"According to the press": State press protects … kiosks for the first time
Kiosks started disappearing from bus stops last week and mass media immediately tried to protect them. It is probably the first time state mass media have started criticizing a decision of officials so much. Just think of the title of the article in “7 Days” – “Is it true that nobody cares two pins about this business?”.
“Small-scale business encounters a lot of problems nowadays. It is like a burden we need to get rid of… However, kiosks can be found in city streets all over the world. They also sell candies and cookies. And it does not contradict anything. And we are suggested supermarkets instead. Meh…”, - writes a journalist Terasalina Luhanskaya.
Journalists are indignant at the officials’ lack of logic more than at the amount of jobless women who will land on the street level soon: owners of kiosks were obliged to change their appearance first and now kiosks are to be demolished anyway.
“A standard of appearance was introduced for kiosks several years ago: there had to be tents and benches for passengers. What do they need now? Don’t they like the appearance again? Introduce a new standard. People who suggested the idea are not going “to applaud” but they are sure that people will invest more money “on a voluntary-coercive basis” just to save their business”, - says a reporter of “Zvyazda” Syarhei Rasolka.
“7 Days” shares the opinion: “They say that goods are not preserved in the right way in kiosks, there are no certificates and not enough space for sellers, etc. However, who prevents them from improving? It has been discussed a lot and many editions wrote about it but let’s recall a saying from a fable by Krylov “Vaska is listening and continues eating”…
Mass media wrote about European countries to influence the officials’ decision: kiosks looking worse than ours are allowed even near historic monuments, in the centre of cities and in suburbs. “Trud” asked the opinion of an owner of a kiosk Halina at first and wrote: “Halina saw kiosks in Prague and friends told her about similar things in Warsaw and in Paris… But these European countries seem to be no authority for Minsk”.
Even “Sovetskaya Belarus” doubted that Minsk will become much more beautiful if all kiosks disappeared from bus stops.
“Maybe the city has become more beautiful because of that but I had to go to a nearby shop to buy a bottle of mineral water and had to stand in a queue. That is what the aesthetics like…”
Journalists were so busy protecting owners of kiosks that they probably didn’t notice that they had started accusing “Belsayzdruk” kiosks. Why can kiosks selling newspapers remain while kiosk selling cigarettes, tea and other small things should be demolished? Are they more beautiful? The state sanitary physician of Pershamaiski District Maryna Pankratava gave “Belhazeta” a most interesting interview.
“There should be a sewerage system and water supply in kiosks. Sinks used to be installed in kiosks at the beginning of the 1990s. You are not allowed to eat there; a separate room should be created for it. If the kiosk sells products they should be preserved and realized separately. Kiosks cannot afford it”.
Maryna Pankratava agreed to the journalist’s remark about the fact that all this could not be found in news-stalls either but then she added: “Sayuzdruk” is a state organization and it sticks to the labour legislation more, the length of the working days and shifts are regulated better in news-stalls”.
ERB also talked to officials and found out that obsoleteness and esthetic inconsistency was the main reason for demolishing kiosks. Major repairs of streets lead to elimination of kiosks and it has been happening for several years. The deputy head of administration of Frunzenski District Andrei Yasuchenya says:
“Kiosks are being replaced by tents without kiosks in the streets where major repairs have started. The repair works were conducted last year and the year before last”.
The article by Maryna Hrahouskaya “Demolition of kiosks starts in Minsk” aroused a lot of emotions in readers of TUT.BY. We are only quoting some of their phrases:
- There are kiosks in Lithuania and you can also buy sandwiches, coffee and tea there and have a snack! It is very convenient. Poles also have a lot of such kiosks. And it does not disturb anyone. Oh, I forgot we were “ahead of the whole planet!”.
- When something happens it means someone needs it. But it is not the plain man who needs it. Let us head for hypermarkets to buy cigarettes and chewing-gums… - A kilometer away from home! Let’s introduce the programme – everything to satisfy people!!!
- Lukashenka said he would not lead “his” people after the civilized world.
- Obsoleteness and esthetic inconsistency …. Oh yes, we are aesthetes!
- Our government’s motto is “everything is done for the people”. So, my friends, you should know that liquidation of kiosks, cancellation of benefits, PUEs and even the construction of a nuclear power plant – this is for us…… So, do you feel the state’s care?
