The government will demolish the former MSZMP headquarters on state land in Miskolc. Negotiations with the left-wing mayor on the utilization of the area have been going on since February, but now a protest is being organized against the unexpected decision. The successor party MSZP collects signatures - and of course builds a database - Magyar Hírlap .
One of the valuable downtown areas of Miskolc is becoming greener and more livable, the former state party's headquarters in Miskolc will be demolished - announced the government official in charge of the Borsod-Abaúj-Zemplén County Government Office last Wednesday. Zoltán Alakszai said: the former property of the MSZMP will be demolished at the initiative of Fidesz, with the support of two billion forints from the government, and a community park can be built in its place.
Katalin Csöbör, the Fidesz parliamentary representative from Miskolc, spoke about the fact that, although there was earlier talk of restoring and remodeling the building, this would cost much more than demolition. The final decision on the recycling of the area will be made with the involvement of architects, and the needs of the people of Miskolc will also be taken into account, emphasized the representative.
Zoltán Alakszai recalled that in the 1970s the MSZMP took the area from the people of Miskolc and built a party headquarters on it, to which the Borsod-Abaúj-Zemplén county, district and city party committees moved. After the regime change, an international trade center (ITC) operated in the building, which is now largely empty. The development serves both the interests of the people of Miskolc and the restoration of one of the sacred centers of the city, the government will return the area that the party state once took from the people of Miskolc, Alakszai said.
On his social media page, the government agent wrote: "Lenin hopefully leaves the city for good." The former party headquarters is the last publicly owned building with a carved Lenin relief in one of its rooms. On Monday, the government commissioner reported that they had continued the negotiations with Mayor Pál Veres, which began in February. "We agree that the complex development of the area can be a major step forward for Miskolc," he emphasized.
In the light of the negotiations that began in February, it is interesting that the local left-wing press evaluated the announcement as a surprise, and that the city administration reacted to it as well. The statement of the three deputy mayors was published by Borsodihir.hu, the summary of which is that "the city of Miskolc does not support the demolition of the ITC headquarters". Vice-mayor Andrea Varga stated that they consider it unacceptable that "the city administration learns from social media about a decision made above the heads of the profession and the people of Miskolc".
The issue of demolishing, renovating, or reusing a building can of course never, under any circumstances, be a political issue, it cannot be decided on an ideological basis, because this brings back bad memories of times when regimes destroyed buildings in Hungary for religious, political, or ethnic reasons," he warned. Tibor Szopkó, temporary deputy mayor, indicated that the city administration is investigating the possibility of initiating a local referendum. Deputy mayor Lajos Badány urged the disclosure of professional materials supporting the demolition, as well as the involvement of independent architects.
After all this, the socialist Simon Gábor, leader of the Velünk a Város faction, launched a petition against the demolition of the headquarters "Building instead of destruction! Let's save the ITC headquarters!" with the title, according to the justification, the demolition is senseless and a waste of public property, moreover "the environment of the people living there would be repeatedly polluted by the destruction of the building" (?).
The petition can be found on the MSZP website, and its signatories authorize their personal data to be handled by the party...
By the way, it is worth paralleling the ideas of the left-wing deputy mayor Andrea Varga about "badly remembered times" that, according to the rumor, the party headquarters was built opposite the church at the time, and one of the commentators under Zoltán Alakszai's post reminded that there were times when the party building to the church to be disturbed by the ringing of the bell. True, the father answered well, "sorry, we were here first" and hung up.
Photo: local government representative Simon Gábor – minap.hu
