The tension in the village of Tvarditsa grows with each passing day. The reason for this is, as Iskra.bg wrote, that the mayor Dimitar Nikolov, with a report accepted by the Municipal Council, wants to build a center for elderly people suffering from dementia in the village.
The residents of Tvarditsa reacted instantly and started a petition against the creation of this service, collecting over 200 signatures within a few days.
Iskra.bg looked for a comment from Ivan Ivanov, one of the municipal councilors who reacted and expressed the opinion that the administration of the Municipality of Burgas had misled them when they had to vote on this report in the Municipal Council.
Mr. Ivanov, you were one of the first people to publicly express your opinion. On social networks, you clearly stated that the administration quite often starts to mislead the municipal councilors and does not give enough information to the councilors. Why do you think so?
I’ll start with a little background information. The Mayor of Burgas Municipality, Dimitar Nikolov, had submitted a report, which provided for the expansion of the „Grizhovnik“ social service. At first glance, I didn’t see anything bad or wrong with her. Even I personally admire and would support any good idea. During the session of the Municipal Council, after questions, the administration categorically stated that meetings were held with the people of the village of Tvarditsa, as well as with the mayor of the village, and they did not mind this service being in the center of the village, in the building of the former kindergarten . It was an answer that was very important to me, because when we do something, it has to meet with people’s approval. The administration was adamant that this was a very well thought out project that would enjoy great approval. Unfortunately, in addition to not enjoying much approval, he met strong opposition from the residents of the village of Tvarditsa. For this reason I stated that the administration is not giving information and misleading the councillors.
And did people from the village contact you after this report was voted on by Mayor Dimitar Nikolov?
Yes, I have been contacted by people who also disagreed with this idea. The people who contacted me are not the ones who made this subscription, but they wanted to get information about what is going on and why they don’t know. But actually, you know, the most cynical thing about this is that the administration has not slowed down in its response, but not to apologize to the people, but to blame and demonize them for being bad and almost hate these people. This was indicative of the attitude of the Municipality of Burgas towards the people. For me, the normal reaction is to apologize to people and learn a lesson.
You beat me to it, but my next question would be in relation to the reaction of the Municipality of Burgas, or rather, of the municipality’s employees. We were contacted by people who expressed outrage at Stefan Minchev’s reaction, how would you comment on his reaction?
That’s exactly what I meant. It is unacceptable for the head of the „Public Relations“ department or, more simply, the PR of the municipality to call people in their position „ordinary people“. I was talking about exactly this cynicism a while ago. For me, as a municipal councilor, such an attitude from a municipal employee who receives his salary from the taxes of the people, including the taxes of the people of the village of Tvarditsa, is categorically unacceptable. I personally, and I hope my other colleagues as well, are waiting to see if there will be a reaction from the mayor Dimitar Nikolov and if the official in question will publicly apologize for using such words to the people of the village of Tvarditsa.
Would you support this service being elsewhere?
Of course, I would support this service to happen because it is useful for people. But I say again that it should happen in the best way. Even apart from asking the people of the locality where this service will take place, I think a survey should be made from the users of the service or their companions whether the new location will be convenient for them. These people need a companion to drive and pick them up every day. If such a place is remote, I don’t know how convenient it would be for people and whether they would use the service. I hope that this time the administration will try and find a suitable place and not approach it lightly. It is not the most important thing to do PR and advertising, but that the actions are useful for people.
