The City Council, together with Klitschko, at the service of grabber developers or citizens?

The meeting of the City Council on July 4 was a failure for the capital in the context of preserving green areas, natural sites and archaeological sites

Despite publicity among the public, numerous publications and petitions, deputies decided to extend lease agreements in three areas of the Goloseevsky district - in the tracts of Kitayev, Bolgarskoe and Samburki

The meeting of the Kyiv City Council on July 4 was a failure for the capital in the context of preserving green areas, natural sites and archaeological monuments. Despite publicity among the public, numerous publications and petitions, deputies decided to extend lease agreements in three sections of the Goloseevsky district - in the tracts of Kitayev, Bolgarskoe and Samburki

In addition, a detailed plan of the territories within the Goloseevsky district was approved, according to which the Lybid River risks being driven into a sewer for the sake of laying a new road on the surface. The decision was made taking into account the amendments. 70 deputies voted in favor

Kyiv murals and saving the Literary Square

At the beginning of the meeting, Kiev mayor Vitaliy Klitschko noted that one of the issues that will be given attention will be the streamlining of the placement of murals in Kyiv. As was noted on the mayor’s social networks, this is being done in order to “stop the chaotic nature of this process.” However, the further course of the meeting demonstrated that that the chaos was just beginning

The first pressing issue on the agenda was the division of the land plot where the Literary Square is located. According to the draft decision, the investor of the Obolon residential complex was supposed to carry out its reconstruction, which would make it possible for the illegal construction of a high-rise building between the streets of Mykhailo Kotsyubinsky, Oles Gonchar and Bohdan Khmelnytsky. This has been discussed repeatedly social activists and writers

This decision was already considered at a meeting of the City Council on May 30, but then there were not enough votes to adopt it, as the HONEST Movement previously wrote about. This time the draft decision was removed from the agenda, which, although it was a positive step in preserving the square, does not yet guarantee the cessation fight for this area

Political battles “Servant of the People” vs “European Solidarity”

And this time the meeting of the City Council could not take place without conflicts between factions. Let us recall that at the last meeting, as part of the vote for regulating the activities of LAFs in the capital with the “Prozorro.Sales” system, the deputies decided to add a number of humorous amendments that were never adopted

After the chairman of the Servant of the People faction, Andrei Vitrenko, proposed obliging MAFs to allocate 10% of their retail space for the sale of books in Ukrainian, a deputy of the European Solidarity faction and chairman of the commission on regulations, Leonid Yemets, noted that these books should be sets with speeches and addresses of Vladimir Zelensky

However, the conversation did not end - yesterday at the meeting Andrei Vitrenko again remembered the incident

“The chairman of the commission on rules and parliamentary ethics of the last meeting crossed all the red lines. He publicly spat in the face of the Ukrainian people, the Ukrainian people, who have been fighting the Russian invasion for three years. He publicly mocked the speeches of the Supreme Commander-in-Chief of a warring country to the people, to the people of a warring country.”

The demands put forward by Andrei Vitrenko on behalf of the entire faction were a public apology and the removal of Leonid Yemets from the post of chairman of the commission on issues of regulations

But Leonid Yemets himself, a few days before the meeting, published a statement on Facebook addressed to Alexander Turuntsev, the acting rector of the university. Boris Grinchenko, where the deputy himself is vice-rector. The author of the statement noted that the behavior of the deputy at the meeting on June 13 “forced the people of Kiev to overestimate him as a local politician, vice-rector of the university, a person and a citizen,” and also emphasized “the need to pay attention to his behavior of SBU employees.”

“Let’s be honest - they were just looking for a reason. A reason to shut the mouths of those who criticize the authorities. A reason to create a “United Marathon” in every local council, so that no one could criticize the authorities even for the most stupid and illegal proposals. So that everyone would obediently bow their heads and forget about their own opinion. and freedom,” Yemets noted in response to Vitrenko’s words and the previously mentioned statement

Leonid Yemets also proposed putting to a vote the question of no confidence in him. However, this proposal of the chairman of the regulatory commission is not provided for by the regulations themselves. After all, specific draft decisions or amendments to them can be put to a vote of the City Council

The Lybid River in the collector: construction of a new highway

The approval of a detailed plan for the territory in the Goloseevsky district attracted public attention back in 2019. According to this draft decision, the Lybid River along the railway tracks should be driven into a collector, and a highway should be laid on the surface. The territory plan covers the boundaries of Nikolai Mikhnovsky Boulevard, Bolshaya Vasilkovskaya, Evgeniy Konovalets, Vladimir-Lybedskaya, Kazimir Malevich and the railway in the Goloseevsky district

Deputy from the European Solidarity faction Victoria Ptashnik noted in her speech that the National Union of Architects made a number of comments on this draft decision. It is noteworthy that the so far non-factional Vladimir Yalova, who in 2020 was elected from the now banned party OPZZH, spoke in favor of adopting a detailed plan.

Activists have repeatedly emphasized that the territory plan itself and further development are carried out in the interests of the developer and co-owner of the KAN Development company Vagif Aliyev, who has been the honorary consul of the Russian Federation in Chernigov and the region since 2007. The company is now headed by Igor Nikonov, who until 2015 was the first deputy of Vitali Klitschko

The decision was made taking into account amendments, in particular the implementation of the petition “On recognition of the Lybid River valley as an environmental disaster zone” in terms of improvement and environmental improvement of the Lybid River basin. However, this does not at all guarantee that part of the river will not be driven into the collector in the future, as provided for in the plans DBT

70 deputies from all factions and non-factionals voted “for” this decision, except for representatives of the Servant of the People. Party deputy Ksenia Semenova noted after the meeting that the faction’s position was to “leave the meeting in protest.” At the same time, deputies Andrei continued to attend the meeting Vitrenko and Mikhail Konopelko, as evidenced by their further amendments to the following draft decisions

Kitaev, Bolgarskoe and Samburki: construction is solemn

The attention of citizens was also focused on the vote to extend the lease agreement in the Kitayev tract, which is a monument of national significance, because a settlement from the times of Rus' was located there, the remains of fortifications and several burial grounds were discovered

Among other decisions on the extension of the lease agreement for the Bolgarskoye and Samburki tracts, where in the period 1942-1943 there was a branch of the Nazi Syretsky concentration camp

The lease agreements were concluded with the Kyiv Vegetable Factory PJSC, and their completion date was July 30, 2024. Back in mid-April, a petition was registered demanding the termination of the agreements, which received 8,692 votes. However, the capital authorities did not support the petition, and the decision was made put to vote

On the day of the meeting, protesters gathered under the walls of the Kyiv City State Administration and demanded that the green areas located near the monument of national significance of China not be given over for development.

However, this did not stop the deputies of the Kyiv City Council from making the appropriate decisions. Despite the fact that the chairman of the European Solidarity faction, Vladimir Prokopiv, emphasized the importance of preserving the historical heritage and the Chinese tract, the EU faction itself cast 10 votes in favor of extending the lease agreement In total, the initiative was supported by 70 deputies