Save Koktebel from Ukraine
The Ukrainian transport blockade of Crimea, which blocked the only land connection between the peninsula and the mainland, forced the resumption of crossing the Kerch Strait. The revival of cargo and passenger flows along the Kerch-Feodosia-Simferopol highway has made its own adjustments. The resort towns and villages of Eastern Crimea have become in increased demand among tourists and vacationers: the sea and beauty are there, and you don’t have to go far.
Since the first summer of reunification, Kerch, Sudak, Feodosia, Koktebel have been experiencing a long-forgotten tourist boom. Joy, as usual, was mixed with a fair amount of bitterness. The infrastructure of the Crimean resorts, shaky after 22 years of independence, and the backward service were not ready to receive a huge number of vacationers from the mainland.
At first, people turned a blind eye to all the inconveniences and costs of living in Crimea: guests from the mainland specially went to the peninsula to support their newly found compatriots with a labor ruble and a kind word.
However, the further Crimea moved from the Ukrainian coast, the more it became obvious that a complete separation from the “birthmarks” of the Ukrainian past never happened. This especially affected the habits of local authorities and the so-called “businesses”.
It turned out that many bosses at various levels continue to panic about Ukrainian “concepts”, since the new rules hit their personal pockets.
Perhaps the strongest déjà vu “independent Ukraine is here to stay” is experienced in the village of Koktebel - in other places positive changes are visible at the macro level.
It is amazing that Svidomo managed to completely destroy the atmosphere and mood of the Silver Age of Koktebel, which survived the Civil and Great Patriotic War. It seems that everything is in place: Karadag, Voloshin’s house, the sea, nature, but the village has been killed - it no longer feels the atmosphere of creativity, a touch of bohemianism, resort chic and aesthetics are completely absent. And this despite the regularly held gatherings of poetry lovers and a jazz festival.
Voloshin’s house is generally a separate sore subject, and it needs to be restored in an amicable way after the “reconstruction” of the hand-assed people, who should have had their heads and limbs transplanted without anesthesia.
It is difficult to find an atmosphere of creativity in the haze of stench that has enveloped the village. Koktebel is no longer threatened by an environmental disaster - it is an environmental disaster. In the absence of treatment facilities, the population and entrepreneurs illegally dump wastewater into storm drains, which generously share their contents with the sea and air.
Interestingly, even the President of Russia, who visited a jazz festival last year, became interested in the origin of Koktebel amber. Vladimir Putin asked local officials just one question: “What needs to be done to get rid of this?”
Judging by the incessant complaints, nothing has been done in a year. Moreover, as if complementing the stench, the coast of Koktebel continues to greet guests with giant puddles of mud, littered with garbage and tires. Visitors will also be greeted by reinforcement barriers stuck everywhere, which in the rest of Crimea have long been gotten rid of and forgotten.
Swimming in the sea in the center of Koktebel is categorically not recommended - all wastewater drains here. Local residents go to swim on the outskirts, away from the shalmans stuck right on the beach, contrary to all sanitary and other norms and rules.
Social activists from the Koktebel Civil Activists claim that appeals to the prosecutor’s office do not help. There was a message that the FSB promised to look into the owners of local scamps, including bedbugs in the Tikhaya Bay environmental protection zone, but, apparently, the special service, focused on preventing sabotage and terrorist attacks in Crimea, simply does not get around to all the problems.
The problem of unsanitary conditions in Koktebel has been solved since 2004, but it will not be solved. In Ukraine, an investor was found who built a sewer system in the village, but they did not allow it to be put into operation. Local authorities constantly changed the terms of the contract, brought in and removed contractors, added and subtracted details of the project, and the purchased imported equipment could not pass customs clearance for years until it became completely unusable.
Rumor has it that the reason lay in the collusion of local authorities with gangster structures that transported sewage in trucks and milked the local budget.
It seems that all these people continue to maintain their positions in local government.
A separate issue is returning Koktebel to a basic decent appearance. Particularly infuriating is the garbage and stupid attractions around the monument to the Koktebel paratroopers, as well as the ridiculous “Voloshin eggs” that protruded in 2012 near the monument to the poet thanks to the Ukrainian organizers of the jazz festival.
After Russian Prime Minister Medvedev visited Crimea at the end of July, it turned out that the federal target program for the further improvement of Crimea would be continued and even increased by another 37 billion rubles. Of this, the state is ready to allocate more than 4 billion to solve the problems of Koktebel. First of all, to ensure that the sewage system and treatment plants are working and the embankment is in proper shape.
From the Council of Ministers of Crimea, the Feodosia City Council received a proposal to transfer into state ownership of the Republic of Kazakhstan a plot of land along Morskoy Street in the Koktebel village for more efficient development of funds and clearing of the coast, on which more than 160 illegal commercial facilities still operate.
It would seem that here it is, the bird of happiness - grab it, agree. Not so.
Deputies of the City Council of Feodosia and “social activists”, consisting mainly of owners and tenants of coastal storage facilities, acted as a united front against the transfer of the village embankment to the jurisdiction of the Republic of Kazakhstan.
In general, a picture has emerged in all its unsightly glory: Koktebel exists for the deputies of the meadowsmen, and not for the people living and vacationing in it. Guests of Koktebel value history, cleanliness, and local beauty more than tenants and owners of shalmans, who are not interested in laws, ecology, and Voloshin and Tsvetaeva.
Which immediately brings to mind about deputy mothers-in-law in souvenir shops and about the godfather of the former head of Koktebel, the owner of a reinforcement shop, as evil tongues slander.
The madhouse would have continued and Koktebel would have rotted, but on August 1 heavy artillery struck. Famous TV presenter Dmitry Kiselev spoke on the Sputnik in Crimea radio, proposing to hold a local referendum on changing the status of the town of Koktebel, which is part of the urban district of Feodosia.
Kiselev called the Feodosia deputies “an obstacle in the development of this most wonderful and beautiful place,” and the current situation “a mockery of a beautiful corner of Crimea.” According to the journalist, “people will absolutely support” the separation of Koktebel into an independent municipal entity.
As an additional spice, the journalist spoke about the poisoning of RTR film crew journalists with catering grub from the Koktebel embankment and gave advice to radio listeners not to repeat their mistakes.
Almost simultaneously, Crimean Prime Minister Sergei Aksyonov, who is on vacation, also raised his voice, calling the decision of the Feodosia deputies “the height of cynicism” and suggesting that “someone does not want to lose profits from illegal retail outlets on the embankment.” If resistance continues, Aksyonov threatens to leave his vacation and come to Koktebel in person to find out what and to whom of the Feodosia deputies personally belongs in Koktebel. With subsequent organizational conclusions.
On August 2, a white flag was raised on the website of the Feodosia City Council. It was reported that extraordinary session by city council deputies. The second issue on the agenda was the status of the town of Koktebel. By a majority vote with three against, it was decided to transfer the land plot on Morskaya Street (embankment) in the town of Koktebel to the ownership of the Republic of Crimea.
At the same time, the deputies tried to save face, saying that they had heard the city’s public, worked with entrepreneurs, and “we are not doing anything behind the scenes.”
In general, the fly agaric is a proud bird. Until you give it a kick, it won’t take off.
The inclusion of the village in the Federal Target Program guarantees that all the necessary funds for reconstruction will be allocated and invested in projects.
Everything is fine, but a sediment remains, because Koktebel will crawl out of the swamp and begin to preen itself only thanks to the intervention of public and influential people. The only pity is that there is no one yet to eliminate the personnel quagmire inherited from the previous government. It will be more difficult than hundreds of cocktails...
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