In an interview to one of the Ukrainian media, I said that I consider myself a successful mayor. And I consider holding public hearings one of my achievements.
I signed an order to hold public hearings in Kyiv just a few months after taking the post of mayor and head of the Kyiv City State Administration, namely on July 3, 2006.
The organizer of the public hearings was the Main Department of Internal Policy of the KSCA. Its leaders and employees were responsible for the selection and generalization of topics for public hearings, determined the purpose, time, place, categories of participants who must be present, prepared information materials on the issues discussed, draft proposals based on the results of the hearings.
In the communal media, on the web portal of the Kyiv City State Administration, information was always given about the plan and topics of the next public hearings a month in advance in order to inform as many citizens as possible about the hearings and invite them to participate in them.
To participate in public hearings, not only the residents of Kiev and representatives of the Kyiv City State Administration were involved, but also deputies of the Kyiv City Council, deputies of district councils in the city of Kyiv and heads of district administrations, representatives of self-organizing bodies, political parties and public organizations, journalists, heads of enterprises and organizations whose activities are related to with the issues under discussion, scientists, experts.
I held public hearings on the most burning and urgent issues in the life of the capital at that time: on preventing manifestations of corruption in the capital's educational institutions, on putting trade in the subway in order, on bread prices, on the introduction of a target collection on luxury goods, on the activities of municipal management and maintenance enterprises, on the work of the capital's ambulance, on tariffs for housing and communal services and many other important topics.
I not only initiated public hearings at the mayor's office at the citywide level (usually they were held in the Hall of Columns), but I also wanted public hearings to be held in every district and microdistrict of Kyiv. So that people at this level could express their opinion, protect their interests, convey their requests and proposals to the city authorities. The main goal of such local public hearings: the residents of Kiev had to know that the city authorities wanted and were able to listen to them.
It was planned to focus special attention of such local public hearings on problems related to the operation of elevators, the condition of playgrounds, unsanitary conditions in places where household waste is stored and its irregular removal, the absence of code locks on the building entrance doors, the lack of proper lighting, etc.
I asked the residents of Kiev to speak out during such hearings about ways to overcome traffic congestion, methods of dealing with unscrupulous car owners who parked their vehicles on lawns and in other prohibited places. The help of the residents of Kiev was also needed to identify emergency roads, illegal construction and other problems that worried residents and interfered with a comfortable life in the capital.
It is destined for the capital to set an example of an honest and constructive dialogue between the authorities and citizens throughout the country. And I am proud that we have shown the whole of Ukraine an example of such a dialogue by holding public hearings at all levels - from the microdistrict to the citywide level.