Kaladze Supports Hollywood-Style 'Tbilisi' Sign for Mtatsminda

At this week’s City Hall meeting, Mayor Kakha Kaladze discussed the new initiative “Your Idea for the City Mayor.” The project was announced in December of last year and launched in February. On Wednesday, Kaladze said that City Hall is seriously considering some of the initiatives proposed by citizens through the online platform.

Kaladze mentioned two ideas in particular – adding a clock onto the Ferris wheel at Mtatsminda Park, and putting an inscription on the side of Mtatsminda saying ‘Tbilisi.’

Some ideas have been selected and are in the process of implementation.

“In the nearest future we will see devices for feeding animals in the capital and we will soon start waste management,” noted the mayor. The online platform allows people to ‘like’ certain ideas, and the ideas with high number of likes are considered.

Kaladze explained, “I delegated the head of Tbilservice to conduct market research and look for opportunities to implement [the projects with high numbers of likes] and to calculate approximate expenses.” International companies Philips and iGuzzini have expressed interest in the Ferris wheel project. “We are discussing the issues of implementation, although Rustavi 2 mistakenly reported…[that] an agreement had been concluded. We will give our all to implement a meaningful project like this. The vision of the project’s author was utterly interesting as well. While describing the project, he said that the Ferris wheel will become a business card for the city and may be attractive in terms of tourism, which I definitely agree,” said the mayor.

The idea to put ‘Tbilisi,’ in English and Georgian, on Mtatsminda is being evaluated by the Council on Historic Cultural Heritage. “I think this inscription will be catchy against the backdrop of our city and will attract tourists’ attention,” said Kaladze, “however, we have to table this issue to the Council on Historic Cultural Heritage under Tbilisi City Hall, since Mtatsminda Mountain is located within a historic-cultural area. We do not know yet whether this project is possible.”

Kaladze called for citizens to submit their best ideas to Tbilisi City Hall for consideration.

The online proposal submission platform is available here (only in Georgian).

By Samantha Guthrie

Photo: Tbilisi City Hall

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