New town plan dashes hopes for Elefsina’s open spaces
A group of Elefsina residents are gathered at the home of a friend, and the discussion is animated. «Remember walking along the seashore on Sundays and going for a dip in the harbor in summer?» asks one. «What about going fishing at Vrachakia, meetings at Faro, and the view of Salamina?» says another. Suddenly they fall silent and gaze out of the window. But all they see is a dim reminder of the childhood memories. In an area linked for centuries to the sea, residents no longer have beach access, while chimneys belch out smoke and cement reigns. Iris and Cronos Now the city’s two remaining two open spaces are under threat: the Iris park, a 3.5-hectare expanse of venerable eucalyptus trees, named after the paint factory that used to operate on the site, and Cronos, a former liquor factory whose buildings have been listed for preservation as monuments of industrial architecture. The new Elefsina town plan drawn up by the Athens Town Planning Organization (OPSA), which took into consideration reports by the municipality and the prefecture, designates the Iris-Cronos area as a built-up area. Cronos has lost its designation of a public space and there are plans to use it for recreational purposes (sources say some businesses have already expressed interest). As for the Iris park, it is destined to be the site of 93 houses (it has already been bought by the workers’ housing organization OEK). «OPSA’s proposals are disastrous, they mean the beginning of the end for the seashore,» Dinos Roussis told Kathimerini. Roussis is a member of the committee aiming to secure the public character of Elefsina beach and the adjacent areas. «We propose that the archaeological sites of Elefsina be joined to these two expanses so that there is historical continuity. But in order to achieve that, the sites must remain free. We want Cronos to be listed for preservation in its entirety and be put to public use as a culture center or industrial museum, and for Iris to remain a natural park. We never forget that Elefsina was once celebrated for its fruitfulness and not for its profitability,» said Roussis. The committee has already appealed to the Council of State against the decision to build houses in the Iris park (the case will be heard on March 23). Meanwhile, after protests from residents, the municipality has rejected the study of the environmental effects according to which the eucalyptus would remain untouched after the houses were built.» «We aren’t in contention with OEK,» said Roussis, «but they can’t put up that many buildings without cutting down the trees. If that happens, the area’s last source of oxygen will disappear and the only green space left in Elefsina will be the cemetery.» In recent years, the committee has gained the support of most residents, who notice that promises made to revamp the beach and link the city to the sea again after it was so brutally cut off have not been implemented. «Everyone can see that these buildings are an adornment and should not be spoiled by other uses. Already a ship hull repair business has been set up in front of Cronos and in the area has become an industrial zone, which will make matters worse,» said Roussis. The entire seafront of Elefsina is the property of the Port Authority. Only 30 meters of it is accessible to the residents, and even that isn’t suitable for swimming. «Yet we have a right to walk along the beach,» states Roussis. The sea and the remaining industrial buildings are the life and future of this city.» The dream Those on the committee dream of a clean sea, the old buildings as culture centers or museums, the Iris park as a place for walking, the main port transferred to Pyrkal, and the residents of Western Attica flocking to the shore for a stroll. In short, they want Elefsina to be a culture and tourist center worthy of a city with a history of 2,400 years. And even if all that doesn’t happen, surely the holiest place of antiquity, the city of Mysteries, one of the most important industrial centers in modern Greece, and the city of Aeschylus and Sikelianos deserves a park.
