Civil 2011 in review

The retrospective of the 2012 NGO agenda is slightly skewed in favor of presenting events in Bucharest. We are convinced that in the rest of the country there were several important moments, but they failed to find the necessary means to be disseminated at national level to make them known and presented. Please consider this article as an invitation to present such moments in the Civis News column in the future.

January 10th

The Zonal Commission of Historical Monuments Bucharest-Ilfov-Giurgiu (CZMI) proposes, at the request of the Bucharest City Hall (PMB), the post-factum approval of the demolitions carried out by the city hall along the Buzești - Berzei diametral.

Several NGOs send an address to the CZMI, stating the reasons why the permit should not be granted and organize a picket during the CZMI meeting. Subsequently, the Directorate issues the opinion.

January 11

The Ministry of Culture states that the meetings of the National Commission of Historical Monuments (CNMI) are not public. The commission's documents are not public, and the Directorate of Culture can refuse public access to the opinions issued. This raises the question of whether Romania is complying with the Granada Convention for the Protection of the Architectural Heritage of Europe (art. 14) in terms of transparency in decision-making.

January 14

PMB finalizes the demolition of the Marna Hotel. The hotel had been downgraded from the List of Historical Monuments on the basis of a minimal dossier and in breach of procedure. The declassification had been challenged in court by the Save Bucharest Association (ASB). The relevant legislation provides for the monument's status to be maintained until a final court ruling. The Bucharest court suspended the authorization on 21 December. The first deadline for the case was January 25. It is not the only demolition action along the Buzești - Berzei diametrale that is questionable from the perspective of the legislation protecting built heritage.

January 17

The Mayor of Bucharest publicly announces that he will take to court the NGOs that have delayed the works along the Buzești - Berzei diametral. The declaration did not materialize.

January 19

MDRT Order 2701/30.12.2010 for the approval of the Methodology for informing and consulting the public on the elaboration or revision of spatial planning and urban development plans is published in the Official Gazette.

January 20

Rally in front of the Ministry of Culture for the inscription of the Roșia Montană site on Romania's Tentative List for UNESCO, the first phase of inscription on the World Heritage List (WHL), in the context of the finalization of the revision of the Tentative List.

As early as 2005, ICOMOS informed the Romanian state that the site has the potential to be inscribed on the World Heritage List, and several Romanian bodies (e.g. the Romanian Academy) have taken positions in this regard. The necessary documentation had been submitted to the ministry, the only one authorized to initiate the procedure, since June 2009, and the ministry had stated that it was analyzing the appropriateness of the inscription.

Around January 20

The third wave of evictions on Berzei Street after those of November and December 2010, even though article 5781 of the Code of Civil Procedure forbids evictions between December 1 and March 1. In 2011, residents who are not evicted will be threatened by thieves of building materials and will have to live with a quasi non-existent site organization.

January 24

The Romanian Academy, ICOMOS Romania, OAR, UAR, Pro Patrimonio send an open letter to the Minister of Culture and CNMI for the inscription of the Roșia Montană site in the Romanian Indicative List.

January 26

The CNMI debates the inclusion of the Roșia Montană site in the Romanian Indicative List and unanimously decides in favor of it. In the end the process of revising the list was not finalized. The UNESCO website consulted in January 2012 lists 2005 as the year of the last revision.

At the same meeting, following an extensive collection of texts on the issue of the Buzești - Berzei diametral submitted by PpB, the CNMI addresses the PMB for the protection of monuments and protected areas located along the Buzești - Berzei diametral.

January 26-29

Days during which vandalization of buildings along the Buzești - Berzei diametral route for construction materials reaches maximum levels.

February 6th

The Bucharest Association and Alburnus Maior organize the celebration of 1,880 years of documentary attestation of Roșiei Montane in the locality and 14 towns in the country and the Republic of Moldova.

February 11th

Publication in the Official Gazette of GEO 7/2011 amending Law 350/2001 on spatial planning and urbanism.

February 12

A PpB demonstration to save Matache Hall is not approved. Citizens are invited, keeping public order, displaying a food or green object, to meet in the area of the hale or to draw/photograph it. In two days' time a flash-mob will take place near the Halle in which participants - while falling - simulate a heart attack.

February 22

The first large-scale public presentation of the Buzești - Berzei project takes place at the UAUIM.

early March

Civil society protests against the deforestation and paving of Custozza Park and other plantations in the Alba Carolina Citadel enter the public agenda in other cities. In the course of the year, as landmark archaeological discoveries are made (in front of the Roman Catholic Cathedral or in the park) civil society will demand to change the original project in order to enhance them.

March 2nd

A debate on the draft Capital Law is held at the Parliament Palace. After a short period during which other debates take place, the subject goes off the public agenda.

March 10

Tribuna newspaper together with the Sibiu Culture Department and the Anthropoesis Center launch the campaign "Save your past! Save the monument!", to raise funds to save a monument in the county in an advanced state of decay.

