CITY ON AUTOPILOT

POWER AND PEOPLE

Three years have passed since the Russian legislators, at the suggestion of the presidential administration, decided to bring power closer to the people and make it, power, accessible and controlled, and they, the people, responsible and active - for this they launched a reform ...

Three years have passed since the Russian legislators, at the suggestion of the presidential administration, decided to bring power closer to the people and make it, the power, accessible and controlled, and they, the people, responsible and active - for this they launched a reform of local self-government. Following the European example, they dared to transfer some of the powers down the vertical, create local government where it never existed, and teach them to “govern themselves”.

Last year, new municipal authorities were elected in most regions. This year it became clear that no one would be allowed to "self-govern", and then the most daring took to the streets. As, for example, in Shchelkovo near Moscow.

On Sunday, February 12, a rally was held on the main square of the city of Shchelkovo. Under the walls of the administration building, at the feet of the bronze Lenin, the most revolutionary part of the population gathered: 200 people, the average age is 65 years.

- Oh, the youth did not come out. And my daughter says to me: “Don’t go, they’ll take you to the police.”

- How long can you be silent and sit in the kitchen ?! And so everything was taken away, so they still want.

Grandmothers crowded together, grandfathers, leaning on sticks, clenched their fists. The organizers stretched out a poster: "Ozerov, hold on!".

Nikolai Ozerov, elected last September as the new mayor of Shchelkovo, is the son of local landmark and Russian celebrity sports commentator and people's artist Nikolai Ozerov. Ozerov Jr. is the very case when pro-government candidates are suddenly overtaken by an unplanned one in elections.

“The district administration was absolutely sure that he would leave the race even before the elections on some lawsuit of his competitors. Therefore, they were not ready for his victory, ”the Ozero team is now saying. They were not so ready that on the night after the voting, when the victory of the objectionable became obvious, the members of the electoral committee simply threw their ballots to the mercy of fate and went home. True, they were still forced to count the votes then.

But maybe the authorities would have come to terms with the son of the landmark if the new mayor had fit into the built-in system. But he began to ask questions about authority.

The heads of the new municipalities, elected in the autumn, went to the polls, counting on one power authority, but received completely different ones. Nothing has changed since then. There was no budget before, and there is none now. For each work - for example, street lighting - an estimate is drawn up, the money is provided by the district. Having taken their places, the leaders shrug their shoulders: “Why should we, if practically nothing depends on us? ..”.

“We don’t even know what the city has today. The property is not transferred to the city even for use, let alone ownership. Although, according to federal law, everything that is located on the territory of the city must be its property, starting with the boiler house and ending with the stadium! It's just that the land near Moscow is very expensive, but not everything has been divided, distributed and privatized yet ... - says Ozerov. “Even for garbage collection, neither cars nor containers were handed over to the city ...

In January, due to inconsistencies in the law, which at first allowed holding two elective positions at the same time (Ozerov, in addition to the city of Shchelkovo, also headed the village of Zagoryansky), then prohibited, and then no longer prohibited those who managed to be elected by that time, Nikolai Ozerov, according to a statement Election Commission, was removed by the court from the post of mayor. And on February 1, he was kicked out of the administration building. In response, Ozerov filed a cassation and moved into the room of the only Ivushka hotel in the city. A couple of days later, the hotel decided to poison the cockroaches and asked to vacate the premises.

— Nikolai Nikolayevich, if they don’t restore you now, we will elect you again, in the fall. Do you know that your leaflets are collected in heaps around the city and thrown into the trash? says a vigilant supporter of the ousted mayor at the rally.

But Ozerov does not even “control” the dumps now, while the trial continues. He says that while he is being reinstated, everything in the city may be in private ownership. And who promised that they would really share power? ..

Help "New"

Local authorities were allowed to take care of the garbage and the cemetery

Until 2009, when the law on local self-government comes into full force, each subject of the Federation has the right to independently determine how much and at what pace to transfer powers to localities. Of the 27 powers prescribed in the federal law, the Moscow Region at first decided to give up a dozen, but then agreed to 18. True, even they turned out to be fundamentally changed. For example, instead of "ownership" of property - "free use". Instead of "organization of construction" - "participation in the organization", etc.

In addition, they entrusted: the prevention of emergencies, the creation of conditions for the provision of transport services, communication services, trade, library services, for leisure activities, the organization of the collection and removal of household waste and garbage, the organization of ritual services and the maintenance of burial sites, landscaping and some others .

In order for the powers to be carried out in full, agreements must be concluded on them with the district administration, which lowers money from above. In some areas, no agreement has yet been concluded with the municipalities.