Kyiv residents have a longstanding love-hate relationship with the nation’s capital.
Kyiv has lovely parks, great restaurants and a vibrant nightlife. The city has numerous historic landmarks, a remarkable coffee culture and all the features of a modern metropolis.
It’s also neglected, polluted and has a depressing sequence of mayors that consistently rob the city of its potential.
The seven-year reign of Mayor Vitali Klitschko is the epitome of carelessness.
Klitschko’s rule is marked by impoverished infrastructure, a lack of proper public transport, the deterioration of historic buildings, haphazard construction, poor utility services, alleged embezzlement and corruption.
Spending your Saturday night in a traffic jam or finding your favorite historic building demolished to pave way for a new shopping mall built by construction moguls tied to the mayor’s office is a constant feature of life in Kyiv.
Klitschko promises, doesn’t deliver and promises again.
If Klitschko’s words meant anything, Kyiv would have a new bridge over the Dnipro River, two new metro stations, a moratorium on demolition of historic buildings and bike lanes that don’t abruptly end.
Instead, the National Police is investigating embezzlement by city-owned Kyivmetrobud, the company unsuccessfully constructing the metro, the bridge is not yet finished, and street protests barely stopped yet another demolition of a historic landmark.
What’s surprising is that we don’t learn.
Klitschko hasn’t been shaken by corruption scandals and accusations of mismanagement that have followed him since he became mayor in 2014.
Ex-lawmaker Maksym Mykytas, who became a top-tier construction mogul under Klitschko, is currently on house arrest awaiting trial on embezzlement and fraud charges. Klitschko’s top political ally is charged with embezzlement of the city money.
Meanwhile, Klitschko enjoys strong support.
In October, Klitschko won the local mayoral elections with over 50% of the vote in the first round.
We entrust populists, dishonest officials and people with little experience to govern a complicated city.
An overpopulated city home to over three million people; a city which needs public transport reform, new schools and kindergartens.
A city that needs new pipes and clean water.
A city that needs to inspire its residents to actually care.
The October local elections were attended by only a third of Kyiv’s population. The street protests to save the historic Kvity Ukrainy building were attended by several hundred people.
Yet it’s all of us who are witnessing our favorite city being wrecked and left without a bright future that it’s easily capable of having.
