Street furniture will be replaced in the center of Odessa

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                    New street furniture will appear in the center of Odessa over the year. All bus stops, benches, trash cans, flowerbeds, street lights and kiosks will be replaced by new and carried out in one style. As "Segodnya" newspaper states, big changes are awaiting for the outdoor advertising: all advertising vehicles will be fetched down and replaced with new.

 Yesterday, an exhibition of design projects of street furniture for central part of Odessa, which took place starting from 30 of May in the exhibition of the seaport buildings. The Bureau of Esthetics and Welfare of  the city had been accepting project offers for improvement of the central part of Odessa (porto-franko zone) for more than three month. The total of 8 companies took part in the competition.

 Majority of contestants made an emphasis on the fact that furniture needs to blend with the overall look of the city, being "invisible" against the background of architectural masterpieces of city's center. There were forged benches, cast-iron trash-cans and old-looking information boards.

 Besides that, one of the firms suggested to put bronze sculptures of policemen and street traders, which would add to the traditional look of the city. Only a few contestants offered to put hi-Tec styled furniture in  Odessa. And the city will not spend a dime on new  street furniture.

 Contestants offer to furnish the city center  for free. Also the manufacturing, installation and maintenance of all elements will be paid for with money, which will come from the advertisements, put onto the furniture.

 Today and tomorrow the exhibition will be closed for regular visitors, so the tender committee could visit it. It is expected that the winner will be announced on the 8^th of May. According to the jury chairman, Mr. Mikhail Reva, the right to develop Odessa streets will be given to those, whose project will be the most interesting. "The strongest one will win!", - he said.

 One of the companies, which took part in the exhibition, calculated that 469 benches, 452 street lights, 592 flowerbeds, 7 clocks, 341 telephone booth, 164 bus stops, 220 kiosks, 4 restrooms, 1257 trash cans and 823 advertising vehicles are needed.

 Other contestants offered to include bicycle stops, pavement barriers, and decorative barriers for sycamore to the list of street furniture.

Source: news.liga.net