Bucharest

Ministries:

• Calvary Chapel Bucharest

Status	Capital of Romania
Mayor	Adriean Videanu, since 2005
Area	228 km²
Population (2003)	1,929,615[1]
Density	9131.5 inh/km²
Geographical coordinates	44°25′N 26°06′E
Web site	http://www1.pmb.ro/pmb/index.html

Bucharest (Romanian: Bucureşti /bu.kuˈreʃtʲ/ (help·info)) is the capital city and industrial and commercial centre of Romania. It is located in the southeast of the country, at 44°25′N 26°06′E, and lies on the banks of the Dâmboviţa River.

By European standards Bucharest is not an old city, its existence first being referred to by scholars as late as 1459.^[2] Since then it has gone through a variety of changes, becoming the state capital of Romania in 1862 and steadily consolidating its position as the centre of the Romanian mass media, culture and arts. Its eclectic architecture is a mix of historical, interbellum, Communist-era, and modern. In the period between the two World Wars, the city's elegant architecture and the sophistication of its elite earned Bucharest the nickname of the "Paris of the East" or "Little Paris" (Micul Paris).^[3] Although many buildings and districts in the historic centre were damaged or destroyed by war, earthquakes and Nicolae Ceauşescu's program of systematization, much survived. In recent years, the city has been experiencing an economic and cultural boom.^[4]

According to the 2002 census, Bucharest proper has a population of 1,921,751.^{[citation needed]} There are approximately 2.3 million inhabitants in the greater metropolitan area. Economically, the city is by far the most prosperous in Romania^[5] and is one of the main industrial centres and transportation hubs of Eastern Europe. As the most important city in Romania, Bucharest also has a broad range of educational facilities.

The city is administratively known as the Municipality of Bucharest (Municipiul Bucureşti), and has the same administrative level as a county, being further subdivided into six sectors.

Geography

Satellite view of Bucharest with written landmarks

Bucharest is situated on the banks of the Dâmboviţa River, which flows into the Argeş River, a tributary of the Danube. Several lakes – the most important of which are Lake Floreasca, Lake Tei and Lake Colentina – stretch across the city, along the Colentina River, a tributary of the Dâmboviţa. In addition, in the centre of the capital there is a small artificial lake – Lake Cişmigiu – surrounded by the Cişmigiu Gardens. The Cişmigiu Gardens have a rich history, being frequented by famous poets and writers. Opened in 1847 and based on the plans of German architect Carl F.W. Meyer, the gardens are currently the main recreational facility in the city centre.

Central Bucharest at Night

Besides Cişmigiu, Bucharest contains several other large parks and gardens, including Herăstrău Park and the Botanical Garden. Herăstrău is a large public park located in the north of the city, and the site of the Village Museum, while the Bucharest's botanical garden is the largest in Romania and contains over 10,000 species of plants, many of them exotic;^{[citation needed]} it was once a pleasure park for the royal family.^[6]

Bucharest is situated in the south eastern corner of the Romanian Plain, in an area once covered by the Vlăsiei forest, which, after it was cleared, gave way to a fertile flatland. As with many cities, Bucharest is traditionally considered to have seven hills, in the tradition of the seven hills of Rome. Bucharest's seven hills are: Mihai Vodă, Patriarchy Hill, Radu Vodă, Cotroceni, Spirei, Văcăreşti and Sf. Gheorghe Nou.

The city has a total area of 226 km². The altitude varies from 55.8 metres at the Dâmboviţa bridge in Căţelu, south-eastern Bucharest and 91.5 m at the Militari church. The city has a relatively round shape, with the centre situated approximately in the cross-way of the main north-south/east-west axes at the University Square. The milestone for Romanian's kilometre zero is placed just south of University Square in front of the New St. George Church (Sfântul Gheorghe Nou) at St. George Square (Piaţa Sfântul Gheorghe). Bucharest's radius, from University Square to the city limits in all directions, varies from about 10 to 12 km.

Until recently, the regions surrounding Bucharest were largely rural, but after 1989, new suburbs started to be built around Bucharest, in the surrounding Ilfov county. Further urban consolidation is expected to take place when the Bucharest metropolitan area is formed in 2006, which will incorporate various communes and cities of Ilfov and surrounding counties.

Climate

Cişmigiu Garden in winter

Bucharest has a continental climate, characterised by hot dry summers and cold winters. Due to its position on the Romanian Plain, the city's winters could get windy, even though some of the winds are mitigated due to urbanisation. Winter temperatures are often below 0°C, even though they rarely drop below -10°C. In summer, the average temperature is approximately 23°C (the average for July and August), despite the fact that temperatures sometimes reach 35-40°C in mid-summer in the city centre. Although average precipitation and humidity during summer is low, there are infrequent yet heavy and often violent storms. During spring and autumn, temperatures vary between 18-22°C, and precipitation during this time tends to be higher than in summer, with more frequent yet milder periods of rain.

