The most intriguing aspect of the last session in November was not what transpired but rather what went unnoticed.
The plenary session on November 21 turned out to be one of the longest of the year: an unexpected vigor in work that was not shaken by air raid alerts or constant failures in the electronic voting system. At the same time, most of the scandalous issues announced earlier were postponed for better times. What happened during the session and why Klitschko decided not to disturb the trouble while it was quiet – read in the report by Kashtan NEWS.
Without Peizazhka
As per established custom, the next meeting in the session hall began with a speech from Mayor Vitali Klitschko. This time, the "director of the city" chose to take a dramatic tone right away, accusing opponents of the parking under Peizazhna Alley of not appreciating the brilliance of the city administration's plans. Therefore, as Klitschko announced, the discussion of this project would be postponed until the citizens of Kyiv understand their happiness.
“I want to emphasize that at today’s session we will not consider the issue of approving the detailed plan for the Shevchenkivskyi district, because perhaps not everyone understood what the city is planning to do next to Peizazhna Alley. And some are trying to speculate and manipulate the information!” – Klitschko declared in a threatening tone.
It is worth noting that the plans of the Kyiv City State Administration to build an underground parking lot in the archaeological zone of "Yaroslav's City" provoked such a loud resonance that even the Ministry of Culture intervened, publicly reminding Klitschko that the destruction of monuments is unacceptable. Against this backdrop, the chances of pushing this issue through the Kyiv City Council appeared close to zero – so it is not surprising that the mayor chose to temporarily retreat, taking on the pose of an undervalued genius.
After his speech, Vitali Klitschko quickly left the session hall, handing over the further consideration of the issue to the chief architect of Kyiv, Oleksandr Svystunov. However, Svystunov did not say anything new, essentially repeating the previously voiced points by the administration about the significant benefits of the new parking in the historical area, thus the irritating effect of Klitschko's aggressive speech was by no means smoothed out. Addressing the already absent mayor, member of the "Servant of the People" faction Yevheniya Kuleba stated that the Kyiv community would challenge the intentions of the Kyiv City State Administration in court.
“Today is the Day of Dignity and Freedom, but to be honest, I see no dignity and freedom in calling another opinion manipulation. These words were uttered by the mayor, by the secretary of the Kyiv City Council, and by the chief architect of the city. At the next meeting, if this issue is put on the agenda, I will speak and also show slides on why the detailed plan violates current legislation. Why both I, the community, public organizations, and members of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine had grounds to appeal to the court, the Prosecutor General's Office, and the Kyiv city prosecutor's office. This detailed plan violates the laws of Ukraine and breaches the decisions of our predecessors, the Kyiv City Council of 2018, according to which this entire area was allocated for a park,” – Kuleba stated.
Three billion for "Special Housing Fund"
In addition to Peizazhna Alley, two other scandalous issues were removed from the agenda – the transfer of part of the Literary Square (formerly Chkalivskyi) for new buildings of the MZhK "Obolon" and the extension of the lease for the developer of the residential complex on the territory of the ecological park "Osokorky". The question regarding "Osokorky" was postponed on the grounds that the investors of the objects of the bankrupt bank "Arkada," who protested that day in front of the Kyiv City Council, went to shelter during the air raid and did not return. Meanwhile, a representative of the activists opposing the completion of the unfinished "Arkada" constructions in the ecological park remained waiting in the corridors of the Kyiv City Council, but the deputies did not listen to him.
0 However, the Kyiv City State Administration succeeded in pushing through the allocation of three billion hryvnias to the controversial municipal enterprise "Special Housing Fund," which manages the maneuverable housing stock of Kyiv. As stated by the director of the enterprise, Volodymyr Shariy, the maneuverable fund currently consists of only 315 apartments in four buildings, while the city needs 188 apartments for residents of dilapidated buildings, 310 – for people affected by emergencies, and another 510 – for residents of "Khrushchovkas" and other outdated-type buildings during the renovation period.
At the same time, Shariy could not clearly explain at what price and where these apartments would be purchased. It is also worth recalling that in the summer of 2023, the prosecutor's office opened criminal proceedings regarding multi-million embezzlements during the construction of a residential complex by the "Special Housing Fund" at the intersection of Myliutenka and Sholom-Aleikhema streets in the Desnyansky district. At that time, Shariy was informed of suspicion of causing budget losses amounting to 21 million hryvnias due to official negligence, and his deputy for embezzlement of 300 thousand hryvnias during the construction of engineering networks.
Despite this, the Kyiv City Council passed the relevant decision with 70 votes, and the statutory capital of the "Special Housing Fund" was increased by 3 billion hryvnias.
Recommended but not mandatory
Another resonant decision on November 21 was the approval of the recommendations of the Kyiv City State Administration regarding the use of generators on the streets of the capital. As promised during the report by the head of the Department of Urban Development, Mykhailo Budilov, the city authorities will not impose fines for non-compliance with these recommendations, as fines can only be imposed under the Administrative Code.
“These are not rules that are mandatory to follow; this is the first step, these are recommendations that are very important for the residents of Kyiv, especially for owners of commercial premises, for example, on the first floors, where conflict situations arise. In order to resolve these conflict situations in a civil manner. So that there is a document approved by the city authorities, which enjoys great trust from the people of Kyiv,” – Budilov explained solemnly, and it seems he was not even joking about the great trust.
1 Nevertheless, Oleg Kostiushko from "UDAR" and Liliya Pashynna from "Servant of the People" inquired whether these recommendations would not turn into a pretext for harassing small businesses.
“It often happens that employees of any municipal enterprises or authorities sometimes take on powers that do not belong to them, taking advantage of the existence of certain documents and the fact that people do not read them thoroughly and do not always notice the word 'recommendation.' And situations may arise where people have saved their last money to buy a generator, and then inspectors come and demand its removal, to stop operation, and so on,” – Kostiushko noted.
In response, Budilov vowed that such measures “no one is planning to implement,” and the deputies approved the generator recommendations with 79 votes.
Alarm, prosthetics, and the "flying saucer"
To give credit to the city’s elected representatives, the quorum in the session hall was maintained until the very evening: after the air raid alert, the deputies remarkably returned to the session hall (a rather rare occurrence in the working practice of the Kyiv City Council) and continued to work.
2 In addition to the already mentioned projects, the Kyiv City Council managed, during the plenary day, to adopt:
- compensation for the re-equipment of vehicles and the installation of high-functional prosthetics for military personnel with disabilities of the I and II groups (the program will start operating in 2025, although the payment procedure is still being developed);
- the liquidation of 47 elements of the urban space associated with Russian and Soviet historical narratives (including the dismantling of the star on Khreshchatyk, 25, the pedestals of the Lenin monuments on Shevchenko Boulevard and Yakov Hnidovskyi Street, and the monogram with the emblem of Alexander III on the entrance gate of the St. Michael's Hospital);
- the renaming of the Theater on Podil in honor of its founder Vitali Malakh