Romania’s National School of Administration and Political Science (SNSPA) last year carried out an in-depth study to find out what the people of Bucharest thought about the place in which they live. While the study was published in May last year, its existence – and its findings – have only just become made known to us. We apologise for being a bit late.

Nothing in the report – which you can read here – can really be said to come as a major surprise. The people of Bucharest identified the city’s biggest problems as:

State of the roads 18 per cent
Lack of cleanliness 14 per cent
State of hospitals and clinics 11 per cent
Traffic 9 per cent
Crime 8 per cent

The only surprise is probably the lack of stray dogs from the list of problems, as well as crime’s place at fifth. We have said before that we do not think crime is a major problem in Bucharest, but then we do not live in what could be called the worst area of the city. Indeed, looking at the breakdown of the city’s problems by area, you get very different results. In Berceni, lack of cleanliness and stray dogs occupy the top two places. In the wealthy north, crime is top. (In the central districts, parking is the major problem).

Best area of the city? The North, apparently, according to 24 per cent of the population, slightly ahead of the city centre with 20 per cent.

Meantime a whopping 79 per cent think that Rahova/Ferentari is the worst area of the capital. Are they all wrong?

One of our favourite ever moments of Bucharest Life came in September 2006, while we having dinner at a Bucharest restaurant.

A group of French visitors on the next table were trying to order their meals in French, and, after becoming increasingly louder, yet still failing to make themselves understood, they gave up and tried their luck in English.

What made the whole thing so ironically amusing was that Bucharest was at the time hosting the non-event that is the Francophonie Conference, and was dead keen on showing the world how thoroughly French it was…

We were reminded of the Franco-cacophony this week when the man who was responsible for organising the event in the Romanian capital, Cristian Preda, announced that he was prepared to be the PDL‘s candidate in this year’s mayoral election.

As Bucharest residents will no doubt remember come polling day, the conference caused a week of chaos. Numerous roads were closed so that pompous leaders of some rather nasty little regimes could enjoy congestion-free transport around the city, while many schools were closed in order to keep as many ordinary people off the streets as possible. Preda was delighted with the event however, if memory serves, claiming that it was a unique opportunity for Romania to seal a key role in the Francophonie organisation.

The total harmony in relations between Romania and France since then would suggest that he was right.

Oh, hang on…

In related news, little Irinel Columbeanu – best known (until they split up last year) as the male half of the Iri/Moni comedy double act – also this week said he fancied being Bucharest’s mayor, and will stand as an independent.

No, you couldn’t make it up.

A photo that makes us wonder if The Krankies will ever start touring again

We saw this advert – there are various versions doing the rounds on Bucharest’s billboards, websites etc. – and got all excited:

Is there finally going to be a referendum on killing all the city’s stray dogs?

Erm… No.

In fact, as we write, there is no referendum planned on anything in Bucharest, although Elena Udrea – whose lovely eyes allegedly covet the Bucharest mayor’s chair – and her party, the PDL, would like there to be one, preferably before local elections scheduled for next May.

Not a referendum strictly about the dog issue – or any other single issue for that matter – but about the adoption of her Legea Capitalei, a project which would radically change the way in which Bucharest is run. We have touched on it before.

We feel that changes are needed because – according to perhaps our favourite local commentator, Sorin Ionita – Bucharest is ungovernable in its current form. His piece a few weeks ago in Evenimentul Zilei touched on at least some of the points we ourselves made.

Ionita also brings up a number of other key issues, the most important being in the title of his article: ‘It doesn’t matter who is Bucharest’s mayor, the city is ungovernable.‘

For the general mayor has to battle not just with the mayors of the six sectors (unless, by some miracle, they all get along), with the general council and with the sector councils. Even this would not be so bad – Ionita argues – if there was a clear delimitation of responsibilities. There is not. Decisions taken by one authority are often ignored or overturned by another, and vice versa. Chaos – especially when it comes to construction – ensues.

