THE MAYOR STOPPED THE WHOLE OF ASTRAKHAN

INVESTIGATIONS

As is known, a double standard still reigns among the broad masses of the people. On the one hand, they do not like businessmen in unison - even small ones. Just because they have money, albeit small, but they don’t like it anyway. However, this too...

As is known, a double standard still reigns among the broad masses of the people. On the one hand, they do not like businessmen in unison - even small ones. Just because they have money, albeit small, but they don’t like it anyway. However, and this is secondly, if in the immediate area around you there are not several shops to choose from, but cafes, ice cream shops, and laundry ... in general, the entire service sector that makes our everyday life more comfortable, then people are very indignant: they say, business just bring oil.

On this wave, it is extremely convenient for the authorities to engage in robbery of "world-eaters". In Astrakhan, they achieved stunning heights in this.

Bath

Antonina Vyacheslavovna Boldyreva is the mistress of a small bathhouse "Neptune" on the outskirts of Astrakhan, in a microdistrict called "Stalin's factory area". These words reflect both the truth of today and lies. There is no plant - the area remains. But everything in it is like under Stalin: there are no amenities, and people wash in Boldyreva's bathhouse twice a week. 8 rub. 50 kop. And you are finally clean. There is no other bathhouse in the microdistrict - all the rest are far away, you won’t run into them.

In December last year, a new government came to Astrakhan - Mayor Sergei Bozhenov and the people who helped him become mayor. Soon, the director of the Boldyreva bathhouse received a notification that the rent was rising from 2,300 rubles to 129,000. 56 times. Multiply 8.50 by 56 - and you can put an end to the cleanliness of the body of the “Stalin plant area”. For what? What is the point? After all, it is beneficial for the mayor to improve the life of his people: then they will vote for him again, and there is no way to return people to the living conditions of their great-grandmothers - in this case, no one else will follow him?

An interesting moment: twisting the head of the bath - and increasing the rent by 56 times means only the destruction of the Neptune - the mayor's office offered to agree "in an amicable way." The rent will remain almost the same if you sign off all the property of the bathhouse - primarily the boiler room, and this is the main property of Boldyreva, the heart of the bathhouse - the mayor's office ...

Unsubscribe - in the sense of give. What was it? It was a racket. Small business was offered to become an appendage that financially feeds power - Big Daddy, kiss his ring and bring prey to his feet. Even a tiny, bath-laundry room.

However, perhaps the meaning of this absurd rental racket, destroying small businesses, is that someone liked this unsightly and unprestigious business itself - and Boldyreva was simply asked to leave without things?

No. House "Neptune" on the outskirts, decrepit. Those who want to wash the population unnoticed - this is not black Caspian caviar.

- This is not expulsion, but just a way to get money. Now, this minute, - Antonina Vyacheslavovna is sure. - And at least the grass does not grow then.

However, the example of Neptune is only one of thousands. Exactly, thousands. Almost the first step of the new mayor's office was the cancellation of more than three thousand previously existing lease agreements for non-residential premises. As well as the introduction of an out-of-court procedure for terminating lease agreements under the slogan “the need to withdraw premises for state and municipal needs” (paragraph 13 of the “Regulations on leasing ...”, adopted by the city council). First of all, this affected the owners-tenants of small shops, cafes, restaurants, which give the city not only comfort, but also more than 15 thousand jobs. What else can any city head pray for?.. Moreover, in the city where unemployment is already growing (in 2004 by 25 percent compared to 2003, information from the city statistics office) ...

A few words about legitimacy

There are no accidents. And if the government behaves like a robot programmed to destroy the surrounding reality, and does not stop at anything, at any arguments, it means that only by calculating the algorithm, you can understand what kind of devilry is around.

So, the mayor of Bozhenov is not just a robot, but a transforming robot. This is salt. The people of Astrakhan did not elect their mayor Bozhenov. They voted last December only for the chairman of the city council - the speaker, relatively speaking, the "Queen of England" of Astrakhan. And later, the "queen" herself was transformed into the manager of financial and property flows. It was so - and it must be said that the history of the modern electoral question in this city is very curious.

