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The latter, by the way, also fuels passions: voting is only possible online, only for city residents, and it happens that patience is needed, because the system is broken. The mayor of the city, Vytautas Grubliauskas, does not rule out the possibility of expanding the survey on Monday, and promises to return to the issue of the Giruliai reserve after learning if the change of status of this place will not suspend the approval of the general plan presented by the City Council .
Residents are concerned
G.Ramašauskas, representative of the Giruliai community, does not hide that the residents are concerned about the fate of the Giruliai forest and the development of the Lithuanian railway plans. Although there is no definitive solution, it is feared that this is where the machinery begins to burst and the trees of the recreational forest loved by the villagers fall.
At the initiative of Nina Puteikienė, a policy of the development of the Pauostis railway in the Giruliai forest, and with the support of the council members, a survey was conducted on the Klaip delda municipality website for a couple of months. It is also receiving arrows of criticism: the system is blocked, only people in the city can vote, and Klaipėda residents living on the outskirts cannot express an opinion if they are not registered in the city, and the quarantine no longer provides the opportunity to express an opinion physically.
Photo by Julius Kalinskas / 15min / Amber Ramašauskas
“The people of Klaipeda are very concerned. Two months ago a survey was conducted. In the first month, that platform performed very badly, for a variety of reasons: it is the wrong browser, it is something else, there were many technical problems why not everyone could vote. I tried it myself at first, I couldn’t, but after a few days I succeeded. These problems have recurred. In the second month, when the vote was extended, many people complained that they did not allow the system to join, – said G. Ramašauskas, thanking the active youth for their help in starting the survey. – On the other hand, the issue of the fate of the Giruliai forest and the establishment of the reserve began to escape from the authorities of the It is not included in the council meeting for the second month, it is explained that the establishment of the Giruliai reserve will interfere with the approval of the general plan ”.
Expect active votes from Klaipeda residents
Council member Nina Puteikienė, who initiated the survey, urges Klaipėda residents to vote more actively and express their opinion on the fate of the Giruliai forest. If we can collect about 20 thousand signatures, that is, 15 percent. According to the opinions of registered urban residents, this issue should inevitably be addressed by the city council.
“The Local Autonomy Law provides an instrument to involve the population in decision-making: it is a survey. I have been a member of the council for six years, such an instrument has never been used, and it is a great pity. According to the Law In local government, the mayor is responsible for involving the population in decision-making. This is a great opportunity to check whether he represents the interests of the population or the interests of another person: his own or those of the party. politicians are very clear. The vote was announced at the end of September, then elections were held and then quarantined. At the beginning of the survey, it was possible to physically go to the municipality and express your opinion. The municipality did not do public this poll for some time. I took that publicity myself, but there was very little time. We have an extended interrogation, but the quarantine does not allow entry, I think it is a violation of rights, n or is it an equal interrogation. Of course, the opportunity to sign online is the act that requires the least effort on your part, ”said N. Puteikienė.
So far, some 8,500 Klaipeda residents have expressed their opinion in the survey.
The issue of the reservation is in the air
G.Ramašauskas says that the limited activity of the council members regarding the establishment of the Giruliai Reserve is worrying, and the excuses that such changes will hinder the approval of the general plan are null and void. The man has been actively representing the interests of the community by addressing the issues of the city and the port for several years.
“The situation is heating up, there are tensions among Klaipeda residents who are becoming dissatisfied with the slowness. The Council is limping with interpreting actions, publishing decisions. This is their job and we have to push to do what they want to do. the people of Klaipeda. The purpose is to establish a reserve. This would provide additional points for forest conservation when considering rail development alternatives. If the reserve status was granted prior to the environmental impact assessment and the choice of alternatives for the construction site, Giruliai would receive more positive points from the environmental point of view and during the socio-economic assessment, it would be difficult to explain why this site should be destroyed ”, said G. Ramašauskas.
The Council limps with the interpretation of actions, the publication of decisions. This is their job and we have to push to do what the people of Klaipeda want. The purpose is to establish a reserve.
Researchers from the University of Klaipeda have also laid out their motives for establishing the reserve. During the Festival of the Sea, Gintaras Neniškis, Director of the Klaipėda Municipal Administration, who signed a special plan that paves the way for the Lithuanian railways to realize their development ideas in Giruliai Forest, received 16,000 petition signatures and a scientific justification for the establishment of the reserve.
