Lots of drinking and a significant loss of younger population that went to study elsewhere and never returned. A sad sight.

The environment is much better, though. The air is mostly clean, while it smelled like burnt tires in my childhood.

Sorry to hear that! Haven’t made it to Ostrava yet, but traveled a fair bit around Czechia - amazing country and people.

The worst phase was probably around 1998. It is slowly getting better. We have some interesting architectural projects, for example.

Also, neighboring Poland has undergone an economic boom in the last 30 years, and the network of connections between the region around Ostrava and Poland is becoming very helpful to the local economy.