A year ago, in August 2004, a new version of the city charter was adopted in Astrakhan in full compliance with the norms of the federal law "On the general principles of organizing local self-government in the Russian Federation" (the law was adopted on January 6, 2003). According to this version of the charter, on December 5, 2004, both 35 deputies of the city council and the mayor of the city were elected - according to the charter, he is a member of the council and is its chairman.

According to the same charter, the city council appoints the head of the administration (that is, the head of the executive branch with the authority to manage finances and property, select heads of departments and committees, etc., etc.) on a contract and competitive basis. That is, according to the charter, the head of the executive branch of Astrakhan is a hired manager of the city.

A very good rule. If not for our tradition of perverting the good forever. And do it with brilliance. Do not live by the law, but chew it, spitting out the excess, leaving everything sweet to yourself. Personally.

Immediately after the elections, literally in the next few days, the new mayor filed a lawsuit with the Kirovsky District Court of Astrakhan to cancel the new version of the charter, according to which he was elected. The Kirov District Court at a sprint speed said: yes, I cancel. And the very next morning, the city council, by its decision, again put the old charter into effect, and the mayor, elected as speaker, was immediately transformed into the head of the executive city administration.

Yes, a lawsuit began, the prosecutor's office began to challenge this devilry, on February 4 this year, the regional court even canceled the decision of the Kirovsky District Court, and the mayor again became the "queen" ... But a week later, on February 10, the city council confirmed the operation of the charter, which allowed to combine the executive and legislative positions. And that means that the mayor again became both the chairman of the council and the head of the executive branch. And in April, structural changes were carried out in this new-old mayor's office, according to which the committee on property, the city land committee, and the financial department - key divisions - were completely subordinated personally to the mayor.

But all the same, the courts and protests of the prosecutor's office continue. The power of Bozhenov can stop in an instant, and everything that is cute will disappear. And it will only be necessary to quickly run to the nearest border. Or swim.

It is from here that special temporary work that the new-old team demonstrates. Milking the city as the meaning of being in power.

- There is only one policy - to sell stores as soon as possible, - confirms Alexander Mikhailov, head of the trade union Trade Unity. For example, I don't have a shop. I rent. They kick me out (terminate the contract) - they sell me to another - the top is removed. All. All politics.

— But, does it mean that the solvency of the Astrakhan business is high? Someone buys the store as soon as you get kicked out, right? For the amount assigned by the mayor's office? And, perhaps, this is just a redistribution in favor of a stronger competitor?

“There is no such money inside the city. Cash is coming to us today, primarily from Ingushetia.

- But still, Astrakhan is fish and caviar. Well-known articles of local poaching, which are not even dreamed of in Ingushetia. There is also black cash here.

- Industrial fishing in Astrakhan is virtually non-existent. And you can’t get away with poachers - non-industrial fishing does not give such money that they can influence the distribution of city property. Ingush uncontrolled cash is our reality today. This money is a way to kick us out, the small business of Astrakhan, who worked here until December 2004. Therefore, there is no interest in us. There is no need to agree with us on the principles of coexistence.

Is the final close?

Here is a list of recent losses. In a short time, the Astrakhan pawnshop was liquidated - the oldest institution in the city, founded and built by merchants. It was liquidated, despite the profitability (about 350 people used its services daily). The House of Officers came under the control of A. Pashaev, a close friend of the mayor and one of the richest people in Astrakhan, now a State Duma deputy. In the process of moving out of the historical building, the oldest polyclinic named after Pirogov. Several municipal markets resold. And the fight against tenants takes on quite bizarre forms - vocational education.

On Ulyanov Street, in the very center, a mansion stretched out not a mansion, but something in the style of a shopping arcade. Beautiful house. It has been in it for many decades at vocational schools - the famous Astrakhan "two", now Technical School No. 2. There is a competition in it. Education in it is prestigious, because the specialties - navigators of the river fleet, mechanics of the refrigerated fleet - are in demand and almost one hundred percent job security after graduation is guaranteed.

