Residents of Kapištec have once again come out to protest the loud music from the bars in their neighbourhood - a problem they've been dragging along for years, with no solution in sight. Centar mayor Goran Gerasimovski came to the meeting too, heard the demands, and also admitted something you don't often hear from an official: that the municipality cannot solve this on its own.

"We are continuously dealing with the noise problem in Kapištec. We launched an initiative with residents and asked all the responsible institutions to take part. Unfortunately, despite several coordination meetings, we haven't received adequate support on the ground," Gerasimovski said. In other words - the problem is clear, the jurisdiction is split, and the result falls through exactly where the responsibilities cross.

The municipality lists what it has done: regular inspections and fines within its powers, digital noise meters installed at several locations, a citizens' initiative reaching up to the ministries, and an app in preparation that will allow noise to be tracked in real time through a GIS platform. It sounds like a lot - but residents who haven't slept weekend after weekend for ten years measure it differently.

The citizens' demands are concrete: more police in the evening and night hours, action against the takeover of public space, and an end to the rampage of the patrons. None of that is impossible - all of it requires only that someone take on the responsibility instead of passing it along. The question left hanging over Kapištec is as old as the problem itself: when jurisdiction is split between the municipality, the police and the ministries, who in the end answers to the citizen who can't fall asleep?