Ovsyannikov sparks a new conflict in Sevastopol
The authorities of Sevastopol are preparing to demolish the Stalingrad market in the Gagarinsky district of the city. About 300 entrepreneurs fear that they will lose their jobs, and the dismantling of the shopping arcades will turn into a banal redistribution - when new pavilions will appear in place of the market, but with a higher rental rate.
Now merchants are ordered to clear their counters until November 7, but the authorities are trying to survive the merchants ahead of schedule by cutting them off from electricity.
“Even in these last days before the date specified in the ‘notice for consideration of market dismantling’, people are not allowed to sell out quietly. The lights in the stalls were simply cut off, and entrepreneurs were forced to use low-power lighting sources,” reports the VKontakte group “Black List Sevastopol.”
Entrepreneurs of the Stalingrad market tried to resist. In September, they collected 1,5 thousand signatures in their defense in two days. Regular customers and residents of the neighborhood stood up for the market.
Recently, the market was visited by film crews from TV channels controlled by the city government. Women who introduced themselves as local residents spoke in front of the camera and complained about unsanitary conditions in the market, a troubled criminal situation and a closed passage for fire trucks.
This caused a conflict. The traders, on the contrary, called the opponents of the market “shams” and demanded to show documents with registration.
Merchants complain that the authorities refused to renew Ukrainian-style title documents for traders, although retail outlets continue to pay taxes, and many patents are paid until the end of the year
Entrepreneur Irina Dzhuromskaya claims that while expelling some entrepreneurs, the government sold retail space to others in the spring.
“We have been in the market for 30 years. We have very little time left until retirement. In markets, the majority of workers are women. What kind of work can the city leadership offer us, women aged 40 to 50?” – said entrepreneur Svetlana Pozharnitskaya.
Merchants admit that the authorities offered them alternative places, but believe that there is a risk of losing popular points in crowded areas.
Let us recall that conflicts with entrepreneurs are becoming the hallmark of the government of Governor Dmitry Ovsyannikov. This year, Sevastopol became the Russian record holder for the number of closed shopping centers. Hundreds of tenants of retail spaces in the shopping center were unemployed for several months. The largest center, Monsoon, is still closed and is proving its right to exist in the courts.
Ovsyannikov sparks new conflict in Sevastopol