Local Community Council Park-Višnjik: Mandić illegally assigned parking spaces to individuals

(Patria) - In a letter sent to the Municipal Council (OV) Centar at the end of August by the Park-Višnjik Local Community (MZ) Council, signed by Council President Ilijaz Omerović, it is stated that the mayor of Centar Municipality is boycotting the work of this body.

"We learned the following these days: Mayor Mandić has ordered/suggested or similar to the municipal services to boycott the work of the Park-Višnjik MZ Council.

We were not surprised because the mayor's actions towards the Council and our activities resemble anything but a professional, democratic, and appropriate relationship, as defined in the Statute of Centar Municipality and other acts.

For these reasons, we are addressing the Municipal Council, as it is the body to which both the mayor and the municipal services report on their work," the letter states.

It is further emphasized that seven members of the Park-Višnjik MZ Council were elected, and that they are educated people with life and professional experience, whose work in the Council is legal.

At the beginning of their mandate, as they state, they defined three priorities in the area of this MZ: regulation of stationary traffic, security situation, and communal hygiene.



Parking Space

According to the opinion of the Park-Višnjik MZ Council, the Municipality has shown no interest in joint work on solving the parking space problem.

"Stationary traffic is the cancer of this part of Centar. All this time, we have made maximum efforts to alleviate it, but unfortunately without significant progress.

We received the news with optimism that the KS Assembly adopted the Amendments to the Decision on Regulating Stationary Traffic at its November session in 2023, by which it transferred authority to the municipalities to define and implement this area through their own acts," they said.

They also point out that the Municipality has not fulfilled its obligations, and that the mayor of Centar received a "group of citizens" from the area of this local community at the beginning of 2024 and "'assigned' them parking spaces with physical barriers".

"After that, the same group of citizens (the mayor of Centar) was received at the Municipality headquarters. Once again, for the third time in a row, the local community was bypassed.

This was a signal for us to request a meeting with the mayor on the topic: 'Assignment of parking spaces without adopting a legal act regulating this matter and without publishing a public call.'

Pure discrimination in the 21st century. In the next month or two, we repeated the same request, but no one from Mayor Mandić's office responded," the letter states.

The Council, as further stated, decided to contact the OV Centar after that.

"Safety primarily concerns schoolchildren and mothers with babies in strollers, the elderly, and disabled people, as most sidewalks are blocked by parked cars throughout the day.

In an attempt to resolve these issues, we also contacted the Centar Police Department, the Ministry of Internal Affairs, and the KS Government, but nothing concrete was done," the Council stated.

As for communal hygiene, they emphasize that it is "somewhat better compared to the previous period, but not satisfactory".

They regularly informed about this issue and sought help from both the municipal service and the JKP KS, but, as they state, "everyone had some excuse" and there were no results.



Illegal Construction

"Illegal construction, additions, and all other activities continue 'without problems'. There are also devastated and abandoned buildings, as well as the placement of kiosks on narrow sidewalks and green areas.

Of course, as members of the Council and at the suggestion of the residents, we warned the municipal services. Their answers - with a few exceptions - resembled anything but the answers of state officials from Centar Municipality.

This applies to the Green Traverse - the area from the Second Gymnasium to Pionirska dolina. Especially around the House of National Minorities and between the cemetery and the tennis court, both locations being on Patriotske lige street," they state.

In the end, the Council states that they will not allow anyone, "even the mayor", to act outside the laws and rules of this municipality.

"A clear example is from about 15 days ago when someone from the mayor's circle tried to intimidate us. We received a request from some lawyer for a correction of works and that his client complains that a fence was placed where he lives, Bolnička street no. 2 - the building is at least 10 meters away from the sidewalk - with the explanation that he cannot bring furniture into the building. Of course, that is not true," they said.

They also explained that they returned the act to the municipal services, and that this "unknown person" had already started building a street kiosk in January with the permission of the Municipality.

"He started working a few days ago. Whether he paid the monthly rent for the space should be checked by the responsible authority. The man has connections and can do whatever he wants," the letter adds.

Finally, the Municipal Council is invited to take note of the information provided, and it is emphasized that the Park-Višnjik MZ Council is among the "fierce opponents of illegal actions and primitivism".

(F.L.)