Yesterday's protest the local president of Kythera Manolis Kusouri aroused the interest of many of our fellow citizens, on the well-known problem of waste management in the beautiful capital of our island. Unfortunately this protest seems to have pissed off our mayor, who, instead of replying on the matter to Koussouris, made a power display suspension, showcasing projects of the Municipality in the area. Other words to love each other as our fellow countrywoman Evie Daponte wrote.
I will not address the content of the Mayor's post. After all, we will have time to discuss the issue of public works substantially and thoroughly in the next few months. I will dwell on the way of dealing with and behaving towards an honest, hard-working and conscientious fellow citizen, the president of the capital. Manolis Koussouris needs no introduction to his fellow citizens. We know very well who he is. So he has dared to protest against indifference of the administration to a chronic problem, that could have been solved yesterday. And what did the Mayor do?; He practically despised him and did not answer him. But he had the desire and the time to follow the comments of his fellow citizens on Facebook and respond to them, invoking any fanciful argument, irrelevant to the merits, that would amuse the negative impressions of the president's protest.
This is exactly the problem with our Mayor. Instead of honoring and responding directly, as he should, to a Cypriot and an elected one at that, chose once again to «hang» himself under Facebook posts to soothe his own anger. What should he do in such a case (as in other disputes in the past)? Come out publicly (or even privately) and respond like this:
«Dear Manolis, you are right to complain about such a matter. I must admit, despite the great interest and interventions of our administration in your community, we failed to address it earlier. I invite you to my office on Monday morning, and in the presence of the head of the technical department, we will try to find a solution to the problem together, immediately. If you want to walk through the countryside with me after our meeting, you can point out other problems and talk to the residents, so that I can have a better view of the daily life of the villagers. Thank you, because despite the sharp tone of your protest, you have raised a problem for which I personally am particularly sensitive.
Yours sincerely, Stratos»
This, I think, should have been the reaction of our Mayor, who, when he was elected and when he was re-elected, was saying: «I was elected to be Mayor of all Kytheria and Antikythera».
The Problem with our mayor I think it's social. He lives isolated from society, he does not go out to talk to his citizens, to listen to their concerns, to record the issues of everyday life.. It has delegated most of the administrative work to a army of highly paid consultants, has restrict the functioning of the administrative bodies taking advantage of the undemocratic provisions imposed in the name of the coronavirus and has been trapped in the contrived public sphere of Facebook on a 24-hour basis. It has been completely transformed into an avatar that ’lives and breathes« on the cable of a broadband connection. That is how I can understand his inability to communicate and work with the local president and every citizen. He does not live in our society and he can't carry on his back the concerns, the concerns of our fellow citizens. And it is now evident that it is afraid to get involved with citizens in their daily lives.
I have said this many times in the past, both to him and in my public statements about him. Our Mayor, Stratos, has tremendous skills, wit and training. But that alone is not enough.. When you lead a local community you have to have empathy. To contribute to a meeting process. Trying to match your breath with your fellow citizens.
Ο Manolis Kusouris is one of those people who you can win from the first moment. He is a Tsirigot who like all of us either a little or a lot, we accepted, supported, supported, trusted Stratos as our Mayor. That is why it deserves a better treatment. All of us in Chirigo deserve better treatment from our elected servants.
Stratos ought to be closer to us. We may not be Theodoricaks, Petses and Patoulis to chase them from behind for face-to-face meetings (while city councilors cannot), but we are the citizens by whom he was elected to serve and endure. Otherwise he should understand that the Kytherian society is not given, such as given the job that has been assigned to him by our people.
So I hope that tomorrow morning the bell rings telephone of Kusouri and have this heard: «Manolis, I'm waiting for you in the office to solve the problem.».
Have a good week.
P.S.1
In the article I chose to put a photo from Lefkada with a small, elegant construction that protects and delimits the bins, as an example that we can follow in all settlements, especially in places where the bins are particularly exposed to the winds.
P.S.2
It should be noted that the Community of Kythera is not only Chora and Kapsali. Kythera Community is also Kalamos, for which there have been many complaints of negligence by the authorities lately. Let our local politicians take note of this as a whole.
