Waiting for vim

On Monday, entrepreneurs of three shopping complexes near the Staraya Derevnya metro station tried to file a petition to the governor to defend their right to rent them.

Let us remind you that the petitioners built three shopping complexes at their own expense near the Staraya Derevnya metro station. But one day, as usual, their land lease was not renewed. Moreover, on March 17, a government order was issued leasing the land to the Moscow company Gruppa Engineering LLC, which first wanted to build a parking lot with a hotel there, and now seems to intend to build an agricultural market. It’s just not clear why, since there is still a market there. Entrepreneurs are demanding that the resolution of March 17 be canceled and either extend their lease term, or put the land up for auction so that they can fairly compete for the territory in which they have invested a lot of effort and money. They contacted the prosecutor’s office about this (they expect a response by June 1), and they wanted to approach Valentina Matvienko with the same demands.
By nine on Monday morning sixty people had arrived at Smolny. Thirty of them even managed to get into the building's lobby - until the security realized what was happening. But the intercessors’ plan did not work: they intended to intercept Valentina Ivanovna at the entrance upon arrival at work, and she, apparently, arrived at the service in advance.
At first they tried to deal with the entrepreneurs using the police - but gently. Indeed, do not arrange a crackdown literally on the threshold of sacred chambers. And when the petitioners did not give in, a parliamentarian was sent to them.
By noon, the deputy head of the Economic Development Committee, Dmitry Kobitsky, came out to the businessmen who had staged a sit-in meeting in the lobby of Smolny. And he promised!
“Dmitry Arkadyevich told us that no one would touch our complexes until October 1, and also suggested meeting with the initiative group after June 1, when the prosecutor’s office will make a decision,” says Elena Masyagina, coordinator of the “Our Right” trade union of entrepreneurs. “It was an oral statement, not supported by any papers. Of course, we are not happy with this solution, but at least we can now hope that we will not discover, when we come to work one morning, that the complexes are surrounded by a blue fence.

Andrzej BELOWRANIN