Little politics

What did young municipal deputies achieve

Almost two years ago, a new generation of municipal deputies appeared in Moscow - young, energetic and independent. What did they manage to achieve during this time - the New Times found out

The campaigns with whom young deputies went to the polls in 2012

“Lived until 28 years old, googled and found out that there are municipal deputies,” Maxim Motin now recalls with a laugh about the beginning of his political career. Now he is 30, and he is almost two years as a deputy of the municipal assembly of the Pechatniki district. About him and four more young candidates, who had never previously engaged in politics, The New Times told on the eve of the March 2012 elections*. Three of five eventually broke through the system of candidates from United Russia and received places in municipal meetings: in addition to Motin, this is Vera Kichanova - in South Tushin and Maxim Katz - in Schukin.

What have they done since then? How does they work with deputies from the party in power? And are local residents guessing their existence? To answer these questions, The New Times correspondents met with deputies and visited the territories subordinate to them.

"Manager" from the industrial zone

Maxim Motin on the Olympic fire relay in Kursk, January 16

The printing area is a rather dull place. Panel battered houses. Roads - a patch on a patch. Cracking asphalt. The 47-year-old builder Vadim, who cleared his jeep of snow in one of the yards on Shosseyaya Street, answered the question about the problems of the district simply: “Terrible traffic jams. We are all waiting for the new road to be built. They have already promised for a long time. ” He does not know the deputies of his area. With difficulty, only Nikolai Shalimov remembered, because one of his acquaintances was friends with him.

At a bus stop on Kukhimisterov Street, the New Times managed to arrange a live discussion: the people complained about bad intercoms, “who break the drug addicts,” and about “flocks of homeless cats”, and even the municipal deputies themselves, who are “unknown.” Nobody could name names, however. “When they were elected, they were heard. And now - whoever remembers, ”a burly woman shrugged in a fur coat to the heel.

Finally, on Guryanov Street there was a housewife Tatyana of about thirty-five, who heard something about the dump of asphalt scoop: “It seems that one of our deputies spoke for its liquidation. Yes, this is Motin. Why I know - there was a landfill near us. ”

Maxim Motin also has other achievements about which the residents of the district surveyed by The New Times did not hear anything at all. For example, he discovered the “invisible” fountain, which local authorities “built” for 11 million rubles. “They created a commission, searched for a fountain. Not found. Everything is trite: they didn’t have time to build it before the cold, but for some reason they said that everything was done, ”said Motin. Another initiative is the collection of two thousand signatures under the requirement to discuss an alternative project for the construction of Dubler of Volgogradsky Prospekt (the very one that the builder Vadim is waiting for). “The project that is is outdated. According to him, the road should go very close to residential buildings. The architect lives in my neighborhood, he found a way to move the road 300 meters, ”the deputy explains.

Finally, the Big City magazine in December 2013 awarded the young deputy a prize for the “Project that changed Moscow”-he stopped the construction of an asphalt concrete plant on the territory of printers. True, the leader of the Yabloko party, Sergei Mitrokhin, claims exactly the same laurels.

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“They created a commission, searched for a fountain. Not found. Everything is trite: they didn’t have time to build it before the cold, but for some reason they said that everything was done ”

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Motin’s colleagues do not recognize his merits for the municipal assembly: at the end of last year, they published an open letter in the district media, in which they sarcastically called him “an effective managher”. The deputy of the district council of Schukino Viktor Vorotilov, a former district inspector, a member of United Russia - complained that Motin did not visit the meetings in a conversation with The New Times, and if he was visiting, he was late: “He is a populist. And now he only thinks about how to get into the Moscow City Duma. ”

Motin himself only shrugs: they say, what else is the Moscow City Duma. And he is looking forward to the opening of the Sochi Olympics: he even participated in the Olympic fire relay, fled with a torch in Kursk. However, he is also associated with winter games: he leads social programs in a large telecommunication company, which is an official partner of the Olympiad.

Urbanist with ties

Maxim Katz does not hide that he went into politics for the sake of ties and power

Residents of Schukino praise their area. Seven out of ten respondents said they were satisfied with everyone and live in a beautiful place. The rest complained about graffiti (there are really many of them), the ecology and poor snow cleaning.

Two recalled the 29-year-old deputy Maxim Katz. “Oh, we have some kind of curly young man. My son also told me that he is a gambler, ”in general, a pensioner and a former doctor Irina described quite accurately. “Well, this one, with a Jewish surname,” Stepan Fedorovich, a man of about forty -five in a Karakule cap, recalled tensely. “They say he kind of put us in the area in the area.” The rest from questions about local deputies dismissed: they say, we don’t know and we don’t want to know.

The New Times correspondent tried to get to a meeting of Schukino municipal deputies. After all, Katz, when he was elected two years ago, promised that he would arrange a “public flogging”. “He always leads here in crowds. Will you shoot too? And in general, we are recorded in three days, ”the employee of the municipality barked into the phone. “Yes, they come up with various prepositions to let only deputies. I started Twitter of the municipal assembly, I invite journalists and residents to meetings, ”Katz explains.

