The Grigor Kochar Street in front of the Yerevan Dramatic Theatre is
totally surrounded by blue cover-up bags. The street is being
destructed with the purpose of becoming an alley (by the way, last year
the Linsie Foundation had funded for the asphalting of the same
street). According to sources, the street will be completely turned
into an alley with the initiative taken by the Central District.
Obviously, trees and flowers need to be planted here. The workers think
the following way: “It is going to be something like the Cascade. There
will be fountains and cafes.” Basically, the alley will include nine
fir trees and cafes. We found out from the workers that there will be a
narrow road for the flow of cars (starting from the Central Election
Committee building). The artistic director of the Yerevan Dramatic
Theatre Armen Khandikyan is not against the initiative taken by the
district council if, of course, the “recreational zone” gets built.
“Finally, the booths selling barbecue and kebab will be removed from
that street,” says A. Khandikyan. The thing is that until today, the
people eating near those booths then come and fulfill their sanitary
needs at the Dramatic Theatre. “It will be good if that gets
eliminated, “continues A. Khandikyan, “besides, the street will be
beautified.
According to some constructors, the neighboring buildings are not
secured by the presence of a “recreational zone”. If, God forbid, there
is a fire at the theatre or the building of the Central Election
Committee, then it will be hard to imagine how the fire truck will
enter the street foreseen for flow of transportation. We got informed
from the reception hall of the Central district council that the
“recreational zone” will be called the “Moscovyan alley”. One of the
workers of the reception hall told us that the rest of the information
could be received from the vice district chief Gagik Gyanjumyan,
however, we did not get the chance to talk with him.
The Armenian “elite” will gather in a tunnel from now on
There is another street closed with blue cover-up bags and it is in
front of the “Main Post station” on Saryan Street. Sources say that the
street has to be connected to one section of the underground tunnel
where construction is also going on there (the tunnel leads to the
Hrazdan gorge). According to facts, the “elite group” is being
constructed in that part of the tunnel. That part will be united with
that side of the street and the club will continue from there. The same
sources say that the building belongs to “Dali Voyage” INC. In order to
confirm the information given, we called “Dali Voyage” INC. The worker
who talked to us promised to transfer our phone number to the owner.
However, we never received a response from him. When we tried to call
the company the next day, the same worker responded: “I gave him the
information about you and your phone number. I transfer everything to
him. If he finds some time, he will call you.”
We tried finding out from the city council about what they know about
the construction. Vice director of the Architecture and Urbanization
department Boris Kocharyan told us over the telephone that he is not
informed about the construction and said that we should call around 3-4
o’clock and he will give an exact answer. We called during that time
but the phone would not pick up. The head of the same department and
chief architect Samvel Danielyan was not able to give an interview.
However, his secretary promised to give our telephone number to Mr.
Danielyan and our question. We did not receive any response.
People live in front of the tunnel (there is no water in the fountain).
In the winter, those people take refuge in the tunnel, in particular in
the new neighboring building. It seems that the people wandering around
will have to find another place to stay during the winter because it is
quite possible that the “Armenian elite” will gather in their “old
hostel”.