Quick Confession - Jan Čižinský: Saving Reputation of Politicians as well as Children from under a Tram

You are a politician, I would like to call you a benefactor, is that not a difficult role?

It is not difficult, because we have excellent teams which work on a professional level. I have very capable people in my team. It is just that they are not very well known.

How is it possible that you attract so much attention of the media?

Because they are afraid of us. In Prague 7 we have truly managed completely to kill corruption, overcharging and clientelistic ties. We all remember what was going on here, how the Deputy Mayor handed two apartments at approximately 200 thousand crowns to his two sons; how someone who is now a Civic Democrat candidate running for an office at the city hall bought an apartment through sister of his partner so as to conceal it, therefore how they handed cheap properties to each other... We came across all of that. And if we succeed at the city hall we will be able to put a stop to it there, too.

These are high ambitions. Are you not afraid?

I would blame myself, our entire team would, if we did not even try.

Prodej slunného bytu 3+kk, Praha 2 - 104, Praha 2

Show property

Do people from Prague 7 district recognise you, are you a local celebrity?

They recognise me, I don´t exactly know whether I am a celebrity, but I am pleased when people like to see me.

And what if someone doesn´t exactly?

I respect it, I am a politician, it is part of it.

Does it happen to you that people attack you, whether by email or verbally?

More so on social networks. By email from time to time, verbally rarely.

What does your family say to that?

Surprisingly at home it united us. It can be seen that this effort makes sense, that indeed the upper echelons of Prague politics are afraid that they will lose their influence and resources.

What will you do with the power, the influence?

The same as in Prague 7. When we were elected people who were guilty left the office. They disappeared before we came. The vast majority of public officials, the vast majority, felt relieved because suddenly they were freer and they can do their jobs and nobody drags them into something that is not above board. I am deeply convinced that public officials at the city hall too, want to do their jobs, they want to do it well and do not want to be the involved in something dishonest.

How did it happen that you became a politician; when you were a young boy you wanted to become a dustman?

That happened because I have always been interested in what is happening around me. I headed the local Scout organisation, I became a teacher. Then in Prague 7 we managed successfully to complete a referendum that reduced the town hall expenses three-times over. A town hall was originally planned here for one billion crowns. Thanks to the successful referendum we won the elections and now the town hall is being built for a third of that price. And now we want to help the entire Prague. I am a Prague representative, a Mayor, so I can see how badly Prague is run. We are sorry for Prague. For example this Thursday it so happened that I was present at a meeting of representatives and I saw how they approved amendments of the zoning plan, to built up a meadow which has always been a meadow, voted for by ANO, ČSSD (Soc. Dem) and a few people from TOP 09, who already know that they will not be on the ballot… It is terribly sad. To be one of the representatives, where anyone can say: "This change when a meadow is changed to a building plot, moving from the list of "not to be approved" to one saying "to be approved" and suddenly it all passes, for me such a city is simply a poor one. Debate about such changes should be held in a committee, the fact that opposition changes opinion at a meeting suggests clientelism.

Were you born in Prague?

Yes, I was born in Prague 1.

But you are heading Prague 7.

I moved there after the wedding. My wife is from Holešovice.

And are you not sorry that you are not heading Prague 1? Do you not wish to improve No. 1?

Not that the number one district would not need it (laughter), but I'm always looking after the place where I live. But my brother Pavel wishes to do that, he still lives there. He helped to save the Hospital Na Františku and now he is to run for Prague 1 for Itself in the elections and I hope that he will replace the current Mayor.

Is your brother like you?

He is better. I hope that he will succeed.

Summer is ahead of us, how about some holidays?

This summer will be demanding for the family; first we need to collect signatures, so that we could run as Prague for itself…

Which is what you do everywhere. I met you in Rieger´s Orchards (Riegerovy sady)…

Yes, everywhere, but in that one can see how many people want a change in Prague. We actually have hundreds of very dedicated signature collectors who walk outside and talk to people. I think that there has never been such an event. Such a surge of interest in Prague politics.

Well and in August we will slowly start the campaign, so there will not be much left for a holiday.

Luxusní vila 5+kk na pronájem, Praha západ, Okolí Prahy

Show property

But hold on, surely you will go somewhere?

We go with our family to the so-called marriage meetings. It is a week where a lot of married couples work on their marriage.

