Locals fight for Kypseli park
Residents of the most densely populated area of Greece – the Athenian neighborhood of Kypseli – revealed yesterday that they are planning to take legal action against the City of Athens over its plans to build an underground parking lot on the site of a park. There is only 2 square meters of green space for each Kypseli resident and the locals appear determined to halt the plans to alter the park on the corner of Patission and Kyprou streets, which has 44 trees that are more than 100 years old. Work on the site is due to begin in March. Campaigners began collecting signatures for a petition this week and plan to appeal to the country’s highest administrative court, the Council of State, as soon as a building permit for the parking lot is issued. The neighborhood’s residents have a successful record of taking action against construction in Kypseli as they recently prevented plans to demolish the old municipal market on Fokionos Negri Street and replace it with a parking lot.
