowest tiers of public administration within a particular sovereign state. This particular usage of the word government refers specifically to a level of administration that is both geographically-l ...
. Nevertheless, it also indirectly affects government organs in the
Czech Republic The Czech Republic, or simply Czechia, is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Historically known as Bohemia, it is bordered by Austria to the south, Germany to the west, Poland to the northeast, and Slovakia to the southeast. The ...
through the already existing system of contractual obligations. The date of referendum is set on 7 and 8 October 2016, the same day as regional elections.


Background

Brno Main Railway Station, located directly in the Brno city centre (on the former
fortification wall A defensive wall is a fortification usually used to protect a city, town or other settlement from potential aggressors. The walls can range from simple palisades or earthworks to extensive military fortifications with towers, bastions and gates ...
circuit) has been in service since 1838. As time went by, the
symmetric Symmetry (from grc, συμμετρία "agreement in dimensions, due proportion, arrangement") in everyday language refers to a sense of harmonious and beautiful proportion and balance. In mathematics, "symmetry" has a more precise definiti ...
and harmonized
tram network A tram (called a streetcar or trolley in North America) is a rail vehicle that travels on tramway tracks on public urban streets; some include segments on segregated right-of-way. The tramlines or networks operated as public transport are ...
adjacent to the railway station was developed. The tram network grew along with the city for 157 years. Today, the
main railway station Central stations or central railway stations emerged in the second half of the nineteenth century as railway stations that had initially been built on the edge of city centres were enveloped by urban expansion and became an integral part of the ...
borders closely with
tram A tram (called a streetcar or trolley in North America) is a rail vehicle that travels on tramway tracks on public urban streets; some include segments on segregated right-of-way. The tramlines or networks operated as public transport are ...
nodes with seven tram lines. Each of them is in half of its route, so there are 14 routes of the tram network. (they are distributed to the structure of city with 8 tracks). Then there are 2 lines of
trolleybus A trolleybus (also known as trolley bus, trolley coach, trackless trolley, trackless tramin the 1910s and 1920sJoyce, J.; King, J. S.; and Newman, A. G. (1986). ''British Trolleybus Systems'', pp. 9, 12. London: Ian Allan Publishing. .or trol ...
es and 8 lines of
bus A bus (contracted from omnibus, with variants multibus, motorbus, autobus, etc.) is a road vehicle that carries significantly more passengers than an average car or van. It is most commonly used in public transport, but is also in use for cha ...
es. There is also a
terminal Terminal may refer to: Computing Hardware * Terminal (electronics), a device for joining electrical circuits together * Terminal (telecommunication), a device communicating over a line * Computer terminal, a set of primary input and output dev ...
of long distance buses in the distance of from the railway station. The majority of the most important city destinations are within comfortable
walking distance "Walking Distance" is episode five of the American television series ''The Twilight Zone''. It originally aired on October 30, 1959. The episode was listed as the ninth best episode in the history of ''The Twilight Zone'' by ''Time'' magazine. ...
. About 11,000
inhabitants Domicile is relevant to an individual's "personal law," which includes the law that governs a person's status and their property. It is independent of a person's nationality. Although a domicile may change from time to time, a person has only one ...
live within . In the last 20 years, projects have been moving the railway station out of the city centre.


History

Ninety years ago the idea of changing the main railway station's location appeared as a reaction of the annual increase of traffic (1923-1924 = + 26%). Since then this idea has weakening alternately, disappeared or reappeared in different circumstances. However, it repeatedly ran into a strong and resolute opposition of experts and the public. The first local referendum on this question was held in 2004.
Local authorities Local government is a generic term for the lowest tiers of public administration within a particular sovereign state. This particular usage of the word government refers specifically to a level of administration that is both geographically-loca ...
set the date of referendum on 9 October, which means one week before the
European parliament elections Elections to the European Parliament take place every five years by universal adult suffrage; with more than 400 million people eligible to vote, they are considered the second largest democratic elections in the world after India's. Unti ...
. The idea of repeating the referendum on the same topic appeared in the beginning of 2013 after the first successful local referendum in city of Pilsen, the same day as Presidential elections. It was motivated by the change of legislation of the code of local referendum, which was in the quorum – 35% instead of the previous 50% turnout is now necessary to make a referendum binding for a local authority.


Legislation

No legislation on a national referendum has been passed so far. There are just two types of local referendum in the Czech law – municipal referendum and regional referendum. Each type is regulated with a different code. In the case of Brno, the Local Referendum Code is relevant.


