Playgrounds in Sector 1 may be closed, says Mayor Clotilda Armand in an interview with HotNews.ro readers, because there is no more money in her budget for maintenance. “This is because the PSD and PNL councilors cut almost all the money from the green spaces, which included the maintenance of the playgrounds, because of the amendment.”

“In the same section of the budget, where I have green spaces, I also have the maintenance of children’s playgrounds. They left 20 million of the 200-250 million lei that were in the previous mandates,” says Clotilda Armand. “I paid the bills with 20 million since December. After paying these bills, we unblocked the orders for January and February, and now we are unable to provide even basic services such as playground maintenance. From April 1, we will also close playgrounds, because there is nothing left in this section of the budget,” explained the mayor of Sector 1 of the UDR.

“If we cannot provide a professional service, I, as mayor, will not undertake it”

Answering the question about which repair works need to be carried out urgently and without which the sites cannot function, the mayor says that it is about elements that are worn out and need to be replaced:

• “There are some mechanisms on the sites that are constantly being checked, and the moment something comes loose or a part breaks, a repair team arrives immediately, but with those parts that belong to the company that installed our equipment.”

• “That is, they do not improvise with the sites. And these services, which are not only in non-stop mode, but also with some spare parts that are certified, that is, everything is professional.”

• “If we can’t provide a professional service, I’m not going to count myself lucky as mayor and not have this game broken.”

“I mean, obviously, some people might say, well, improvise with the ADP staff and put a screw in there that’s going to work. We don’t do that, if they are not professionally maintained and repaired, we close them,” Clotilde Armand explained.

“We still have electricity because we prayed to our service provider”

The mayor says that he took the problem to the opposition deputies, but they did not agree with the proposed budget amendment.

“We have already come five or six times with amendments to the budget, which would adjust the budget so that it becomes legal. And still they don’t vote. In City Hall, we no longer have elevators, we no longer have cleaning, we no longer have security, we still have electricity because we prayed to the one who provides us with services,” concluded Mayor Clotilde Armand.

The full interview with Clotilde Armand will be published by HotNews.ro on Friday.