Chișinău underpass dispute: Council vs. Mayor
The condition of the pedestrian underpass on Ciuflea street in Chișinău after repair has become a source of dispute between PAS municipal councilors and the city mayor.
The local councilors say that two years after the pedestrian underpass was renovated, the walls have started showing visible signs of deterioration. PAS councilor Ion Melnic went to the site and removed terracotta tiles from the underpass walls. In response, City Hall filed a police complaint for vandalizing public property.
Also on Monday, councilor Ion Melnic filmed himself in another pedestrian underpass at the intersection of Dacia Boulevard and Teilor Street in the Botanica sector of the capital.
The municipal councilor's actions were criticized by City Hall officials, who called for law enforcement intervention.
"A cheap circus and actions that not only exceed the limits of common sense but likely also cross the bounds of the law. I can tell you that City Hall and the Centru sector pretura have always worked and will continue to work. As for the video, it's within the purview of Mr. Bolocan's colleagues and subsequently the police," stated the pretor of the Centru sector, Vadim Hîncu.
"We see that within the past week, in many sectors, there have been numerous activities that are part show and part an attempt to compromise City Hall's work. We need prudence regarding where we can and cannot install cameras, and how we collaborate with businesses. From that video, it seems clear to me that everything is clear," declared Mayor Ion Ceban.
While they welcome the local administration's attempts to improve the city's appearance, residents are dissatisfied with the quality of the work. They want durable repairs, not rush jobs done merely for public reports.
"They didn't work properly, they weren't diligent, they didn't put in the full effort to do the job."
"I'm not a builder, I can't give you technical details about it, but you can see it from afar – it's falling off, not long after it was installed."
"I'd like the city to be orderly, for everything to be in its place. I consider it a small oversight, because they didn't calculate properly – maybe they just didn't see this part through properly."
"It wasn't done very well. To be honest, everything is done this way nowadays – from cars to constructions."
"It's probably an error in the construction method. It should have a warranty lasting for years. We've seen it in Europe too – it lasts for hundreds of years."
There are 21 functional pedestrian underpasses in Chișinău, some of which have been renovated in recent years.
Translation by Iurie Tataru
