65 questions were considered at the meeting of the Panevėžys city council held last week. About the most important decisions made – a conversation with the mayor of Panevėžys Ryčias Račkauskas.
What decisions made in this Council, the most important works planned to be carried out in Panevėžys, would you single out?
I can be happy that Panevėžys, which is creating friendly infrastructure for the movement of ecological vehicles, joins the memorandum promoting the development of bicycle transport. We are constantly looking for various solutions in order to promote a culture of sustainable mobility, we try to create the most favorable conditions for the residents of Panevezys to move around the city by environmentally friendly means, therefore the Council gave the green light to join the long-term strategy promoting the development of bicycle transport prepared by the Ministry of Transport. Working together, we will focus our efforts towards the development of bicycle transport, thus realizing the planned long-term goals.
This time at the Council meeting, even several issues are important for the youth of Panevėžys. Can you deliver them?
We always pay great attention to youth, their employment, education and business cooperation. One of the considered and adopted decisions is the youth summer employment and labor market integration program, which we have been successfully implementing for the fourth year. Taking into account the city’s strategic direction of Industry 4.0 and aiming to encourage the city’s youth to get a job in companies implementing innovative solutions in Panevėžys, we approved the priorities of this program. We hope that the young people will not only apply the practice acquired during the summer in the future, but also that it will be easier for them to integrate into the labor market.
Another issue relevant to young people discussed in this Council is the student participatory budget, which affects 6 gymnasiums operating in the city – Juoz Balčikonis, 5, Juoz Miltinis, Vytautas Žemkalnis, “Minties” and Raimund Sargūnas. In my opinion, this is an excellent example of citizenship, thanks to which students’ financial literacy and entrepreneurship are developed. We hope that the city’s high schools will be active and willingly participate in the democratic decision-making process – they will propose ideas on how to improve the educational process or public spaces, they will vote and choose the ones they like the most. I have no doubt that in the very near future we will all be able to enjoy great examples of participatory budgeting for high school students.
This weekend, the creativity center “Pragiedruliai” officially opened its doors to the public, and it won’t be long until next month, the Stasii Eidrigevičius Arts Center will open its doors to visitors. Panevėžys City Municipality successfully implements various projects and is looking for new ones. Did you also consider issues related to international projects this time?
Yes, the meeting approved the international project “Fostering cultural values and heritage in Europe”, which we will implement together with the Association for Cultural Exchange and European Cooperation of the Italian city of Gradoli and the Czech municipality of Jevišovice. The project will promote cooperation between 3 different European cities, increasing gender equality in order to spread information and nurture European culture, traditions and heritage. This is a project that will seek to bring together and involve citizens in activities, so that they discuss actions on issues of culture and heritage, gender equality, and solidarity.
This Sunday we will celebrate Mother’s Day, would you like to say words to the mothers and grandmothers of the city of Panevėžys?
The first weekend of May is a special day. Flowers and words of thanks for Mothers and Grandmothers will always be too little. So I want to wish you all that this and every day is full of joy, sincere smiles, laughter, hugs. Happy upcoming Mother’s Day!
