Final Word from Tuesday, August 7, 2012
The most damning comment in last night's Reportéři ČT about
the budding Václav Havel Library came from Director Naděžda
Goryczková of the National Heritage Institute. She said she truly
believes that the good name of Václav Havel is being abused.
The crux of the matter is that Zdeněk Bakala wants to put the
library in a building he owns in the Hradčany area of Prague and,
in the view of Goryczková and others, is steamrolling through
excessive heritage-related changes to the residential part of the
building by piggybacking on the Havel name. The planned
private swimming pool has become a symbol of this dispute.
Inevitably, ČT hinted that some methods of persuasion not in
line with the Havel legacy might have been used to hurry along
the permit process. From a PR standpoint, if that matters to him
anymore, Bakala really only has one choice: Take his swimming
pool elsewhere.[Czech Republic Czech Television Čěská televize]
Glossary of difficult words
heritage - (in this context) building preservation;
budding - just beginning and showing promising signs of continuing;
crux - the decisive or most important point at issue;
to steamroll/steamroller - to force someone into doing or accepting something;
to piggyback - to ride on someone's back or shoulders; to use existing work or an existing product as a basis for support;
methods of persuasion - (in this context) monetary reward.