Opposition claims Bucharest mayor’s project will “mutilate” downtown park Cismigiu

While pretending to "restore" the famous downtown park Cismigiu, Bucharest City Hall wants to cut down dozens of secular trees, planted even before World War II, and, in their place, build kiosks, former culture minister Vlad Alexandrescu, a senator of opposition party Save Romania Union (USR), accused, according to Wall-street.ro.

Bucharest mayor Gabriela Firea advocated and saw passed by the City Council on July 31 a project aimed at “restoring” Cismigiu park under a EUR 10 million project.

“Firea wants to mutilate a park that is a historical monument of international importance. Over the past 150 years we have managed to conserve the park, built in the XIX century by landscape architect Karl Fr. Wilhelm Meyer, one of the best landscapers who has worked in Romania. Neither the Communists nor the real estate sharks after '89 touched it, although they wanted to. We managed to keep it pretty good until this lady came in and wanted to turn the park into a bazaar,” Alexandrescu argued.

All the members of the opposition party USR voted against this project in the City Council meeting. Documents published by media indicate 16 new locations for commercial spaces, under the “restored” form of the park.

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