Having ranked to deputies, a professional poker player Maxim Katz honestly warned voters that the municipal assembly was a “completely meaningless organ”, and he needs a deputy to apply his knowledge of the urbanist, get connections and get into power. He received the connection and was satisfied with the work: “It became much easier to interact with the authorities, met Vice-mayors. I understand how the system works. ”

In 2012, Katz also got into the coordination council of the opposition, but soon disappointed and left it. Actively supported Alexei Navalny in the elections of the Moscow Mayor last year, played one of the key roles in his election headquarters. But in October, the associates quarreled. Schukinsky deputy called the bill on the change in the housing and communal services tariffs, which the Navalny team was going to introduce to the Moscow City Duma, a meaningless venture. In response, Navalny called Katsa stupid, and the lawyer Lyuboli, who was preparing the bill, wrote a rather tough post on social networks, doubting the competence of the deputy. Katz says that the supporters of Navalny simply do not accept any criticism: “They tried to merge me publicly, the sable, obviously, hinted at my bribery. They didn't work out. "

The Navalny team is now remembered without malice, they don’t want to talk about the conflict, but they admit that the relationship is now cool. The story with the law is not the only controversial moment. When Navalny in January 2014 published an investigation into the business interests of the vice-mayor of Moscow Maxim Liksutov, Katz called the accusations incorrect. He is friendly with Liksutov and believes that he "conducts important reforms for the city."

From his own achievements, the deputy allocates the installation in the region of 165 shops: “Everywhere the benches are in the squares, and we put along the sidewalks so that the elderly would be easier to move around the area.” At the first meeting in 2014, he was preparing to present two more initiatives: to extend the work of the metro and create 17 bicycle parking in the area. But the meeting did not hear these proposals - there was not enough time.

The New Times spoke with the chairman of the Schukin Council Zhanna Dukolazova, whom Katz has more than once sneezed in his “Live magazine”. Contrary to expectations, Vodolazova responded very flattering and even affectionately about him: “I believe that young people should be. Katz has positive ideas. The whole area is called the names of the heroes. He acted with the initiative to make memorial boards and signs with high -quality streets. His desire to make the city convenient for life must be supported in every possible way. ”

In September of this year, Katz plans to go “to establish connections” at a new level - as a deputy of the Moscow City Duma. On the basis of the City Projects Foundation, which he created in 2012 with a blogger Ilya Varlamov, a headquarters was established to promote independent candidates. The headquarters candidate is still one - Maxim Katz.

Tushinsky hipster

After two years of work in the municipality, Vera Kichanova wants to try his hand at the elections to the Moscow City Duma

In South Tushin, dogs are very fond of. Of the ten passers -by, five were said that the main trouble of the district is the reagents that are sprinkled with asphalt in winter. "Home dogs are poisoned!" - people were indignant. And one woman of about sixty even admitted that she wears her 12-kilogram dog in her arms. By the way, this woman was a school teacher of Vera Kichanova Lyudmila Vasilievna: “I know her perfectly. The child has been engaged in politics for a long time. And let him do. So I have not heard anything specific about her activities, but I’m sure that she is all right. ”

In addition to Lyudmila Vasilievna, another 26-year-old programmer Dmitry knows about Kichanova: “I like her articles, she is also a journalist. And about the area what to say ... There are so many united Russias in the municipal assembly. What can she do with them together? " Of the other deputies, the interviewed with difficulty, but recalled another oppositionist, Mikhail Peskov from the party "Democratic choice".

Kichanova is now 23 years old, she was elected to the deputies of the South Tushino district a 4th year student of the journalism faculty of Moscow State University. Since then, she graduated from the university, wrote a book about Pussy Riot and got married: her wedding went to the media under the heading “Hipster Wedding”. The deputy combines the duties of the deputy with work in the Internet publication Slon.ru, consists in an unregistered Liberian Party and, together with her husband, conducts walking excursions in Moscow.

“If I had not been elected, I would go to study abroad or on an internship,” Kichanova shrugs his hands. Instead, she studies the basics of bureaucracy: “No one will answer one request. It is necessary to send three or four at once and to different departments. When many complaints fall on them, someone is deprived of a bonus there-and then you can wait for the reaction. ”

“No one will answer one request. It is necessary to send several and to different departments at once. Then you can wait for the reaction "

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The New Times correspondent walked around the district with her. In one of the yards, the deputy pointed to the power lines stretched between two residential buildings, exactly above the playground and parking. She is going to order an examination of the influence of power transmission lines on the environment and people.

Nearby with the gymnasium where she studied, an abandoned hotel and a park inherited from the 1980 Olympics. A private investor asks to give the territory of the former Olympic facility under his project, in return promises to ennoble the park. But most of the deputies are against, and Kichanova sees no reason, why not discuss this issue: “There are examples of successful cooperation with business. But we, unfortunately, do not have a culture of public discussion. ”

The already mentioned Mikhail Peskov is her main ally in the municipal council, but also the main opponent. “With him, sometimes there are sometimes more disagreements than with United Russia, he supports any nationalist movements in the area with might and main,” Kichanova says. She has already announced her intention to run for the Moscow City Duma, and Peskov will become her competitor.

But the competitor himself speaks of a young colleague well: “Vera well done. She is working on the appeals of residents, conducts control checks. Unfortunately, we have only three people in the council not from United Russia. There would be at least five of us-they could seriously change something. It is a pity that so few young people on a protest wave went to municipalities. ”

Local specifics

Municipal deputies do not receive a salary, they are not laid by an office and an official car, and the only benefit is a free travel travel on the subway. True, in July 2013, on the eve of the election of the Moscow Mayor, Sergei Sobyanin appointed deputies “material incentive” in the amount of 20 thousand rubles a month. But it is not yet known whether these payments will remain in 2014. At the same time, the powers of the municipalities are very scarce: of the most noticeable ones, the approval of the modest budget (in the same printers in 2014 it will be only 20 million rubles), the approval of the development programs of the district, the organization of sports and leisure work and the control of the improvement of territories. However, Motin, Katsu and Kichanova, as it turned out, is enough. In any case, none of them regrets their decision to engage in “small politics”.

Photos: Evgeny Feldman/New Gazeta, Pavel Lisitsin/RIA Novosti, from the personal page of Facebook Vera Kichanova