On October 27, YABLOKO leader Sergei Mitrokhin participated
in the socio-political forum Moscow Perspectives organized
by the Democratic Choice party. Other reports on the prospects
of Moscow development were made by representatives of the
Moscow Mayor Office, political parties, as well as research
centres and business associations.
Vladimir Milov, organizer of the Forum and leader of the Democratic
Choice party, told about the need to involve Moscow residents
in the solution of the different tasks. Milov stated that
municipalities lacked real power and bureaucratisation of
the city prevented development of small and medium businesses
and, consequently, the middle class the major contributor
to the city budget. According to Milov, there is a need of
a dialogue between the society and experts with the city administration
so that to create a strategy of Moscow development. "Moscow
can set the right direction to the rest of Russia", said
Vladimir Milov.
YABLOKO leader Sergei Mitrokhin developed Milovs idea on
the need of political reforms in Moscow. He noted that Moscow
laws on municipalities proxies and the laws on the use of
land and construction should be improved. "It is impossible
to develop the city, if we even do not know how far the buildings
should stay from each other. Even the ancient Rome had such
rules! " he noted. Mitrokhin also added that Moscow and
St. Petersburg were the two cities that even did not have
direct mayoral elections.
"The Moscow government in Moscow should create a platform
for a dialogue with the public about the development of the
city. Public hearings are a good method here. But the chief
architect of the city and Sergei Sobyanin [the Moscow Mayor]
government apparently believe that Muscovites are not ready
for this and do not conduct hearings on the most important
issues of Moscow development, " Mitrokhin stressed.
According to Mitrokhin, the focus should not just be laid
on Moscow, but also on the neighboring cities - because their
development is interconnected. He believes that it is necessary
to create a cross-regional joint commissions for the positive
development of the cities.
The future for Moscow, according to Sergei Mitrokhin, is in
innovation, and innovative technologies should be applied
to the urban environment.
Anderi Sharonov, Deputy Moscow Mayor, told about the structure
of the budget and the development strategies for the coming
years. He noted that development of public transport would
be one of the priorities for the coming years. The Moscow
budget will allot RUR 400 billion for this in 2013.
Deputy Mayor also expressed his hope to improve the international
image of the city. Also he added that a key task for the city
government should be promotion of a favourable investment
climate in Moscow. Moscow should attract large international
corporations gradually become an international financial center.
Sergei Mitrokhin said that city development strategy should
be based primarily on the legal framework, which officials
try to bypass in realization of their plans. Mitrokhin asked
Sharonov about the General Plan of Moscow Development YABLOKO
had opposed. The Deputy Mayor agreed that, despite the fact
that, the General Plan should be the main document for the
city development, the Moscow Government also could not agree
to the wrong concepts lying in the basis of the Plan (such
as in-fill housing construction) and added that the government
had been developing an alternative document.
See also:
Housing
and Utilities Sector
Protection
of Environment
YABLOKO
Against Corruption
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