Inactivity
“I met with officials from the Ministry of the Environment to give a positive conclusion on the establishment of the reserve as soon as possible. In August, both the Ministry of Culture and the Environment wrote positive findings. Since the end of August, the municipality has done nothing to legally protect this forest. There are a lot of worrying messages and so on ”, Simonas Gentvilas, a member of the Seimas from Klaipėda, does not hide her disappointment.
He initiated a long-distance call this week between the State Spatial Planning Inspectorate and the Klaipeda City Municipality to find out if certain new steps to change the status of the territory would actually interfere with the approval of the city’s master plan.
The heads of the Construction Inspection see no problem as to why the municipality was unable to initiate planning procedures for the reserve. The master plan does not necessarily have to show that there is a reserve here. This is not a condition that cannot occur and does not preclude approval of the master plan. The decision is delayed for three months and is said to hamper the overall plan. It’s smoke in the eyes. Politically, I don’t see any excitement for the Klaipėda City Municipality to take over and build a reserve, given the way they coordinated this special Government plan. If in 1993 the city government had defended itself so apathetically against the establishment of an oil base, it would have been established. When the Būtingė terminal was planned in the Giruliai and Melnragė forests, the Klaipėda Municipality and active politicians actively opposed it and did their best not to do so. Now I don’t see any active action. On the contrary, the project is postponed for three months, which is the only way the Klaipėda municipality can take real and concrete action by establishing a reserve, ”said S. Gentvilas.
On the contrary, the project is postponed for three months, which is the only way the Klaipėda municipality can take real and concrete action by establishing a reserve, said S. Gentvilas.
According to him, although the development of the road is a project of national importance, the establishment of the reserve would give much more weight to the status of the Giruliai forest.
“If the municipality has named this forest as ordinary forest, the railways give a low score, but if there are two municipal-level reserves, such as Vilnius, Pavilniai and Verkiai reserves, which are municipal-level, then the status is different. and the forest is considered a valuable forest. I do not see any active action on the part of the municipality to do something concrete, without much concern with the press release, “said the politician.
According to him, what is most needed is not a population survey, which is a considerable challenge, but simply the active action of 31 councilors.
N.Puteikienė recalls that he has proposed to cancel the special plan signed by G.Neniškis in general, which will open the hands of the Lithuanian railways to widen the road in the Giruliai forest or to express their opposition to the Government’s resolution. The council members then decided to simply initiate amendments to the resolution and direct the matter to the Government.
Mayor: We will consider extending the survey
Mayor of Klaipeda Vytautas Grubliauskas 15 minutes He said he would discuss the possibility of extending the poll on Monday.
“First of all, many things have been merged into one: the study, the reservation and the development of the railway. Everything revolves around roughly the same space and roughly the same geography. Evaluating the moods, the events, the reactions of the last few days and, especially in the last council meeting, the outburst of passion and rain, I can say that I take this situation very seriously and with responsibility. I see some necessary steps that we will begin to take. As far as I am informed, how much knowledge and indications I have, there have been a number of cases of government gate stagnation, which definitely did not allow Klaip deda residents or people who declared a place to express their opinion precisely on the development of the railways. The formal interview period ends on Monday. I have ordered you to provide me with statistics on how many of those riots there were, if that is a fact, I will propose to extend the survey to Klaipeda residents again, perhaps until mid-December, so that there is no doubt that someone has left an opinion. I hope that the arguments and the evidence are serious, which will be the basis for extending this interview a second time, ”said the mayor.
According to V. Grubliauskas, regarding the issue of the reserve, the recent meetings, the coordination of specialists and the evaluations of the situation of the general plan have revealed new circumstances that allow us to hope that the issue can be sought to be taken up again at the next meeting of the advice. The mayor says he has instructed the administration to evaluate the possibility of developing an alternative council decision that “responds to all changes in circumstances and has a clear relationship to the city’s master plan, leaving no interpretation or manipulation.” .
“After considering all the circumstances, it will be possible to return to the subject. Let me remind you that this project was not rejected but postponed. Two-thirds of the council members voted in favor of the rejection. They lacked arguments that could make it difficult to adopt the master plan. You should not manipulate anyone with that, warm your passions artificially, I would suggest calming down, assessing the situation rationally, not emotionally, not inciting, but interpreting and explaining. I hope that by the new year we will find answers to those questions for which not yet we had an answer at the council meeting, ”said the mayor.
He assured that on Monday requests will be sent to all institutions to express their position on how such a decision on the botanical reserve may or may not affect the approval of the master plan. Once the responses are received, the next steps will be evaluated.
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