[Banner reads, “Our disaster assembly area cannot be zoned for construction!”]
Construction vehicles that came this morning to build a parking lot on the area housing Moda Gezi Garden turned back after locals reacted.
Neighborhood dwellers that have set up tents upon the call of Caferağa Solidarity group say they do not want a car park or construction over their disaster assembly station.
Melis Özbakır from Caferağa Solidarity told bianet that the officials that arrived on the site showed them their business and work licenses for the parking lot.
Opponents of the parking lot started a petition in the vegetable garden requesting İstanbul Metropolitan Municipality to release the license and permits pertaining to the parking lot. The text states that the area has been marked out as an earthquake assembly station and that it is the only place in the region where the inhabitants of the neighborhood can get fresh air.
Kadıköy Municipality Technical Works Manager Mehmet Şengün told bianet they could exchange another correspondence with İstanbul Metropolitan Municipality to review the decision as a result of neighborhood residents’ protests against the parking lot.
The Solidarity announced a forum would take place at the garden at 8 pm.
Moda Gezi Vegetable Garden
The land in question lies next to Caferağa Neighborhood Administration and community clinic and belongs to the General Directorate of Foundations. According to information we gathered from related units of Kadıköy Municipality, it shows up as a fixed bazaar, a parking lot, a children’s park and a playground in the construction plan.
The same area appears as a disaster assembly and tent station on Kadıköy Municipality’s non-approved plans. This information is also found on the municipality website.
Özbakır said that the vegetable garden idea had long been on their minds, and that they had finally found the current spot at the end of their search for a location.
The transformation of the green area into a vegetable garden began in April. Kuzguncuk and İmrahor Gardens and Yeldeğirmeni Solidarity also helped with the transformation works started by Caferağa Solidarity.
They prepared the soil for planting at the end of April, planted the first seeds come May, and collected the produce two weeks ago at a harvest fest.
Parking lot
Mehmet Şengün said the person planning to build the parking lot rented the land from the Regional Directorate of Foundations and later procured the necessary permits to make a parking lot.
The lessee rented a 3.223-square-meter portion of the 11.775-square-meter area belonging to the Regional Directorate of Foundations. He or she also obtained a Transportation and Traffic Regulatory Commission (UTK) decision from İstanbul Metropolitan Municipality Transportation Coordination Directorate to use 600 square meters of the area as a parking lot.
İstanbul Metropolitan Municipality Headquarters (İBB) granted a business and work license to open a parking lot on the 600-square-meter area on July 22, 2014.
In line with these decisions, Kadıköy Municipality Directorate of Technical Works approved the request for ground works “done according to the provisions in the UTK decision and without damaging the environment.”
Technical Works Manager Şengün said the lessee had obtained the necessary permits and that Kadıköy Municipality does not have a say in the matter.
He said that they were evaluating the lessee’s decision concerning the greenery in the area set to be a parking lot together with the decisions and license at hand:
“The lessee wants to combine the 250 square meters of greenery of the 600 square meters da with hard soil and make it into a parking lot. It isn’t possible to park a car in the existing hard soil, so he wanted to make use of the green area to add to the width. The UTK ruled it could be done with ecologically friendly and rainwater-permeable material.” (BK/PU)
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