Trade pavilions are supposed to replace kiosks but it is only a project now.
“Small-scale business encounters a lot of problems nowadays. It is like a burden we need to get rid of… However, kiosks can be found in city streets all over the world. They also sell candies and cookies. And it does not contradict anything. And we are suggested supermarkets instead. Meh…”, - writes a journalist Terasalina Luhanskaya.
Journalists are indignant at the officials’ lack of logic more than at the amount of jobless women who will land on the street level soon: owners of kiosks were obliged to change their appearance first and now kiosks are to be demolished anyway.
“A standard of appearance was introduced for kiosks several years ago: there had to be tents and benches for passengers. What do they need now? Don’t they like the appearance again? Introduce a new standard. People who suggested the idea are not going “to applaud” but they are sure that people will invest more money “on a voluntary-coercive basis” just to save their business”, - says a reporter of “Zvyazda” Syarhei Rasolka.
“7 Days” shares the opinion: “They say that goods are not preserved in the right way in kiosks, there are no certificates and not enough space for sellers, etc. However, who prevents them from improving? It has been discussed a lot and many editions wrote about it but let’s recall a saying from a fable by Krylov “Vaska is listening and continues eating”…
Mass media wrote about European countries to influence the officials’ decision: kiosks looking worse than ours are allowed even near historic monuments, in the centre of cities and in suburbs. “Trud” asked the opinion of an owner of a kiosk Halina at first and wrote: “Halina saw kiosks in Prague and friends told her about similar things in Warsaw and in Paris… But these European countries seem to be no authority for Minsk”.
Even “Sovetskaya Belarus” doubted that Minsk will become much more beautiful if all kiosks disappeared from bus stops.
“Maybe the city has become more beautiful because of that but I had to go to a nearby shop to buy a bottle of mineral water and had to stand in a queue. That is what the aesthetics like…”
Journalists were so busy protecting owners of kiosks that they probably didn’t notice that they had started accusing “Belsayzdruk” kiosks. Why can kiosks selling newspapers remain while kiosk selling cigarettes, tea and other small things should be demolished? Are they more beautiful? The state sanitary physician of Pershamaiski District Maryna Pankratava gave “Belhazeta” a most interesting interview.
“There should be a sewerage system and water supply in kiosks. Sinks used to be installed in kiosks at the beginning of the 1990s. You are not allowed to eat there; a separate room should be created for it. If the kiosk sells products they should be preserved and realized separately. Kiosks cannot afford it”.
Maryna Pankratava agreed to the journalist’s remark about the fact that all this could not be found in news-stalls either but then she added: “Sayuzdruk” is a state organization and it sticks to the labour legislation more, the length of the working days and shifts are regulated better in news-stalls”.
ERB also talked to officials and found out that obsoleteness and esthetic inconsistency was the main reason for demolishing kiosks. Major repairs of streets lead to elimination of kiosks and it has been happening for several years. The deputy head of administration of Frunzenski District Andrei Yasuchenya says:
“Kiosks are being replaced by tents without kiosks in the streets where major repairs have started. The repair works were conducted last year and the year before last”.
The article by Maryna Hrahouskaya “Demolition of kiosks starts in Minsk” aroused a lot of emotions in readers of TUT.BY. We are only quoting some of their phrases:
- There are kiosks in Lithuania and you can also buy sandwiches, coffee and tea there and have a snack! It is very convenient. Poles also have a lot of such kiosks. And it does not disturb anyone. Oh, I forgot we were “ahead of the whole planet!”.
- When something happens it means someone needs it. But it is not the plain man who needs it. Let us head for hypermarkets to buy cigarettes and chewing-gums… - A kilometer away from home! Let’s introduce the programme – everything to satisfy people!!!
- Lukashenka said he would not lead “his” people after the civilized world.
- Obsoleteness and esthetic inconsistency …. Oh yes, we are aesthetes!
- Our government’s motto is “everything is done for the people”. So, my friends, you should know that liquidation of kiosks, cancellation of benefits, PUEs and even the construction of a nuclear power plant – this is for us…… So, do you feel the state’s care?
Trade pavilions are supposed to replace kiosks but it is only a project now.
