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May 17th, 2008
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April 30th, 2008 issue

Healthy environment

I was very interested to see that businesses complain about the new parking rules and that restaurants say they’re losing customers (“Parking rules hurt locals,” News, April 16–22).
In the short term, this is correct, but later, this will disappear.
I believe local painters will pick up the jobs of the painter you mentioned in the story who can’t find a place to park. Customers will walk to restaurants.
I assume this is the intent of those who changed the parking rules.
Maybe some businesses will even move outside of Prague as a result. Good!
Creating a healthier environment always carries a price. In this case, however, we are probably looking at a net wash as far as services are concerned and a net positive for residents.
Vassili le Moigne
Prague
Run the show!
Recent articles and editorials make it embarrassingly clear that the talented and intuitive writers and editors at The Prague Post have a clear and concise understanding of the major problems which exist in the city I love.
Whether it is the “blue line” parking issue, the new Schengen visa rules and other visa problems at the Foreigners’ Police, or the little-improved treatment of tourists/guests in the country, you have a handle on the issues. 
I’m for spending all that money to hire the highly under-paid and extremely dedicated staff and management at The Prague Post to run the country.
Edward Barner
Prague
Rumor and innuendo
As a Teaching English as a Foreign Language (TEFL) instructor who made the effort to get legal, I have a lot of sympathy for these teachers whose employers don’t provide them with the correct information (“Schengen’s teaching hurdles,” Careers, April 23–29).
There are quite a few hurdles to jump through, and I credit my employer for making an effort to be relatively informed with regard to the new Schengen laws.
But I agree that there are a number of rumors and lots of misinformation floating around in the TEFL community.
Let’s hope that employers will provide their teachers with the appropriate information from now on.
Brian Reklaitis
Prague
Communist symbols
Just like the Nazi swastika, the hammer and sickle represent tyranny, atheism and death (“A monumental fight,” News, April 16–22).
It is an insult to all those who suffered, were murdered, or exiled by the criminal communist regime that seized power in Czechoslovakia in 1948. Someone should build a monument to the victims of the Soviet invasion of Czechoslovakia in 1968.

Joe Franklin

Miami


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[13:15 01/05/2008] : Is Edward Barner a nom de plume used by a Prague Post employee or is he simply trying to score a free year's subscription in the most sycophantic way possible? I hope I meet him sometime in a bar as I'm sure he'll tell me how witty, well-dressed and handsome I am for the price of a drink.
Paul Feagan
Prague
[08:38 02/05/2008] : "Someone should build a monument to the victims of the Soviet invasion of Czechoslovakia in 1968."

During the Soviet invasion of the CSSR, 72 people were killed.
During the more recent invasion of Iraq by the United States, many hundreds of thousands of people have been killed.
I suggest that we put up several hundred monuments to U.S. atrocities and leave the communist one until last, if we have enough time and energy.
Margot Winston
Prague
[12:47 03/05/2008] : What an interesting comment from Edward Barner.
After a second reading, I realized it is meant as a joke. He is taking the piss, isn't he?
He can't really be saying that he would be happy if the Czech Republic got rid of its democratically elected government and replaced it with the guy who writes for the local foreign language paper, can he?
I appreciate that there are countries where the local newspaper magnate thinks he runs, or should run the country/world, but no right -thinking person takes them seriously, do they?
Or maybe Edward Barner does. I would love to know what he is on (alcohol, drugs or just commission).
Ric Giner
Prague 2
[00:43 07/05/2008] : To whom it may concern:
As a former resident of Prague in 2004 and 2005, and currently the director of a very well established contemporary art gallery in Santa Fe, New Mexico ( the second largest art market in the United States with over 300 galleries) I have to say that many of us in arts organizations around the world who are observing (and discussing!) the current threat to the non-profit arts establishment in Prague find the situation deplorable. Prague has enormous potential for becoming THE Art Center of Europe in the future, for so many practical reasons, including its central location for bridging the cultures of Central(Eastern) Europe with Western Europe, the fact that it is widely recognized as the MOST BEAUTIFUL CITY IN THE WORLD, and the powerful cultural traditions of theater, music, and the visual arts that have drawn so many sophisticated visitors from around the world.

Coming from Santa Fe, a city recognized by UNESCO for its leadership in the arts, I can safely say that without our many non-profit cultural institutions that are knit into the fabric of our collective artistic identity, there is no way that the multitude of highly profitable commercial enterprises would be able to exist.
Commercial theaters and other commercial art enterprises in Prague would be wise to heed a warning that their attempts to control market share by undercutting non-profits will only result in diminishing their own market substantially.
These two entities must find ways to work together, and there is plenty of common ground.
The solution lies in creating alliances between non-profit and commercial interests. Simply by placing members onto the boards of each respective entity, these alliances can and will evolve into mutually beneficial relationships that will then spread into larger cultural circles.
A cultural advisory board is only a small start. The city of Prague itself will suffer enormous revenue losses if it does not act responsibly in the interest of the vast arts interests it stands to alienate. Milan Richter could have used this opportunity to form alliances, but instead he demonstrated a complete lack of authority and leadership. He should either step down, or be defenestrated.

( P.S. Would someone please translate this letter for me and send it to the proper authorities at city hall! Thank You! )

Sincerely,
Joseph Morris
Joseph Morris
Santa Fe, New Mexico
[05:47 07/05/2008] : I believe it's a fair assumption that those who still support the genocidal Communists are on par with the Neo-Nazi skinheads. They should march together hand in hand, like Stalin and Ribbentrop. No matter how much some people try to whitewash that evil tyranny that enslaved, impoverished and dehumanized half of Europe the naked truth now have come to light.
Yes, the memories of the nameless victims of Communism should be immortalized for the future and present generation.
Thomas Infidel
New Orleans
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