I have never heard of it…

It is one of the reasons why it still works in our home.

Really? What do you do there?

You take your children with you. Older children take care of the younger ones. It is actually an ingenious system, how to pass family values onto children. Children at the same time see that parents are working on the marriage to work. There are lectures and discussions where you realise why you are actually together and what you should do to keep the relationship working. We go to Třešť, but similar meetings are held throughout the country. Last year we went there for the first time; this year we are definitely going again and we will certainly want to continue.

How many years have you been married?

This year it will be 10 years.

How did you celebrate the anniversary?

We went for a dinner and it was nice.

You are romantic. (laughter)

(laughter) Yes, well... That was the most important election of my life when my wife chose me. I will never win any more important elections in my life.

You have three daughters, how old are they?

9, 6 and 3.

Don´t you want a boy, too?

Girls are great, smart and cute. But it is true that my dad had three girls and then three boys after that...

You have five siblings? That is crazy…

My wife is one of five children, so when our families come together, it is a great party.

I cannot even imagine that.

And we are not a very large family. I know larger ones. A few days ago quadruplets were born in our country after fifteen years. I taught the father and the mother is godmother of one of our daughters. We know each other very well indeed, she actually sang at our church wedding. That is a large family. They really travel to family reunions by bus.

You are also a good athlete, you climb…

I am not a great athlete, it is more of a high mountain tourism than some dangerous climbing.

But you have climbed Mont Blanc!

You go up a hill, nothing extra complex.

What do you mean nothing extra, people prepare for that for years!

For example Monte Rosa, the second tallest mountain in Europe, is more complicated. But I am really not a great athlete. I do sport by going to work on a bike, but otherwise at the moment I unfortunately I do not have the time. In winter we go skiing with children. We go cross-country skiing, because of that I have modified the pram and attached little skis to it. I led Scouts for a decade. We played a lot of football and went on hikes.

So you know how to survive in nature? Can you make fire using rocks?

Perhaps I could make fire, if it was dry, but not with rocks.

It is drought this year… What else can you do? Make a bit of PR!

I do not want to show off. But in a minute we will award three alert women who saved a drowning child. I am going to Stromovka to give them an award and thank them. I do such things so that people would know that it is not a disgrace to help someone. You need to react quickly, it is not important to know exactly how to help. Scouts for example know how to do that. Scouts are people who care about what is happening around them and are not ashamed to intervene. So for example, and now it will sound like boasting, here in Štrossmajer´s Square one child run under a moving tram, and because I am scout and react quickly, I managed to catch him and carry him from under the tram. Nothing happened to him at all.

You see, that is no boasting…

But when I say it myself, it is boasting.

But I have asked about it. So first aid is not a problem for you.

It is not. I intervened in various accidents.

Yet I wonder whether you are interested in a little more superficial things, too, such as fashion. If you care about what phone, suit or a bike do you have.

I have such a bike so that nobody would steal it. (laughter) half a year ago, someone stole it but quickly realised that it was useless, so it was found. This happened for the second time. Fashion, well, I try to look presentable, but there is no passion. Shopping is a nightmare. I am advised by my wife or Hanka Třeštíková, our councillor for culture.

Do you have any tattoo?

(Laughter) No. I have never considered it.

I you should make yourself a profile on a dating website - purely hypothetically, given that you are happily married - what would your highlight be; what would you accentuate about yourself in this millennium?

I do not know what I would put in there... that I like family. I would put in there that I take promises seriously.

I think there are no longer people like that.

There are many.

You are not at all consumerist.

I am not, it is true.

Can you be targeted by TV advertising?

Every advertisement is in vain, I don´t act under the influence of advertising. I like to use things until they stop serving. I regret the things that people throw away just because they are not fashionable any more. I recently found at home my old backpack and went around with it. My wife was of course unhappy because of that and took it back to Prague, where I don´t have enough nerve to wear it.

Let´s finish the interview. I wonder what your next step is going to be, whether you win the elections or not.

If we win, if a change is achieved in Prague and honest people are appointed, there will be no break. There will then be immediately a need to start working and improving the decision-making processes. What is needed to be done in Prague first, we have already described to Prague Governor, but last October she replied that it was just our pre-election PR move. And I don´t think about the option that we will not succeed. Prague simply needs a change.

So I keep my fingers crossed, thank you for the interview.