March 28

Launch of the workshop dedicated to finding the best way to develop the Buzești - Berzei diametral area, "Alternative Bucharest: interdisciplinary workshop", organized by the Bucharest Urban Space Association, the Local Development Group, the Association for Urban Transition (ATU) and the Anthropoesis Centre. Subsequently, a group of architects, known as "Volunteer Architects", will demonstrate the lack of a vision for the sustainable development of the area in the actions of the City Hall and will become increasingly active in building a vision for the area.

March 28

Work starts on the "Km. 0" elevated overpass in Craiova. The subject is absent from the civic society agenda.

March 29

At the initiative of MEP Monica Macovei, Freedom House, Pro.Do.Mo. and ASB are organizing a public hearing debate in Brussels on the state of Romania's built heritage, focusing on the situation in the Buzești - Berzei area.

April 1st

Launch of the student architectural competition "What are you putting next to Mincu?" to offer a building alternative on the land opposite the Central School in Bucharest. The competition was initiated by the Friends of the Central School Association. The NGO had won a year ago in court the annulment of the PUD approved by the City Hall of Sector 2 through which the investor gained Hmax = 45m (while the PUZ Protected Built Areas stipulated 10m).

April 17th

Flash-mob organized by the Social Action Group (GAS) to stop the works in the Railwaymen Park in Cluj. The protesters ate a sandwich sitting on a blanket at the fountain in the Polus Center (the owner of the mall, Arpad Paszkany, is also the financier of the football club CFR Cluj, which has erected several constructions in the park). Earlier, GAS had organized a protest to collect signatures to save the park. The organization turned to the court on the grounds that the works were illegal. The work was eventually stopped.

beginning of May

The Association Friends of the National Museum of Romanian History starts a public collection for the marking with descriptive plaques of historical monuments in Curtea de Argeș. With the collected funds, 48 such plaques were realized and mounted. A year earlier, with external funding, 396 historical monuments in Bucharest benefited from descriptive plaques.

May 14

The Antitesis fashion collection by Denis Predescu is presented in Cazzavillan Park (Bucharest). The event was organized to draw attention to the demolitions in the Buzești - Berzei neighborhood.

June 2

In April, at the request of ASB and Pro.Do.Mo., the Bucharest and Cluj Courts annulled and suspended the Buzești - Berzei Diametrale's urban development plan. Between May 13-15, PMB demolishes the building in Calea Griviței 119, part of the historical monument of the "Calea Griviței" ensemble. NGOs protest in front of the MDRT against the ISC's inertia in the new legal situation. The Ministry orders the ISC to stop the works along the Buzești - Berzei diametrale.

June 10

"Getting closer - EU strategy for the Roma and local realities", event organized by the Working Group of Civic Organizations, which included a visit by representatives of the European Commission and UNDP to the social housing settlement built by the Cluj City Hall in the area of the Pata Rât landfill (practically 4 km from the city), where about 20 families, mostly ethnic Roma, were evicted from the city centre in December 2010.

June 10-12

Street Delivery Bucharest and Timisoara

June 16

The Bucharest Tribunal suspends the Buzești - Berzei bypass project. From this moment on, between the public interest in the realization of the artery and the public interest in the preservation of historical monuments previously in conflict, the only one that must be active is the latter.

June 23

PMB presents the results of the "Green Cadastre of the Municipality of Bucharest - Green Spaces Register". According to it, there are 23.21 square meters of green space per inhabitant in Bucharest. The previous indicative evaluation was 12 square meters of green space per inhabitant. By 2013, it should reach 26 mp / inhabitant. Environmental NGOs have suspected irregularities in the cadastre, such as the inclusion of the lakes' water spillways among green spaces.

June 25

"Transformation by dismantling and reconstruction in traditional materials" (according to the site organization panel) of the historical monuments in Berzei 81 and 89 str. The demolition was a regular demolition preceded by the extraction of some wall decorations.

A series of events organized by the Community Centre for Education and Active Art laBOMBA on the occasion of the Rahova - Uranus Neighbourhood Day.

July 11

Appearance in the Official Gazette of Law 153/2011 on measures to increase the architectural-environmental quality of buildings (known as the law obliging owners to rehabilitate facades).

July 11 - August 31

The School of Bunești (Association Friends of the School of Bunești) organizes three school-sites in traditional building techniques.

July 15

During the approval of some PUZs, the Ministry of Development organizes a debate with the PMB and civil society, in which it decides to unblock the Buzești - Berzei diametrical road construction site, to look for alternative solutions to keep Halei Matache on the site, to organize a competition for the development of the area of the hall, to make legislative proposals on coordinated interventions on an urban scale, etc. In early August, the MDRT and the PMB announce that they will find solutions to keep Halei Matache on the site.

By the end of the year, although there were several promises from the PMB on protective measures, the vandalization of the hall for the recovery of construction materials brought it to the brink of collapse.

July 14

Following the proposed opinion coming from the National Commission of Archaeology, without discussion in the CNMI, the Alba Department of Culture issued at the request of Roșia Montană Gold Corporation (RMGC) the archaeological discharge certificate for most of the Cârnic Massif in Roșia Montană, containing the 7 km of Roman galleries, the most valuable component of the site. A similar certificate was overturned in court in 2008.

