Without cars, part of “Hristo G. Danov” becomes a pedestrian zone

The proposal to turn “Hristo G. Danov” street into a pedestrian street in the section from the intersection with “Betoven” street to “Ruski” boulevard turned from a serious topic into an attempt to belittle the case and stifle the discussion. It even got to the point where advisers exchanged meaningful remarks, some of which bordered on insult. In the end, the majority accepted the proposal with 31 votes “for”, 9 “against” and 10 “abstentions”, transmits Plovdiv24.bg.

As is known, at today’s session of the Plovdiv municipal council, the proposal of the mayor of the “Central” district, Georgi Stamenov, to limit the traffic flow in the section in question is being discussed. The item was included last on the agenda, but due to the importance of the topic and the presence of residents in the area, it was moved forward. Citizens express concerns about putting the cart before the horse.

“The RK of SAB and KAB are in solidarity with the concerns of the citizens. The OUP does not envisage “Hr. G. Danov” is pedestrianized, traffic will also be affected on the neighboring streets “Dr. Genadiev” and “Al. Exarch”, as well as access to the Youth Center. The proposal is not the result of a thorough study, but a momentary thought of the administration. Plovdiv is not an open-air museum, but a living city, and this requires a complex solution to the problems. We declare for shared use of the street with priority pedestrian traffic. The Mayor should take the necessary actions, including coordination with the NINKN, on the project,” said Arch. Kostadin Palazov from the BSP for Bulgaria group. He recalled that the UMP does not envisage this part of the street being pedestrianized.

Vesselina Alexandrova emphasized that the PP-DB group’s categorical policy is to set aside more pedestrian zones in the center, but pointed out that it is not within the competence of the OBS to decide which street is pedestrian. In the specific case, there is a mixing of executive and legislative power.

“We are testing public opinion through the Public Service, and this undermines the prestige of the Public Service. Road management is the job of the executive. Even if we assume that you want to test public opinion, we must have a project in front of us. The executive cannot use the legislative as a doormat,” Alexandrova said.

The PP-DB propose to entrust the mayor of the “Central” district to first prepare a project for a pedestrian zone in the section and to undertake the legal procedures to ensure access for cars, according to the regulations.

Yordan Iliev from GERB said that he was appalled by the position of the “green” councilors, who always declared for more green areas in Plovdiv and the expansion of pedestrian areas. He announced that the proposal of the mayor of “Centralen” is for the purpose of “testing the opinion of the citizens”. The words unleashed a series of retorts and retorts, with an overt bias toward shifting the subject.

“Our group is firmly in favor of pedestrian zones, we told the mayor as well. But this is your job and your responsibility (b.a. – the administration). If you have to issue this order, we will personally come to hold you hand to sign it, but we are in favor of observing the rules – first a draft, then a discussion in the Municipal Council” – responded Veselin Aleksandrova. Yordan Iliev tried to elegantly get out of the situation by saying: “It’s always nice when a beautiful woman holds your hand.”

Instead of calming down, the situation escalated into a war of words as a result, which was stopped by a speech by the mayor, Kostadin Dimitrov. He believes that the position for increasing pedestrian areas should be clearly stated and he pointed to the practice that the more the roads are widened, the more cars appear as an example.

You can watch the entire discussion in the attached video!