Press Release, 17.10.2019

Today, Yevgeny Bunimovich, Yabloko deputy of the Moscow City Duma and member of the Federal Political Committee of Yabloko, and an initiative group of residents brought to the Moscow Mayor’s Office signatures of Muscovites for preservation of the park and creation of a cultural centre in Khovrino  presenting Moscow with the goal of preserving the park and creating a socio-cultural centre instead of the former Khovrino hospital which was abandoned and then pulled down.

The Moscow authorities decided to build high-rise residential buildings on the waste land remaining on the site of the demolished hospital. Construction work has already begun. Local residents resist such a decision, as the load on the infrastructure of the district will be excessive. They turned to Yevgeny Bunimovich.

Bunimovich supported the residents in their plea. “Everything is already overcrowded there: schools, kindergartens and clinics. To say nothing about roads and parking places. A huge residential complex will simply crush this territory,” he said.

Bunimovich proposes to preserve the park in this place and create the Khovrinka social and cultural centre, because there are not enough public spaces in the district, and there is almost no leisure infrastructure for children and youth. The Khovrinka project was developed by the Design Unit 4 studio, and was presented to the expert community and residents who supported the initiative of Bunimovich. Over 15,000 residents  signed a letter in support of the project.

Bunimovich also handed of the Mayor’s Office his appeal to Sergei Sobyanin, the Moscow Mayor. The construction of multi-storey residential buildings on the site of the demolished Khovrinsky hospital is a “serious urban mistake,” runs the letter.

The General Plan of Moscow Development defines this site as a multifunctional park zone. The authorities neglected the demand to conduct public hearings when adopting the decision on construction.

Bunimovich demanded from the Moscow Mayor to stop construction works, revoke the decision on the construction of residential buildings on the site of the demolished hospital, and allocate funds for the park and the social and cultural centre.

“The construction complex is not used to talking with residents, but the situation needs to be changed,” Bunimovich said. The Moscow City Duma elections and the emergence of opposition factions in the Moscow City Duma, including the Yabloko faction, show that the authorities must talk to residents. My address to the Mayor of Moscow is about this: let us be in a dialogue, and listen to the residents when they propose what should be done in this territory”.