The newly elected mayor of Athens, Charis Doukas – who only a few weeks ago defeated the incumbent mayor, Kostas Bakogiannis – intervened in the public discourse to condemn the cutting of trees that is currently being carried out at Exarchia, Athens’ hip and grungy inner city burb.
As the newly elected mayor put it “every tree that is cut down in Athens takes away breaths of life”.
Doukas asked the contractor company to “immediately stop the cutting operations and present the comprehensive plan for the transplantation of trees and their sustainability.”
Athens’ new mayor elevated the issue with a Facebook post, in which he described his opposition to the cutting of trees at Exarchia.
Doukas posted “Every tree that is cut down takes away breaths of life” and that “human life is above any structure no matter how important it is.”
Doukas has not opposed key landmark decisions by the outgoing mayor made, such as the establishment of an underground tube station at Exarchia, or the building of a new sports city for Panathinaikos FC.
The incident reflects that the transition teams of the two mayors have not been coordinated properly, over the city’s green policies. Doukas has pledged multiple times that he plans on planting more than 5,000 trees per year around Athens.
Exarchia has been at the forefront of public debate over urban policy and public safety, exactly because of the area’s unique characteristics. Exarchia remains a neighborhood with an ingrained protest culture, and although Doukas does not object to the establishment of the tube station – as did the leftwing fractions which competed for Athens’ mayorship – he wants the area to retain its cultural ethos, without compromising its progress.