Even where there is a clear line of authority, as there is with public transport (sensibly the responsibility of the general city council), all is not quite what it seems.

For in fact, only surface public transport (operated by RATB) is the council’s business: the metro belongs to… the Ministry of Transport. Many a mayor has tried to bring it under the competencies of the city council. All have failed.

All of this matters because first and foremost it means that the mayor – whoever he or she is – can do very little. Big ticket projects that cost a lot yet have little benefit are the only way a mayor can make a name for himself. Hence the stadium. Elena Udrea clearly wants more power if she becomes mayor, and who can blame her?

But these ads are – if not exactly sinister – then certainly misleading, no?

Do they not suggest that if you want these things – or if you want to stop these things happening – you need to support the call for a referendum?

To the uninitiated, Bucharest often looks like a city with few – if any – distinct districts or quarters. With the possible exception of Lipscani/Old Town and perhaps the more salubrious areas in the north of the city, it can appear to be one huge urban sprawl of blocks, with nary a distinguishing feature in sight.

The truth is of course that there are a number of distinct districts in Bucharest: Rahova, Ferentari, Cotroceni, Militari, Aviatorilor, Tineretului, Bucurestii Noi, Aviatiei, Vitan, Titan, Pantelimon etc., though none of them bear little relation to the rather arbitrary sectors the city is divided into for administrative purposes.

There are six sectors, named – with a great deal of imagination – Sector 1, Sector 2, Sector 3, Sector 4, Sector 5 and Sector 6.

We wonder how long it took them to come up with those names?

Anyway, here is how the sectors* are currently split up:

Anyway, there is currently a proposal on the table to do away with the sectors altogether and have the city run entirely by one central administration. It looks as though there will be a city-wide referendum on the issue.

We would vote for such a move, for a number of reasons.

At present, whenever anything needs to be done (be it repairing roads, clearing snow or building cross-sector infrastructure projects) the six sector mayors almost always end up arguing with the city’s general mayor (Sorin Oprescu) over who is responsible for the problem in hand.

Uniting the six sectors would also ensure that the wealthier parts of the city (Sector 1 especially, home to the headquarters of many major companies) would be forced to share local tax revenues with the rest of the city.

At present, wealthy Sector 1 is able to spend funds on communal flowers and such peripheral nonsense while streets in poor (and poorly run) Sector 5 go unpaved, and where many people have no running water. Having one central budget for the entire city would reduce this inequality.

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*Sector 1: Dorobanţi, Băneasa, Aviaţiei, Pipera, Aviatorilor, Primăverii, Romanǎ, Victoriei, Herǎstrǎu, Bucureştii Noi, Dǎmǎroaia, Strǎuleşti, Chitila, Griviţa, 1 Mai, Pajura, Domenii

Sector 2: Pantelimon, Colentina, Iancului, Tei, Floreasca, Moşilor, Obor, Vatra Luminoasă, Fundeni, Ştefan cel Mare

Sector 3: Vitan, Dudeşti, Titan, Centrul Civic, Balta Albă, Dristor, Lipscani, Muncii, Unirii

Sector 4: Berceni, Olteniţei, Văcăreşti, Timpuri Noi, Tineretului

Sector 5: Rahova, Ferentari, Giurgiului, Cotroceni, 13 Septembrie

Sector 6: Giuleşti, Crângaşi, Drumul Taberei, Militari, Grozǎveşti, Regie, Ghencea

Here’s the cover of the latest issue of Bucharest In Your Pocket. We do hope you like it…

Bucharest In Your Pocket: Putting Bucharest on the map

As always, you can find the new guide in hotels, bars and restaurants across Bucharest (well, you will be able to by the end of this week at least) or you can download the PDF here. There is an iPhone/iPod Touch/iPad version too over at iTunes.

What’s new this issue?

Loads of new pubs and clubs, a word from the Mayor (really) and a relatively objective and restrained Foreword dedicated to the stray dog issue.

Comments welcome.