Citizens' associations exist to correct society. What is the effect of their frequent announcements about corruption and other illegalities all around us
In short, citizens' associations are the corrective of society. They exist to point out the anomalies around them and to warn about them. Unfortunately, they do not have the legal power or mandate to repair and change them directly. Competent institutions should look at the problem and error pointed out by citizens' associations, and correct it. However, they do so extremely rarely.
In practice, and on the example of the citizens' association "Naša mesna zajednica", it looks like this:
They were founded in order to use their "previous activist experiences and knowledge to help citizens in the fight against investor urbanism and corruption, return local communities to citizens, defend cultural heritage and improve public transportation," they told the "Vremena" portal.
First of all – corruption
They are not closely tied to any municipality, but to the city as a whole - and that is what distinguishes them from other associations. Also, they do not gather experts from different fields but use the knowledge and experience they have gained in practice through activist struggle. Everyone works on a voluntary basis.
"Almost all the problems we deal with are closely related to corruption, and the most obvious example is investor urbanism." When we analyze the urban plan, we do not only deal with the urban parameters and how the plans are not coordinated with each other, but we also deal with the analysis of the investors who are behind the development of some harmful plan or urban project and point out how the public interest is at risk", they explain in "Our local community".
Marko Stojcic
They state that, among other things, they "indicated the conflict of interests of the chief urban planner." Marko Stojčić to whom the Commission for Plans at the time when he was deputy president approved an urban project for the construction of a four-story building at Vladetina 22 on Palilula, for which one of his companies was an investor, and another company developed the urban project. After the merger of those companies and the transfer of property, Marko Stojčić, as their sole owner, also became the owner of six apartments at Vladetina 22".
They point out that in Belgrade there are numerous examples of corruption in urban planning, as well as the subordination of public interest to the interests of investors, and they cite several cases that they discovered and pointed out.
"Behind the detailed regulation plan that enabled the demolition of Hotel Jugoslavija is MV Investment, a daughter company of Milenijum Team. Then, Novi Beograd was left without a central one fire station complex in block 40 because the investor who built the station building of the railway station on Prokop Railway City doo is building a residential and business complex on that area. The spatial plan for Belgrade on the Water plans to build a tower up to 100m high in the area of the Belgrade Fair complex."
Are there any results?
They also pointed to the "abuse of local communities through the illegal appointment of their presidents and council members from the ranks of the ruling party, instead of announcing elections for local community councils where citizens would elect their representatives." Local communities should serve to implement direct democracy where citizens make decisions similar to students at plenums."
Unfortunately, the list of urban malfeasance they uncovered is too long: they discovered that the "Yugoslavia" hotel will be demolished, they pointed out that the underground garage at the Kalenić market has disappeared from the plan, the cutting of trees behind the Beo shopping center and on Košutnjak, various things about Belgrade on the water...
Has any of their actions been implemented, that is, is informing the public about new examples of corruption and various abuses at the same time all that the citizens' association can achieve?
It is by no means all, they say, although the results from the second group dominate - which could be expected in a country without laws.
They list that one of the successes is the fulfillment of the demands of the petition for park Belgrade garden on Zvezdara: it was achieved to start solving property-legal relations, which is "a step closer to ensuring that the park remains here". They say that they achieved this progress through joint actions with the citizens of Bregalnička and the surrounding streets.
Then, after their application to hotel in Zvezdara wall without a construction permit, the inspection stopped the works.
Also, they managed to increase bus line 34, which connects the railway station on Prokop with Senjak, with additional vehicles.
They believe that "citizens' associations have achieved great progress in the fight for the rights and freedoms of citizens through their activist activities."
"We established mutual trust with the citizens with whom we fought and jointly solved some problem, and we also have a good relationship and cooperation with other citizens' associations and informal groups of citizens such as 'Mirijevo zeleno i zdravo' and citizens from Block 63 in New Belgrade."
In a country that is only democratic on paper, they say in "Our local community", the only thing that must not be silent and passive.
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