Bucharest moves left as maverick wins top post
New mayor Sorin Oprescu’s plan for Bucharest includes bus lanes, animal cops, free cinema tickets and social housing: how feasible is a leftist policy mix in the city?
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Independent candidate for Bucharest mayor Sorin Oprescu won 56.5 per cent in the local elections against Vasile Blaga of the newly-formed PD-L in a victory for 1990s Romanian left-style ideals over the centre-right.
A 57 year-old doctor, Oprescu has already stood and lost in the race for Bucharest mayor for the PSD. Although a self-styled independent, in the second round of elections Oprescu enjoyed support from his old party and the National Liberal Party (PNL), who combined to block Blaga.
The new mayor has set out a populist plan which includes public works such as a new general hospital and to develop social housing with the sector mayors. He also wants to dedicate exclusive pedestrian areas to recreation and micro-enterprise.
But experts argue that while Oprescu’s plans may be a great manifesto of liberation for the Bucharest citizen on paper, they will be hard to realise without a revolution in the city’s institutions and mentality.
Traffic and rubbish
Traffic and rubbish controls are priorities and Oprescu aims to launch an international auction for remaking Bucharest’s General Urban Plan.
Radu Lucianu, general manager of real estate firm CB Richard Ellis-Eurisko agrees with the principle of an international auction, but says the plan is not a revolutionary idea. “The general urbanism plan for Bucharest is not new,” he adds. “It was drawn up before. but it was never respected. There were a lot of amendments and this was wrong. A plan should be respected entirely as it was designed.”
Oprescu also wants to improve public transport, such as introducing bus lanes and public transport throughout the night. But the main problem with the traffic is 1.2 million cars on Bucharest’s roads with only 400,000 parking space in the city.
“One third of all cars are probably company cars,” says Razvan Gheorghe, managing director Cushman & Wakefield. “If the City Hall put a ten Euro tax on each of these 400,000 cars this would mean 48 million Euro per year. Around 30 million Euro of the amount should be used for land acquisition, while the rest of the money should be invested the in construction of parking spaces.”
Judgement day for dogs
On the issue of Bucharest’s stray dog population, Oprescu intends to organise a referendum to ask the people of the city what to do with Bucharest’s 20,000 to 30,000 canine homeless.
Animal welfare NGO Vier Pfoten argues that the policy of catching dogs, sterilising them and returning them to the street is the most practical course – and says that killing the dogs is a self-defeating prospect. “When territory remains free, dogs from the neighbourhood take it over quickly, occupying a larger space with more resources and their rate of reproduction increases,” says Ioana Pirvulescu, head of marketing and communication, Vier Pfoten Romania.
Two dogs can multiply by several hundred in three years, unless there is a population control mechanism.
Oprescu also wants to establish a force of “animal cops” to target the dog problem. “This is a good idea only if there will be a clear and effective organisation with specific and concrete responsibilities and duties, with clear procedures and work flow,” adds Pirvulescu.
One of the problems with the existing animal welfare law, argues the group, is that it exists on paper, but no one knows how to apply it in practice. In four years this law has only been applied in five cases nationwide.
To attract foreign investment, Oprescu wants to focus on the IT&C sector, with the intention to set up public-private partnerships in techno-parks in the city. “Trying to focus on IT is the right thing and it’s feasible,” says Silviu Hotaran, general manager of Microsoft Romania. “If the government or mayor is supporting this, it’s fine, but things are already happening. We would welcome any kind of structure in place because things are moving very fast in an unstructured way.”
There are also giveaway measures such as free cinema and theatre tickets for pensioners.
In an interesting move, the new mayor also intends to use Bucharest for the production of geothermal energy. Before 1989 energy experts have found large deposits of hot water near Bucharest and still believe there is potential in this ambition, but it would be costly and may not reap the right volume of benefits.
However Oprescu’s objectives as Mayor of Bucharest will depend in the next four years on the Local Council majority, which is in the hands of an alliance between the PD-L and the New Generation Party (PNG), the party of the financier of Steaua football club, Gigi Becali.
Therefore any decision the leftist Mayor intends to make could face a veto from a PD-L/PNG alliance.
Independence assured?
Sorin Oprescu had been a member of the Social Democratic Party (PSD) since 1995. He chose to run as an independent when the PSD decided to support vice-president of the party Cristian Diaconescu for the top position in the capital.
Oprescu is a close friend of Ion Iliescu, the founder of the PSD, while Diaconescu was pushed to run for Bucharest mayor by current president of the PSD, Mircea Geoana.
Diaconescu lost in the first round of votes and now Geoana’s leadership of the party, due to his flawed judgement, is in doubt. He is likely to be challenged by Adrian Nastase, the Prime Minister between 2000 and 2004, for the top position.
Vasile Blaga’s defeat to Oprescu in the second round of this electoral battle may also be due to his party’s close association with incumbent Mayor Adriean Videanu, who was not seen as an able manager.
Bucharest winners
Mayor Sorin Oprescu (Independent)
Sector 1: Andrei Chiliman (National Liberal Party)
Sector 2: Nicolae Ontanu (Social Democatic Party)
Sector 3: Liviu Negoita (Democratic Liberal Party)
Sector 4: Cristian Popescu Piedone (Conservative Party)
Sector 5: Marian Vanghelie (Social Democratic Party)
Sector 6: Cristian Poteras (Democratic Liberal Party)
