From Ridus.ru:
On the back of “pipe-gate” comes “façade scandal” in St Petersburg city centre
A scandal has erupted in St. Petersburg about the consequences of restoration work on building № 23 Kirochnaya street. Internet users are already comparing the state of the façade and neighbouring buildings to the aftermath of Nazi bombing during World War II.
Building number 23 on Kirochnaya street, whose work is being managed by the northern capital’s Liteiny District council, had been covered in scaffolding and protective netting for over three years. When contractors removed the mass of scaffolding, residents and visitors to the city were treated to an even further deteriorated façade. Moreover, as you can see in the photos, the pavement around the house was cluttered with debris.
Interestingly, we could not find the name of the council department responsible for the unsatisfactory restoration work. When you try to access this information, online activists have found that the link to information about Liteiny District council’s municipal orders is a site … devoted to the occult.
Hoping to draw attention to the situation on Kirochnaya street, one of the residents of the northern capital has published a picture blog on Fontanka.ru, which compares the current situation to the aftermath of Nazi bombing on a besieged Leningrad. Joining the discussion was Alexander Shilovich, who works in the Communist Party faction at the Legislative Assembly of St. Petersburg. However, instead of trying to solve the problem, he told the author of the blog that it was demotivating and the comparison of the two buildings was incorrect. He advised disgruntled residents to write to the Standing Committee on Urban Affairs at the city council.
According to St Petersburgers discussing it online, the condition of the houses on the whole street is far from ideal, having been described as “very much neglected”.
Image from Fontanka.ru:
[Note: image text reads “St. Petersburg 2009-2012, Leningrad 1941-1945, Find ten differences”]
Comments from Ridus.ru:
Людмила А.:
The cultural capital. Cossacks patrol the Hermitage. Poltavchenko [Note: the acting governor] is St. Petersburg…
Наивная идеалистка:
Ruined.
I wonder how much money was ‘well spent’ on this to make it look so unsightly?
unas: (responding to above)
And what brings you to that conclusion? It’s more than likely that the contractor put scaffolding up, and when they didn’t get financial backing they safely removed it […]
Игорь Ковач: (responding to above)
According to everyone, the contractor literally said “I promise – three years of waiting”. However, the two aren’t mutually exclusive. Could be that either the customer or the contractor pocketed some money.
pindos666:
Beautiful! So vintage!
Comments from From Fontanka.ru:
Славянка:
What is it with this latest trend to compare construction to the blockade?
How can we begin to compare even the memory of the blockade with such nonsense. Is nothing sacred any more or are you too thick to come up with something else?
Cinde-rella: (responding to above)
Probably because Dresden suffered a lot more damage than this building, but Dresden was restored after three years.
олег1970: (responding to above)
Hm, well they rebuilt Dresden 40 years ago, and they’re still rebuilding some of it now.
soni:
I agree with the author! I thought this a few years back, I compared Kirochnaya street to the siege of Leningrad when I was going to the Finnish consulate. I still remember the rattle the sheet of ice on the gutter made and the confusion of pedestrians who didn’t know where or whether to run. The ice fell off the gutter at a right angle and fell at the edge of the pavement and the road. Not really on topic, but … Kirochnaya is very much neglected, if not the whole centre.
AIex:
Today nobody respects their ancestors. Everything falls apart, it’s all fucked, […] thank God there is not a filthy raghead mosque on every corner yet. But no matter, it’ll be sorted soon. In two or three generations.