As you know, we have announced another education reform, only now it is somewhat stupidly called "optimization". And so, when the academic year was already over, the director of the "two" received an order from the regional Minister of Education Viktor Gutman to liquidate in order to "optimize". The latter, as it turned out, consisted in the destruction of the best for the sake of weaning one of the best buildings in the city center in favor of the municipal bosom. 385 students who left for practice, teachers became hostages of this foolishness - their future is unknown.

A similar story is with the Palace of Creativity for Children and Youth on Krasnaya Embankment (it has the status of a “state educational institution” - status-immunity), with the 44th lodging in a monument building of the 19th century. For six decades, about a thousand children have been attending the palace every year. And it's free - and today, too. Excellent teachers, children's creative teams - winners of a huge number of awards and competitions ... Result (evaluate the style): "... the administration of the city of Astrakhan takes into account the importance and need for organizing leisure activities for children and youth, what your institution does, but is forced to offer you on time until May 10, 2005, to vacate all the premises at the above address.” Signature - Mayor S.A. Bozhenov. No. 03-450.

“It is absolutely clear that the so-called “overhaul” was invented to free the building for another bank or casino,” the palace teachers and parents of pupils wrote to the State Duma. “So it turns out that the mayor, whom we elected with the hope of productive solutions, decided to solve his personal problems at the expense of children and teachers ...”.

Was it possible to negotiate with the mayor? Don't crash? Certainly. In this our bureaucracy is a virtuoso. Now those times when all gangsters have learned to turn beautifully. The mayor and the city council, by their decisions (“Regulations on the calculation of rent for the use of non-residential municipal fund objects” dated March 15, 2005), established rules for when it is possible to agree - they are called the scale of the “special reduction coefficient” of rent. Naturally, everything on this scale is approximate, non-specific, and therefore very convenient for an official. Which is what was required. I want - I will set a strongly reducing coefficient. I want minimal. Hundreds of times everyone in their native country has written and said that vagueness is contraindicated for us: corruption is spreading like the flu in the off-season, but with consequences like gonorrhea in a pioneer camp.

Finally, a series of letters flew to Putin - I will cite one from the trade union Trade Unity. Under it are almost four thousand signatures of entrepreneurs of the Astrakhan region. This policy (meaning the policy of Mayor Bozhenov. - A.P.), the letter says, “will lead to a massive release of jobs. These persons (the mayor's entourage. - A.P.), having destroyed the entire economic potential of the city, region, today are trying to destroy what is still working ... Such management of the city and region leads to a further social explosion, the destruction of the region's economy and small business, and the situation the population will become even more impoverished and slavish... The Regional Committee of the Trade Union of Trade, Public Catering and Entrepreneurship Workers appeals to you with a request to immediately consider the current situation in the Astrakhan region...

Today, the city leadership does not make contact with public representatives who are concerned about social tension in society ... The situation of the population in the region is deplorable, small businesses are on the verge of collapse, municipal enterprises are falling apart and going bankrupt ...

We appeal to you about the introduction of direct presidential rule... Due to deep indignation and disregard for the needs of Astrakhan residents, against the endless increase in tariffs for utilities, many months of salary delays for public sector employees...”.

The first letter was followed by the second. After the second - the third ... As a result, everyone went back to the mayor's office. When Putin recently stopped by Astrakhan on his way to vacation, small businessmen tried to break through to his body, but this was impossible even by swimming when Putin was fishing. All paths were cut off. The noble body firmly held the defense "from the negative." And Putin himself did not seem to want to get upset.

The policy of the vertical is deeply flawed, not even because this inefficient Soviet tracing paper leads to economic collapse. But because it relies precisely on temporary work in management and, therefore, lays the TNT equivalent precisely for the stability and progressive development. And only the latter allows people to feel confident. After all, if in the same Astrakhan - potentially the richest commercial city with strong merchant traditions - every advancing mayor's office will produce such perturbations, then this city will fall. He will suffocate in the vertical loop.