My colleagues and I regret the missed chance for Sofia. This is how the municipal councilor from "Save Sofia" Andrey Zografski commented on the events of the last week and the party's withdrawal from Mayor Vasil Terziev.
"We entered this union with great ambitions, great hope. We gave up a lot. As a party, we probably made the biggest compromise of all, because Sofia has been our focus for more than 10 years. We finally had to show what we can do and what our priorities are. This is exactly one of the biggest criticisms of Mayor Terziev – that he is cowardly, that he does not listen to the priorities of his partners, despite the signed coalition agreement and sometimes some of his actions seemed like outright sabotage, "Zografski told Radio Sofia.
He gave an example of the idea of "Save Sofia" to create a new municipal enterprise for street markings. According to Zografski, the report never reached the Sofia Municipal Council for consideration.
"Mr. Terziev refused to make a statement on it for more than six months and in the end Sofia is without markings, just because of one statement by the mayor," explained the municipal councilor.
According to Andrey Zografski, "Save Sofia" has not received understanding from Mayor Vasil Terziev about the radical change that the capital needs.
"We have not known each other since yesterday. He knows our election program very well. If he didn't agree with it, he shouldn't have sought our support. In the coming months, until the end of the political season, which is summer, we have set ourselves five major goals. In the field of transport, the biggest one is to pass the parking reform, with a red zone, with an exceptional reduction in official subscriptions, measures that will relieve the city", Andrey Zografski pointed out.
He added that next week the group of "Save Sofia" will submit a report with a proposal to double the construction permit in the capital.
In his words, street markings should be implemented by the municipality, since in his opinion, this is the cheaper and more operational option.
"We want to change the parking conditions so that these revenues can be used to finance a special program for the construction of parking lots, for which there is currently no money and in the 2025 Budget, the word "parking" does not appear. These are some systemic problems of Sofia, which we tried to solve internally," the municipal councilor from "Save Sofia" pointed out.
In his words, the idea of removing the director of the Sofia "Metropolitan" Eng. Stoyan Bratoev is included in the agenda of the meeting of the Board of Directors.
"I see two motives in this. First, he, knowing the field so well, cannot be pushed with inflated prices and fixed matches. The second is direct sabotage against the new management. They want to collapse in 3 minutes, something that has been built for 30 years," insisted Andrey Zografski.