Chaly rocked the chair under the second governor of Sevastopol
A scandal erupted in Sevastopol, which in terms of tension is comparable to the protests against renovation in Moscow, and in terms of the level of coverage of the population is much larger. We are talking about the draft General Plan of the city. Its developers, specialists from the Research Institute of the General Plan of the City of Moscow, admitted that they changed the purpose of 40% of the land only within the agglomeration.
The changes will affect approximately a third of the population, because we are talking about large areas of private development right in the heart of Sevastopol and which are a kind of architectural feature of the city. Residents of the towns and settlements discovered that they were in a multi-storey development zone on the General Plan.
Another contingent of outraged people are gardeners and summer residents who learned that their cooperatives were located in environmental and green zones. Another significant group are members of garage cooperatives, which in Soviet times were built in every new microdistrict. The General Plan does not provide for garages at all. In addition to these three groups, there are other smaller ones who are offended.
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Popular indignation initially resulted in traditional forms of grumbling on public transport. Naturally, the city government burned down. But the guilt of the new party of officials who landed in Sevastopol last fall is not direct, but indirect.
The fact is that the main ideas of the general plan were formulated by Alexei Chaly, popular in Sevastopol, back in the summer of 2014 in his concept of city development, which became the election program of the team of the leader of the Russian Spring in the elections to the legislative assembly of Sevastopol.
In 2015, Chaly, using his own money, invited three groups of architects to develop the concept of the General Plan. In the middle of the year, they all took part in a government competition, and the Moscow institute won. To create a basic architectural document, 47 million rubles were allocated from the federal target program for the development of Crimea and Sevastopol.
According to the regulations, the developers had to report every month on the work done to the city government. Then there were people in it to whom Chaly declared a “personal vendetta”; they criticized Moscow architects. It was not just a matter of settling scores; the visiting specialists actually made mistakes, making bold plans either for the lands of the Ministry of Defense or for state farm vineyards.
At the end of July 2016, Chaly’s fight with Sergei Menyailo ended in victory. The unpopular governor was promoted to Siberia, and the new appointee Dmitry Ovsyannikov came under the influence of the Sevastopol “people's mayor” and at first made public statements that were completely in tune with Chaly’s concept.
Since the developers of the General Plan were brought into the city of Chalym, the new government ceased to control them. Moreover, it was difficult for other visitors to control the visitors. Neither one nor the other knew the city.
The time for the presentation of the General Plan to the people was approaching, when a black cat ran between Ovsyannikov and Chaly. The young leader suddenly began to establish contacts with city developers, Chaly’s enemies.
The media of the “people's mayor” switched to restrained criticism of the interim. The tone did not change when the General Plan was finally brought up for discussion. Suddenly, deputies, journalists and social activists controlled by Chaly began to speak out not for, but against the document inspired by the chief.
As a result, Ovsyannikov, who is in acting status and intends to confirm his right to governorship in the upcoming direct elections in September, found himself in the face of an angry city because of a document, the development of which he simply left to chance. The person he trusted set him up.
There is a version that the Russian government tried to correct the situation. Chaly’s ill-wishers claim that the Sevastopol politician was threatened with refusal to finance his secret project - the restructuring of the city’s energy system within the framework of the NTI EnergyNet program, for which Rossetti promised to allocate 8 billion rubles.
Be that as it may, a few hours before the start of public hearings on the General Plan, Chaly made a public statement that he was directly related to the scandalous document.
“You can throw tomatoes at me, but don’t be surprised if something comes back,” the “people’s mayor” threatened the townspeople.
Chaly argues that the private property rights of Sevastopol residents are inviolable, it’s just that at some point developers may knock on their door with a lucrative offer. He calls on his fellow citizens to think about the primacy of public benefit over their everyday life. “Without the adoption of the General Plan, Sevastopol will not be able to develop, young people will not come here,” Chaly said.
For the inert information space of Sevastopol, these statements came too late. At this time, people no longer watched TV, but gathered for public hearings. They took place in an atmosphere somewhat reminiscent of the popular uprising of February 2014.
People did not allow developers to speak. They were shouted at, slammed, and told to “go to Moscow.” The same thing happened with the deputies from “Chaly’s team”, who suddenly changed their paradigm and tried to defend the General Plan. Sometimes the discussion was interrupted by chanting and singing of the city anthem. At the same time, those gathered assured themselves and the journalists that they did not regret returning to Russia. Some even suggested that the hearings be classified so that they would not be found out in Ukraine and Europe.
As a result, the city government, United Russia and Ovsyanikov personally received an almost lethal dose of negativity. They were asked to leave after the developers of the General Plan. Until recently, the seemingly unconditional victory in the elections of a young manager sent from Moscow by the president is already in question.
Participants in the hearings did not remember Chaly’s last name.
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