I want a face-to-face conversation - I don't know what the motives are. I have come across a lot of interests, but I can't draw the conclusion without evidence that this has anything to do with the mayor's attitude towards me.
This was stated in "The Day Begins" by the Chief Architect of Sofia, Arch. Bogdana Panayotova, after the requested resignation by Mayor Vasil Terziev.
"I haven't had a conversation with him because I was in the hospital until now. I have already been discharged and am receiving home treatment. We haven't had a conversation, I think the desire for one is mutual and it should be held after I return to work. The strange thing is that I have supported the creation of the position of Deputy Mayor for Urban Planning from the very beginning, even before the competition, since February, when it was clear that the mayor took the rights he is entitled to by law - to approve urban development plans.
I am not convinced that this should be the reason, because the creation in this form is really not very clear whether it is legal, whether some of the rights are not seized with the special law of the chief architect, but I do not think that it is appropriate for me to comment on it. I do not think that I have a conflict with him about this. My only desire is to retain a large part of the team that remains with the chief architect, due to the absolute impossibility of doing work with half the number of full-time employees," said the arch. Bogdana Panayotova.
According to Panayotova, the mayor's idea with the new structure "puts the chief architect in complete inability to perform his true functions under the law, and I prove this with a rather serious report and opinion to the SOS."
"The control over construction, urban planning, design and everything according to the law on territorial planning is actually assigned to the chief architect. In this case, these control rights are being taken away," she pointed out.
Regarding the appointment of architect Lyubo Georgiev as deputy mayor for urban planning, Panayotova commented:
"I don't know him personally, I have only met him once, and that, speaking for the sake of the structure, was more than a month and a half ago. I don't know if it's possible and how we would work with him, because I personally don't know exactly what his functions will be, I don't know exactly what his thinking is, because even from the structure itself this is not clear and not motivated."
Architect Panayotova did not deny that many interests have "come".
"The position is quite serious in relation to the main problem, which is in Sofia with the huge construction, with the lack of infrastructure, with the lack of a good urban environment. Of course, it is normal to be between many interests - both public and pressure from investors and business. When I started working, we had a serious conversation, with which we made mutual commitments, I think I tried to keep them, in the way I worked - to have greater publicity, transparency, inclusion of the public interest directly, disclosure of everything that happens. I don't think that I have in any way violated my promises and my request that I made at the time. Of course, there were a lot of violated interests. Of course, there are things that were not disclosed - suspension of quite large sites, projects on my part."
The chief architect of Sofia emphasized that the motives for the requested resignation are not clear to her.
"It seems to me to be a rather frivolous disagreement with a structure, which obviously the structure is not only disagreeing with me, but also with industry organizations and with the SOS. I want to hear directly in the eyes in a conversation what the motives could be, have I gone too far and violated commitments that I made for transparency, for stopping construction, for something else, because it is not clear to me, I cannot say."