Citizens rally on Facebook to decorate Romanian city for Christmas, as the authorities say they don't have enough money

The residents of Ploiesti, a city in Romania located some 60 km north of Bucharest, have decided to decorate the city themselves, as the local authorities haven’t installed yet the Christmas decorations and the city hall’s hasn't allotted enough money for this. The city’s residents talk about going out on the streets and decorating the city on a Facebook event page called Impreuna decoram Ploiestiul (We decorate Ploiesti together). Some 2,000 people are interested in attending the event scheduled for December 12. “Considering that the Ploiesti City Hall thinks that the city’s residents don’t deserve holidays organized as in previous year, the citizens have to show that they want different things: 1. Let’s go out starting Saturday, December 12, 15:00-17:00, to decorate the city’s center; 2. Each person will bring what he/she can (globes, tree installations, and so on); 3. We will decorate the trees together, with the objects you’ll bring. The City Hall should be ashamed for not decorating Ploiesti for the first time since 2000, arguing that it lacks the funds,” reads the Facebook event’s presentation. According to Mediafax, the Ploiesti City Hall allocated a budget of RON 200,000 for the festive lighting, but no company was interested in providing and installing the decorations for this low amount. Irina Popescu, irina.popescu@romania-insider.com