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MOVING SALE: POPULAR TRADE ZONE TO BE CLOSED MARCH 15
Society | 13.03.13 | 15:50
NAZIK ARMENAKYAN
ArmeniaNow
By Gohar Abrahamyan
ArmeniaNow reporter
Some two months prior to the city council elections in Yerevan passions
flare again among small proprietors and vendors who have been ordered
to wrap up their trade stalls.
At a central Abovyan-Isahakyan under-pass in Yerevan, where for years
numerous small boutiques and kiosks have been operating, as well as
the biggest book sale points have been located, all the shop-windows
are shut these days and the commodities are being packed tightly in
bags and boxes.
Right this time a year ago the dismantling process started of the
kiosks at the underpass, which raised the owners' discontent. Back then
the word was that in 2010 (when current Transport and Communication
minister Gagik Beglaryan was the mayor of Yerevan) the area of 16
kiosks was given to Great Victoria company by city hall decree.
The kiosks were dismantled, and some of the owners moved to other
places to do their trade, but the construction never started, so
others just placed tables, put out their products and did their trade
to somehow earn their living.
A 41-year-old vendor Susanna Stepanyan, who has been dealing in
lingerie business for the past 20 years, told ArmeniaNow that
although for the two years now there have been talks about closing
the underpass, only this year on February 27 they were told to empty
the area.
"We asked to give us time at least after March 8 [International
Women's Day], so March 15 is our deadline. We have been told that
the underpass will be closed and construction will start. We have
heard the construction will take 2 years and 8 months. But we have
not been told any definite terms," says Stepanyan.
She assures that they have been diligent tax-payers, and 1 sq m of
area there was around 8,000 drams ($20).
Bookseller Gevorg Gevorgyan, who has been in that business for 15
years and has to leave the area, says he has turned to Prosperous
Armenia Party faction secretary Naira Zorhabyan for help.
"If one, two, three or four of us are forced to leave and work
separately, this market will not be viable, we cannot work, it was
due to our collective work, one relying on the other, that we have
been able to make it. That's why we have turned for assistance to see
what happens," says Gevorgyan, who adds that the number of booksellers
reaches 20.
Zohrabyan, whose party has serious ambitions to win power in Yerevan
in the upcoming elections, told ArmeniaNow that someone apparently
has purchased the territory to open another "facility".
"Our City Council members will meet with the booksellers today in order
to hear their views and I myself will raise this issue in parliament,"
said Zohrabyan. She said that before municipal elections authorities
perhaps would agree to some concessions, but at the same time she
stressed that temporary solutions were unacceptable.
Deputy Head of the Public Relations Department at the Yerevan Mayor's
Office Artur Sarukhanyan told ArmeniaNow that city authorities had
proposed to the booksellers to move to any of the two underpasses in
central Mashtots Avenue - either to the one near Margaryan Hospital
or St. Sargis Church, which are not in good condition facility-wise.
"When trade is organized there, the municipality will take care of
the sanitary condition of the underpasses, improve their exterior
and ensure proper lighting," said Sarukhanyan.
Sultanik Arevshatyan, the chief architect of the underpass situated
at the intersection of Abovyan-Isahakyan streets (it opened in 1985)
says authorities had promised to inform him of any planned or expected
construction-related changes.
"This is a building that architecturally has world significance. Still
in 1986 it was considered to be the best architectural construction
of its kind in the USSR. There was time when foreigners were coming
[to Armenia] only to examine the structure. And I regret that things
have turned out this way for that structure," the 87-year-old architect
told ArmeniaNow.
http://armenianow.com/society/44416/yerevan_municipality_naira_zohrabyan_book_vendors
Society | 13.03.13 | 15:50
NAZIK ARMENAKYAN
ArmeniaNow
By Gohar Abrahamyan
ArmeniaNow reporter
Some two months prior to the city council elections in Yerevan passions
flare again among small proprietors and vendors who have been ordered
to wrap up their trade stalls.
At a central Abovyan-Isahakyan under-pass in Yerevan, where for years
numerous small boutiques and kiosks have been operating, as well as
the biggest book sale points have been located, all the shop-windows
are shut these days and the commodities are being packed tightly in
bags and boxes.
Right this time a year ago the dismantling process started of the
kiosks at the underpass, which raised the owners' discontent. Back then
the word was that in 2010 (when current Transport and Communication
minister Gagik Beglaryan was the mayor of Yerevan) the area of 16
kiosks was given to Great Victoria company by city hall decree.
The kiosks were dismantled, and some of the owners moved to other
places to do their trade, but the construction never started, so
others just placed tables, put out their products and did their trade
to somehow earn their living.
A 41-year-old vendor Susanna Stepanyan, who has been dealing in
lingerie business for the past 20 years, told ArmeniaNow that
although for the two years now there have been talks about closing
the underpass, only this year on February 27 they were told to empty
the area.
"We asked to give us time at least after March 8 [International
Women's Day], so March 15 is our deadline. We have been told that
the underpass will be closed and construction will start. We have
heard the construction will take 2 years and 8 months. But we have
not been told any definite terms," says Stepanyan.
She assures that they have been diligent tax-payers, and 1 sq m of
area there was around 8,000 drams ($20).
Bookseller Gevorg Gevorgyan, who has been in that business for 15
years and has to leave the area, says he has turned to Prosperous
Armenia Party faction secretary Naira Zorhabyan for help.
"If one, two, three or four of us are forced to leave and work
separately, this market will not be viable, we cannot work, it was
due to our collective work, one relying on the other, that we have
been able to make it. That's why we have turned for assistance to see
what happens," says Gevorgyan, who adds that the number of booksellers
reaches 20.
Zohrabyan, whose party has serious ambitions to win power in Yerevan
in the upcoming elections, told ArmeniaNow that someone apparently
has purchased the territory to open another "facility".
"Our City Council members will meet with the booksellers today in order
to hear their views and I myself will raise this issue in parliament,"
said Zohrabyan. She said that before municipal elections authorities
perhaps would agree to some concessions, but at the same time she
stressed that temporary solutions were unacceptable.
Deputy Head of the Public Relations Department at the Yerevan Mayor's
Office Artur Sarukhanyan told ArmeniaNow that city authorities had
proposed to the booksellers to move to any of the two underpasses in
central Mashtots Avenue - either to the one near Margaryan Hospital
or St. Sargis Church, which are not in good condition facility-wise.
"When trade is organized there, the municipality will take care of
the sanitary condition of the underpasses, improve their exterior
and ensure proper lighting," said Sarukhanyan.
Sultanik Arevshatyan, the chief architect of the underpass situated
at the intersection of Abovyan-Isahakyan streets (it opened in 1985)
says authorities had promised to inform him of any planned or expected
construction-related changes.
"This is a building that architecturally has world significance. Still
in 1986 it was considered to be the best architectural construction
of its kind in the USSR. There was time when foreigners were coming
[to Armenia] only to examine the structure. And I regret that things
have turned out this way for that structure," the 87-year-old architect
told ArmeniaNow.
http://armenianow.com/society/44416/yerevan_municipality_naira_zohrabyan_book_vendors