The Sofia Municipality has sent an official request to the Speaker of the National Assembly, Mrs. Raya Nazaryan, and to the Director of the State Security Service, Chief Commissioner Lyubomir Nikolov, to release the terrain next to the temple-monument "St. Alexander Nevsky", which currently functions as a guarded "security zone" and official parking lot of the parliament.
The letter sent by Mayor Vasil Terziev emphasizes that the special regime was introduced by a decision of the National Assembly, therefore its cancellation can only be carried out by the parliament. Sofia Municipality declares readiness immediately after the release of the terrain to install the necessary vertical signaling and restore the space as part of the "Blue Zone" – for the benefit of citizens, visitors to the cathedral, the National Gallery “Square 500“ and the buildings of the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences.
“The site is located in an extremely valuable and busy urban area with high public importance. Therefore, it is appropriate for the space to be returned to a city-wide function for the benefit of citizens and visitors to the central city area. Sofia Municipality is fully prepared to assist in the organization of follow-up actions after the special regime is lifted“, stated Mayor Terziev in his address to Nazaryan.
Over the years, the space around the cathedral, one of the most emblematic places in the capital, gradually ceased to fulfill its function as a city-wide public space. Instead of being accessible to citizens and visitors to cultural institutions in the area, the terrain is used in a limited mode, introduced as a “security zone“, but in fact turned into a closed parking lot, without applying the rules for paid parking valid for other urban spaces.
In the first days of his mandate, Mayor Terziev decided to designate the area around “St. Alexander Nevski“ as a pedestrian zone, which ended the passage of cars and the long-standing practice of using it as an unregulated parking lot. Later, the National Assembly designated one part as a security zone and thus limited the pedestrian urban space.
The municipality expects the parliamentary leadership to take the necessary actions as soon as possible.