Ryszard Grobelny
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Ryszard Grobelny (born 17 April 1963 in Poznań) — mayor of Poznań since 1998.
After graduation in Poznań University of Economics, he worked in Adam Mickiewicz University. In 1991 he joined Kongres Liberalno-Demokratyczny, and later Unia Wolności. At the moment of rebirth of local government in Poland Grobelny became member of Poznań's city council. In 1992 he was held a function in municipal government. In December 1998 this government elected him to the mayor's office. In 2002, in the first direct elections for mayor, he was an independent candidate, but with support of Platforma Obywatelska. Ryszard Grobelny won in the second round, with independent, ex-mayor Wojciech Szczęsny Kaczmarek. In February 2003 he was also elected as chairman of Związek Miast Polskich. In the 2006 election, in the first round on 12 November, he got the most votes. In the second round, he won with the candidate of Platforma Obywatelska, Maria Pasło-Wiśniewska, with 58.83% of the vote.
Ryszard Grobelny is criticised for his close relations with Jan Kulczyk. In December 2002 he sold 1.5 ha of ground in the center of Poznań to a company of Grażyna Kulczyk, wife of Jan Kulczyk. Officials of the mayor's office changed plans for this area which gave possibility to build part of the shopping center Stary Browar. Najwyższa Izba Kontroli, after an inspection, found that on this transaction Poznań lost about 9 million złoty. The court in Poznań started examination of this case (so-called Kulczykpark) on 29 November 2006.
His wife, Ewa Siwicka, is presenter of TVP in Poznań.
