vlad.tribnet.com / Issue #573 / Social life / Reading article...

The area of Lugovaya, one of the busiest market places and bus and tram hubs in Vladivostok, has remained for years a sore sight for the residents with its broken pavements, dubious street sellers and garbage dumps all over the place. A recent declaration from the city’s administration to turn the area into a sparkling spot sounds promising but so far improbable.

According to the statement, a two-storied building covering a 8,000-square meter area will replace the old kiosks and trading pavilions, with construction to be completed by the end of 2007, the statement from Vladivostok administration reported Friday citing Sergei Usenko, general director of the Kinoforum company, which ordered the project.

Those who have to pass daily by trading kiosks a meter away from the tram rails, observe the sellers offering cheap food past their expiration dates while barbeque cookers shout for consumers amidst packs of litter and hungry beggars roaming around.

“Russia does not have money to send people like him out of the country,” commented a policemen after detaining in a recent raid a street seller named Mustafa, a man illegally staying in Russia. Mustafa’s visa expired long ago and he holds no permissive documents to work in the country.



A Russian woman, who has been selling in the area for ten years and who introduced herself as Marina Grigoryevna said that, “the Lugovaya market area is indeed a garbage dump, this is awful. But it cannot be closed since many elderly people come here to purchase fruits and cookies for lower prices.” “We work for the elderly and poor,” she added.

Meanwhile, in the new trade complex, “pedestrians will be able to visit recreational areas on the second storey, to watch a movie in a summer cinema hall,” the statement cited Usenko as assuring.

Hopefully, this time the project will see its fruition, considering the fact that the reconstruction was suggested in August of 2006 but so far much of the plan is yet to be realized.