Plan to relocate 1.6 million Muscovites turns middle-class Russians into protesters

[Pedestrian]

By David Filipov June 10 at 6:00 PM

MOSCOW — . . . 1.6 million Muscovites who could be affected by a city plan to demolish their Soviet-era apartment buildings and replace them with modern high-rises. Moscow authorities say the old buildings are beyond repair and that this massive urban relocation will bring much-needed improvements to city housing.

But to thousands of residents . . . the plan amounts to a violation of their rights to own property and to choose where to live . . . .

They’ve held street protests that have brought out thousands. They’ve used social media to organize a campaign to keep their homes and have bombarded lawmakers with letters. A crowd of them locked arms and chanted “Shame!” outside Russia’s lower house of parliament Friday as lawmakers gave preliminary approval to the project. Many opponents plan to join a nationwide protest Monday, called by anti-corruption crusader Alexei Navalny . . . .

The city, which is calling its program a “renovation,” has published plans detailing the advantages of the new buildings over ones slated to be torn down. In an interview with the official TASS news agency Tuesday, Sobyanin said 90 percent of residents support the plan.

Opponents think the number of supporters is lower; they don’t trust authorities to be honest about that. According to the draft law, the city will decide where the displaced owners will live and promises only to provide each owner a new apartment of equal size. There will be no extra compensation for money that owners have spent improving their homes.

Lawmakers on Friday amended the law to allow residents to choose cash payments instead of new homes, but the opponents do not trust officials to value their homes fairly. The State Duma, the lower house of parliament, has added guarantees that the new apartments will be in the same neighborhood, but opponents see the plan as a trick to move residents from central neighborhoods to distant peripheries. The legislators said the program, which will take 15 to 20 years to complete, will start with buildings in the worst condition.

Duma speaker Vyacheslav Volodin, a former senior aide to Putin, said before the vote that the amendments should “eliminate the friction.”

Opponents were not buying it.

“If they gave me money to buy the same apartment with the same repairs I’ve made, in the same neighborhood, I might go along with it,” Guggenberger said. “But they are just taking my hard-earned property. How long will I have to work to get back to owning a place I love where I want to live?”

Even people who support the relocation are concerned that the new housing will be of cheaper quality . . . . Many of the five-story buildings slated for demolition are made of brick, which Muscovites see as better-quality construction than the massive concrete block structures being built to replace them . . . .

Meanwhile, the city is allowing residents to vote on whether their buildings will be torn down, but the voting will end Thursday, just one day after the Duma is slated to give its final approval to the law . . . .

“We know why the city wants our land,” said one protester, who gave only her first name, Tatyana. “It’s valuable for developers.”

. . . Some news reports have suggested that the mayor was genuinely surprised by the reaction to what he figured would be a welcome initiative . . . .

https://www.washingtonpost.com/world...=.2bf119334fb6

[ssiguy]

As if Czar Putin could careless what they think.