The rulers of the Municipality of Nicosia bid us farewell by dumping a few more tons of concrete on our lives and altering one of the most beautiful landmarks within the Walled City.
At its penultimate session (its last in essence, as the next will be a mere formality), the outgoing municipal council ensured it gave its consent for the works at the Faneromeni School to proceed.
The works concern the construction of a three-storey building in the school’s backyard to accommodate the needs of the University of Cyprus’s School of Architecture, which, as decided, will be relocated there.
There are numerous issues surrounding this disastrous scandal (for a scandal it is). However, let us confine ourselves here to the outgoing council’s haste in licensing the project just before passing the baton to the new council.
The session took place on Thursday, 13 June. Constantinos Yiorkadjis had already left and was not present, with the chairmanship being assumed by the outgoing deputy mayor, Christos Iosif. The new deputy mayor, Chrysanthos Fakas, although present at the session, departed before the vote.
And the proposal was carried out with 13 votes in favour, 3 against, and 3 abstentions. Can a matter of such significance be decided by a council that is on its way out?
In effect, without a mayor or deputy mayor, since the current one is leaving, and the incoming one exited before casting his vote. Can 13 people seal the fate of such a historic building?
They may be legally entitled to do so. But is it morally right for them to make such a decision at the very end of their term?
To implement the plan devised by the archbishopric offices, the exit of the underground car park beneath the school’s yard will be eliminated.
Thus, entry and exit will be via Aischylou Street. But can such a narrow road cope with the new demands?
Another issue is the static load capacity of the car park’s ceiling. Can it support the weight of the building to be constructed above it, or will they eventually have to close the car park?
And if they do, where will students, visitors, and staff of the School park in a city already choking with traffic?
When the time comes to answer these questions in practice, the 13 decision-makers won’t be at the Municipality to provide answers. The only one who will be there is Fakas, who can claim, “Something came up, and I had to leave before the vote.”
The new mayor, Charalambos Prountzos, will have to provide the answers. Let him not tell us, like the archbishop, “I’m just enforcing a decision I inherited.”