ArmInfo
Activities dedicated to the Child Protection Day were held in the Student Garden, Tuesday. It is noteworthy that the organizer was the "We are Our City's Owners" group created in Facebook. The group participants have been trying to save the Student Garden from construction of a cafe for over a month.
"The fact that despite the public protest the construction still continues means that the mayor's office ignores the Yerevan population's opinion. If the urban authorities listened to the public opinion, the construction would be immediately suspended until a consensus decision was taken",- Head of EcoLur NGO Inga Zarafyan said to ArmInfo correspondent.
"We see that the public use territories are rejected, and against this background one should consider in another aspect Mayor of Yerevan Gagik Beglaryan's statements that in case of suspension of the construction, the owners should receive compensation. It would more logical to suppose that one should pay compensation to the public that has been deprived of the given territory",- she stressed.
"Unfortunately, today the green zones of public use are still being built-up, and in this respect the Student Garden is quite illustrative. It was very unexpected for us that such fundamental construction might be launched here",- said Chairwoman of "For the sake of stable development" Association Karine Danielyan. At the same time, she expressed hope that the project of construction will be revised. "This problem caused a wide public response. I am happy that the youth has taken the relay and started an active fight. I think this is a guarantee of some results of our efforts",- said Danielyan. She also pointed out the plans on building up the Main Avenue among the arising problems of the city. "Here the matter concerns underground urbanization, but in this case trees are out of question, as they will be unable to grow", she said.
To recall, an open letter with a demand to stop the construction in the Student Garden was addressed to Armenian President Serzh Sargsyan in May 2010. Almost 20 thsd people signed the letter.
June 02, 2010