Law and government

Administration

The Bucharest City Hall

Bucharest has a unique status in Romanian administration, since it is the only municipality that is not part of a county. Its population, however, is larger than that of any Romanian county, and hence the power of the Bucharest General City Hall (Primăria Generală), which is the city's local government body, is about the same as, if not greater than, that of Romanian county councils.

The city government is headed by a General Mayor (Primar General), currently (as of 2006) Adriean Videanu. Decisions are approved and discussed by the General Council (Consiliu General) made up of 55 elected councillors. Furthermore, the city is divided into six administrative sectors (sectoare), each of which has their own 27-seat sectorial council, town hall and mayor. The powers of local government over a certain area are therefore shared by the Bucharest City Hall and the local sectorial councils with little or no overlapping of authority. The general rule is that the main City Hall is responsible for citywide utilities such as the water system, the transport system and the main boulevards, while sectorial town halls manage the contact between individuals and the local government, secondary streets, parks, schools and cleaning services.

The six administrative sectors of Bucharest

The six sectors are numbered from one to six and are disposed radially so that each one has under its administration an area of the city center. They are numbered clockwise and are further divided into districts without any form of administration (cartiere):

• Sector 1: Băneasa, Pipera, Floreasca
• Sector 2: Pantelimon, Colentina, Iancului, Muncii, Tei
• Sector 3: Vitan, Dudeşti, Titan, Centrul Civic
• Sector 4: Berceni, Olteniţei, Văcăreşti
• Sector 5: Rahova, Ferentari, Cotroceni
• Sector 6: Giuleşti, Drumul Taberei, Militari, Crângaşi

Like all other local councils in Romania, the Bucharest sectorial councils, the city's General Council and the mayors are elected every four years by the population. Additionally, Bucharest has a prefect, who is appointed by Romania's central government. The prefect is not allowed to be a member of a political party. The prefect's role is to represent the national government at local level, acting as a liaison and facilitating the implementation of National Development Plans and governing programmes at local level. The current prefect of Bucharest (as of 2006) is Mioara Mantale.

The Municipality of Bucharest, along with the surrounding Ilfov county, forms the Bucharest development region, which is equivalent to NUTS-II regions in the European Union and is used by the European Union and the Romanian Government for statistical analysis and regional development. The Bucharest development region is not, however, an administrative entity.

Justice system

Bucharest's judicial system is similar to that of the Romanian counties. Each of the six sectors has their own local tribunal, while appeals from these tribunals' verdicts, and more serious cases, are directed to the Bucharest Court of Appeals, the city's municipal court. Bucharest is also home to Romania's supreme court, the High Court of Cassation and Justice, as well as other national courts such as the Constitutional Court of Romania and the National Military Tribunal.

Bucharest has its own municipal police force, the Bucharest Police (Poliţia Bucureşti), which is responsible for policing of crime within the whole city, and operates a number of special divisions. The Bucharest Police are headquartered on Ştefan cel Mare Blvd in the city centre, and has a number of precincts throughout the city. From 2004 onwards, each sector City Hall also has under its administration a Community Police force (Poliţia Comunitară), dealing with local community issues. Bucharest also houses the General Inspectorate of the Gendarmerie and the General Inspectorate of the National Police.

Crime

Bucharest's crime rate is rather low in comparison to other European capital cities, with the number of total offences declining by 51% between 2000 and 2004^[7]. In particular, levels of violent crime remain very low, with 24 murders and 1069 other violent offences taking place in 2004.^[7] Although there have been a number of recent police crackdowns on organised crime gangs, such as the Cămătaru clan, organised crime generally has a reduced impact on public life. Petty crime, however, is more common, particularly in the form of pickpocketing, which occurs mainly on the city's public transport network. Additionally, confidence tricks such as the Maradona scam are sometimes common, especially in regards to tourists, even though the frequency of these tricks has declined in recent years. Levels of crime are higher in the southern districts of the city, particularly in Ferentari, a socially-disadvantaged area mainly inhabited by people of Roma ethnicity.

Although the presence of street children was a problem in Bucharest in the 1990s, their numbers have declined significantly in recent years, currently lying at or below the average of major European capital cities. The same is true for beggars and homeless people, many of them from the disadvantaged Roma minority. However, there are still an estimated 1,000 street children in the city,^[8] many of whom engage in petty crime and begging. There has also been speculation that the street children are recruited by professional underground networks for criminal purposes. From 2000 onwards, Bucharest has seen an increase in illegal road races which occur mainly at night in the city's outskirts or on industrial sites.

A significant problem in the city remains institutional corruption, which is seen as the most important justice-and-law related problem in the city. While corruption in Romania has declined in recent years due to various government efforts, Bucharest's level of institutional corruption remains somewhat higher than the Romanian average.