Bakoyannis: Athens acquires new culture to face the great challenges of the 21st century | POLICY
The mayor of Athens, Costas Bakogiannis, spoke today (23/11) at a panel of the Forum CEO Initiative 2021, organized for the third year by Fortune Greece.
“For many years we were hostages of taboos and ideologies. We called it the “good public sector”, the “bad private sector” or vice versa. “I say that ‘it does not matter what color the cat is, as long as it catches the mice,'” Mr. Bakoyannis stressed.
He also stressed that the culture of cooperation is the future and this future is already here. Through the “Adopt Your City” program, we have collaborated with more than 130 companies, institutions and organizations and we have succeeded from a Pocket Park to Omonia Square. “This new culture, this new mentality, is the future.”
According to the mayor of Athens, the city will finally be able to enter the 21st century with the cooperation of all: citizens, institutions, products. “The hard truth is that we are coming from a decade of crisis and timidity and now we have to run so that we can make up for lost time,” he said.
He then referred to specific actions and projects of the municipality in this direction, which are: “Through our new digital platform https://eservices.cityofathens.gr/, he said, today we have about 120 new digital services. This means that we have completely changed the relationship between the citizen and the municipality.
A second example is the sensors on the ramps. Those of us who move to Athens are well aware of the problem. But we can not have a municipal police officer in every corner. But, we can – and I promise you this today – have, since the beginning of December, 1,000 sensors on 1,000 ramps, so that the Municipal Police can be informed immediately.
The third example has to do with electric lighting. Our city, unfortunately, has gaps. We have already proceeded and will contract the project next February or March. It is a very big project worth 53.6 million euros: 43,000 luminaires in the city are changed and become led, so we will have a significant energy upgrade.
At the same time, we will have “smart” lighting, that is, we will no longer wait for a fault to be reported, which we detect automatically, and finally, we will have huge savings in the next decade. “
Bakoyannis: Appointment at Christmas 2022 for the Great Walk
Answering a question about the work of the Great Walk, Mr. Bakoyannis gave “an appointment at Christmas. Not this Christmas, but next year, when our projects will be completed because we are moving forward with our planning, step by step. The first step was Omonia Square, which is a new square. The nature of the second largest square in the city has completely changed. The second step is Syntagma Square. We are talking about the green, sustainable redesign of the lower part of the square. In 2-3 months at the latest it is completed
The third step is the new University, which will start at the weekend and will be completed in the next 14 months. Overall, our goal, which is not only ours, is a vision of urban planners and planners from the 80’s, when it was first set by Antonis Tritsi, is summarized as follows: The reunification of Syntagma Square with Omonia Square, so that to be able to beat the heart of the shopping center again, to be able to beat the heart of Athens again “.
Finally, the mayor of Athens, when asked about the initiative of the Municipality of Athens to appoint a Chief Heat Officer, according to the standards of Miami, USA, said: “For us, dealing with the climate crisis is at the” heart “of every decision. It has to do with the tile on the sidewalk, with the pocket parks that do not change a city, but change a neighborhood. It has to do with the new trees we plant, for example, we will plant more than 80 new large trees at the University and about 30 at Syntagma. It also does not do the way we operate and use projects on Lycabettus Hill, the National Garden, or what is expected on Strefi Hill and Plato’s Academy. For us, this is a new philosophy, a new approach “.
The panel also included Vassilis Stavrou, President and CEO of AB Vassilopoulos, Maria Anargyrou Nikolic, General Manager of Coca Cola Hellenic Greece and Cyprus and Mary Valsama, General Manager of Laundry & Home Care of Henkel Greece and Cyprus, who referred to specific practices followed today by their companies around the circular economy.