July 17-27

The Summer University on Restoration of Monuments and Sites - "Restoration of the Old School and the Bucium Rural Heritage Repertory", organized by Rencontres du Patrimoine Europe - Roumanie, takes place.

July 26

PMB starts a public consultation on the regulation on public involvement in urban planning projects (according to MDRT Order 2701/2010, this regulation had to be adopted within 60 days starting January 19). On August 5, the City Hall organizes a public debate. NGOs present bring several proposals. After the debate, the subject was abandoned and the regulation was not on the agenda of the General Council. In 2010, an identical path: web consultation - debate - increased interest from society - lack of consequences, the CTATU ROF and the procedure for proposing the opinion to the CTATU.

August 12-15

FânFest, 6th edition, cultural event in opposition to the RMGC project.

August 29

O.G. 16 / 24.08.2011 on the reduction of seismic risk in existing buildings is published in the Official Gazette. The implementing methodological norm, although it was supposed to be published within 60 days, has not yet been finalized.

August 30 - September 20

Workshop organized by the Turnuu Association followed by the realization of a protection structure for the wooden church "St. Nicholas" in Călugăreni. On December 5 a charity concert was held at the MTR to finance the restoration of the church.

August 31

Protest by the Chinese workers of the Palas complex in Iasi, due to low wages. We have not identified any other public demonstrations against the ensemble erected behind the Palace of Culture in Iasi that significantly affect its perception. In 2010, the Court of Appeal of Oradea annulled, at the request of some commercial companies, the HCL to transfer the land on which the project was built into the private domain of the city hall and to associate with the investor. The project website announces the inauguration of the complex in April 2012.

September 10th

Charity concert organized by Pro Patrimonio and the OAR to finance the restoration of the wooden church of Buna-Vestire in Urși.

early September

Several public interventions by environmental NGOs are held, arguing against a draft law with wide-ranging exemptions on expropriations for public works, forestry, construction, archaeological heritage, etc., aimed at speeding up the approval of mining operations. More than 100,000 signatures against the bill are collected and it is referred back to the specialized committees of the Chamber of Deputies.

September 1-15

Architecture Summer School. Restoration. Archaeology, organized in Rosia Montana, included lectures, documentation of architectural heritage and restoration works.

September 9 - October 6

NGO Fest in 10 cities across the country, 400 participating organizations, 30 events.

September 21st

Launch of the public debate for the Integrated Urban Development Plan "Central Bucharest".

September 21-30

Over 500 activists from Europe take part in the "International Solidarity Camp in Rosia Montana", organized by the international network Reclaim the Fields together with Alburnus Maior Association and several NGOs.

October 1st

Presentation by Pierre Housieaux, President of Paris Historique, of the work of NGOs working to protect heritage in France as part of the "History of the Labyrinth" project organized by Pro.Do.Mo and CeRe.

October 26th

Guide-manual of good practices for the owners of historical monuments in Câmpulung, produced by the town hall together with the Câmpulung Municipal Museum and the Faculty of Architecture of Timișoara, with AFCN funding. One copy of the guide was distributed to each owner of a historical monument.

October 11-13

The national seminar "Preservation, Restoration and Enhancement of Monuments and Protected Historic Areas in Romania", organized by the Academy of Scientists of Romania, UAUIM, Brăila City Council, Brăila City Hall, Brăila Museum and Brăila Culture Direction, takes place in Brăila.

October 12-16

The national symposium "Monuments - Tradition and Future", organized by the MCPN, the National Museum Complex "Moldova", the Metropolitan of Moldova and Bucovina, the Directorate for Culture Iasi, the National Heritage Institute.

November 26-27

Extraordinary national conference marking 10 years of existence of the RAO. The Strategy, Code of Ethics and Bucharest Declaration were adopted.

November 10th

Public Participation Awards Gala, organized by the Public Participation Resource Centre.

November 25th

TVR launches the campaign Treasures in Abandon. The "Telejurnal" presents the situation of heritage buildings in poor physical condition.

November 27 - December 2

The XVIIth ICOMOS General Assembly adopted two texts on the doctrine for the protection of built heritage (on industrial heritage and historic urban settlements) and the declaration "Heritage as a vector for development". In Resolution No. 22, the Assembly called on the Romanian State to prioritize the enhancement of the cultural heritage of Rosia Montana.

November 28th

A well-known public figure in the world of NGOs, Nicușor Dan, president of the ASB, is launched in the race for the Bucharest mayoralty.

End of November

Phase I and II documents are uploaded on the Bucharest 2035 Strategic Concept webpage, awaiting citizens' reactions before finalizing the strategy.

December 6

Inauguration upon completion of works on a section of about 400 linear meters of the Buzești - Berzei - Uranus - Progresul railway station. At that time, works worth 80,000,000 lei had been carried out for the entire section under construction. CGMB had initially allocated 30,000,000 lei, but following budget adjustments, 10,000,000 lei were withdrawn.

December 9-10

National Conference on Urban Education organized by Komunitas Association and ATU, on the occasion of the launch of the Urban Education Guide, a step towards the realization in 2012 of a textbook for high schools dedicated to urban planning issues.

December 31st

NGOs active in promoting tourism in Rosia Montana organize a New Year's Eve party in the locality.