The Supreme Administrative Court of Ukraine has cancelled the decision of the Administrative Court of Appeal to ban building in Peizazhna Alley. Thus, the “fairy” garden and alley, favorite places of the Kiyvites and city visitors, are endangered again. The decision of the court has satisfied the desire of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to build there (in the buffer zone of Sophia Kyivska which is the object of the UNESCO World Heritage) a high-rise. The community is getting ready to protect once again not only Peizazhna Alley that has become a trademark of the city but their right for living in the comfortable aesthetic environment. Ironically, the environment created by the Kyivites should be permanently protected from the state.
“This decision of the court proves that the authorities do not understand the top priority need which is normal urban environment. They understand the problem of pensions and gas but do not realize that people have a need for a comfortable aesthetic environment. The authorities think that these are whims, commercial interests and political provocations, and not natural and basic people’s needs,” Ihor LUTSENKO, head of the NGO “Zberezhemo Stary Kyiv” [Let’s Save Old Kyiv. – Ed.] explained to The Day. In his opinion, this case demonstrates that in Ukraine there is no supremacy of law, laws are not observed and people’s comfort is not valued.
Oleksandr BRYHYNETS, head of the permanent commission for culture and tourism at the Kyiv City Council commented on this situation to The Day: “You should pay attention to the fact that the court has decided not to pull down, say, a khrushchevka in an unaesthetic location but practically destroy one of the most beautiful places in Kyiv created by the Kyivites without any support from the local authorities.” He emphasized that this decision was “absolutely provocative” and it proves that “Kyiv authorities are unable to protect Kyivites’ interests since the authorities make part of the general system of power and protect the interests of the higher echelons of power.”
“We will continue protesting and will organize street actions soon. We are also going to protect this sculpture park 24 hours a day since there is a risk that they will start ruining something there. And, of course, we will continue fighting in court,” Ihor Lutsenko enumerated the further actions of Kyiv defenders. In his turn, Bryhynets is sure that the community will manage to protect Peizazhna Alley once again; however, another question is if it has enough forces and inspiration to protect other threatened cultural sites.
“Certainly, the community will manage to protect this alley. However, it is regrettable that they will have to concentrate their forces and attention on protecting Peizazhna Alley instead of continuing the battle for other places. I have an impression that the local authorities are trying to create so many ‘hot points’ in Kyiv so that the Kyivites did not know what to protect and had a feeling that everything is falling down,” Bryhynets summed up.
