Lipscani October 2005

Lipscani: ‘Closed’

By Trudy Boos

October 2005

What to do, when your neighbours are packing up and leaving, when your own business is on its knees and the streets look less inviting than ever? We decided to undertake a little investigation, to see what the consequences of Bucharest’s historic centre since March.
We put together a questionnaire, with questions on turnover, access, safety, communication and ask the shopkeepers to compare between now and last year. With a team of active and optimistic people we visited as many shops as possible to obtain answers. We encountered inviting, friendly men and women, thankful we made the effort, but also angry, suspicious ones. Furious because they considered us not fast enough with solving their problems! Suspicious, because, “you’ll never know who will get this information”. And we also found shops that had already closed their doors, defeated by the terror tactics of Bucharest’s mayor, Adriean Videanu.

After counting the results of the 58 questionnaires we were shocked. This was the conclusion: compared with a year ago, 84 per cent of businesses are doing badly or very badly. Turnover had dropped 50 per cent on average. Eighty-five per cent of people were hugely inconvenienced by the fact that before 07.00 and after 09.00 cars are not allowed in – even cars of householders and shopkeepers. Forty-nine per cent of respondents had experienced security problems during the last six months. Many people (82 per cent) considered that security in the area was either unchanged or had worsened. Only 20 per cent expects the area to become vibrant five years from now, and none of them had been given any direct information from the authorities, concerning the so-called ‘renovations’ in the historic centre.

I can only conclude that no one in Lipscani has the slightest confidence in our mayor. After presenting these figures at our press conference, we were contacted by an employee of the city council. He invited some members to discuss ‘The Plan.’

What plan? This plan is made by a Canadian consultancy (HOK Planning Group & Pell Consultants) at the request of the Bucharest City council, paid for with funds from the Dutch government. The Canadian advice is sound and clear, the polar opposite to the strategy to close the centre. In short, the consultants state that although the zone suffers from traffic and ‘wild-parking’, to make it a pedestrian-only zone will have a negative effect on the revitalising process, and will harm the so-needed private investments. Investors will always look for lively city centres, and for that, a balance between car access and pedestrian zones is a prerequisite. Both are necessary.

So what happened to this plan, put forward by the Canadians, which the Bucharest authorities received on 27 April 2005? Has HOK’s advice been completely ignored? I do not underestimate the workload of the authorities. They must be so busy, working on all these important projects that will develop Bucharest into an attractive European capital. But please, spend some of your precious time to study the HOK-plan carefully. Trust their experience and advice. And implement it!

For all details about the questionnaire, the HOK-plan, and how to support AICI, go to www.aicibucuresti.ro