Judgements

On 1 August 2014 the Referendum initiative committee submitted the "Proposal on the holding of a referendum on the Main railway station location" to Brno municipal authority and with 1,531 referendum
petition A petition is a request to do something, most commonly addressed to a government official or public entity. Petitions to a deity are a form of prayer called supplication. In the colloquial sense, a petition is a document addressed to some offi ...
forms containing 21,101 signatures of eligible voters. Fifteen days later, the authority claimed that 5,251 signatures were incorrect (i.e. invalid). The initiative committee considered this statement dubious, arbitrary and obstructive from the side of the public authority. (Standard error rate during signature gathering is around 3%). Therefore, they brought up an action against the authority to the
administrative court An administrative court is a type of court specializing in administrative law, particularly disputes concerning the exercise of public power. Their role is to ascertain that official acts are consistent with the law. Such courts are considered s ...
. After two weeks they submitted another 5,813 signatures. Eventually on 17 October 2014, after two individual
judgement Judgement (or US spelling judgment) is also known as ''adjudication'', which means the evaluation of evidence to make a decision. Judgement is also the ability to make considered decisions. The term has at least five distinct uses. Aristotle s ...
s, a court passed the judgement 65A 8/2014 - 74 There, the court recognized, on the basis of its own proving, that the number of signatures was already sufficient by 1 September 2014. Thus the referendum should have been declared simultaneously with the
municipal elections In many parts of the world, local elections take place to select office-holders in local government, such as mayors and councillors. Elections to positions within a city or town are often known as "municipal elections". Their form and conduct vary ...
in October 2014.


Final decision

After this judgement the proponents proposed that the referendum should be held simultaneously with the next regional elections in October 2016. (PB is authorised to it). The newly elected city representation accepted this proposal on its first gathering on 25 November 2014. The referendum which was originally intended for municipal elections 2014 was postponed to 2016, because the referendum which is held simultaneously with elections has a much bigger chance of achieving sufficient turnout.


See also

* Stuttgart 21


References


Further reading

* SMITH, Michael L., ''Přímá demokracie v praxi: politika místních referend v České republice'', Praha:ISEA - Institut pro sociální a ekonomické analýzy: AV ČR 2007. * RIGEL, Filip, Zákon o místním referendu s komentářem a judikaturou. Praha: Leges, 2011. * COUNCIL OF EUROPE, ''Local Referendums: Report'', Council of Europe Press, Den Haag 1993. * KUŹELEWSKA, Elżbieta, Referendum in the Czech Republic and Slovakia, In: ''Annales Politologia'', Vol 21, No 1 (2014) (Poland) * ŠPOK, R., ŘǏHÁČKOVÁ, V., WEISS, T., BARTOVIC, V., DROMARD, J. 2006. Místní referenda v České republice a ve vybraných zemích Evropské unie, Institut EUROPEUM, Praha, pp. 11–50. The ACE Electoral Knowledge Network 2013, aceproject.org/ace-en/topics/es/ese/ese08/ese08a/ ese08a03 ast accessed 19.12.2013* SAPÁKOVÁ, Kristina, ''The Issue of a Local Referendum on the Example of the Referendum concerning the Position of the Main Train Station in Brno'', Theses
Masaryk University Masaryk University (MU) ( cs, Masarykova univerzita; la, Universitas Masarykiana Brunensis) is the second largest university in the Czech Republic, a member of the Compostela Group and the Utrecht Network. Founded in 1919 in Brno as the se ...
, Faculty of Law 2015 (Czech - English abstract) * VOJTECHOVA, Hana, ''The Role of Local Referenda - Local Referenda in The Czech Republic'', Brussels European Commission/Nuclear Research Institute Rez plc, 2009 * KAUFMANN, Bruno, BÜCHI, Rolf, BRAUN, Nadja, (2010) ''Guidebook to direct democracy in Switzerland and beyond''.
Marburg Marburg ( or ) is a university town in the German federal state (''Bundesland'') of Hesse, capital of the Marburg-Biedenkopf district (''Landkreis''). The town area spreads along the valley of the river Lahn and has a population of approxima ...
IRI. * SMITH, Michael L., Voter information and responsiviniess in the local referendum in Brno in: SCHILLER, Theo (ed.), ''Local Direct Democracy in Europe''.
Heidelberg Heidelberg (; Palatine German language, Palatine German: ''Heidlberg'') is a city in the States of Germany, German state of Baden-Württemberg, situated on the river Neckar in south-west Germany. As of the 2016 census, its population was 159,914 ...
, VS Verlag 2011. .


External links


Initiative committee website

City of Brno, Official website

Europoint (Station change) website

Train categories
{{Elections in Brno Referendums in the Czech Republic Regional elections in the Czech Republic 2016 elections in the Czech Republic 2016 in the Czech Republic Elections in Brno