,,The lime was very big! It was a natural air conditioner that created coolness. This tree gave no indication of having a problem, it looked healthy”. Nelly Panova works in a shop on ul. “She was working at the shop on Bdin Street and witnessed the felling of the fifth tree within a few hundred meters in the centre of Varna. The case took place a month ago. Today, only the stump remains on the pavement – huge, healthy, in the shape of a flower, and without a trace of withering or disease.
When Nellie tries to find out the specific reason for removing the tree, a municipality official says they have an order and nothing can be done.
This linden is not the only tree cut down on the street. A few years ago, three more trees were removed, and this year, a month before the lime tree was cut down, one more. Not one has been planted in their place. Nor is there any indication it will be done, because the stumps of the old ones have not been removed. The concern of those living and working in the area is that the street will soon be treeless.
People here are also unhappy about the shoddy pruning. Most of the crowns of the remaining trees on the street are also gone. Only ugly trunks are sticking out.
‘They come, they prune and they leave. And there they go – the stumps remain. This street was one of the coolest in the summer. Now half of it is left without trees because somebody just doesn’t do their job,” people complain.
Ivan Yanakiev, whose home is located meters away from the newly cut linden tree, reported the case to the mayor of Odessos district. The Municipality of Varna was also notified. The people ask that the stumps of the old trees be removed and new ones planted in their place. They are ready to bear the costs of planting and to take care of the new trees. However, for more than three weeks they have received no reply from either the large municipality or the district hall that their request will be granted.
The Public Centre for Environment and Sustainable Development also made an inquiry a week ago to the Municipality about the issue, but we have not received a response yet.
“We are ready to plant a tree with our own funds, but we do not have the technical capacity to uproot the stump and we do not have the legal right. In its place we can plant a linden tree again, because they grow very fast”, say the people of ul. “Bdin”.
Two weeks ago, during a special briefing, the mayor of the Odessos district, Yanislava Shopova, announced that an inspection of trees in the area was about to take place. She assured that in order to compensate for the felled tree vegetation, 96 new trees will be planted in place of the already uprooted stumps. There will be no trees on the street. “However, in the centre of Bdin Street, only trees have been cut down, without planting, both in recent months and in recent years.
But the people of “Bdin” do not intend to give up, but to seek justice through all legal channels. Until at least one new tree is planted on this site.
