Uzhgorod was, is, and for many years will remain the sakura capital of Transcarpathia – Andriyiv

The claims in some media that Mukachevo has become the sakura capital of Transcarpathia this year caused a storm of discussions and all kinds of judgments. Bohdan Andriyiv, the Mayor of Uzhgorod, weighed in on his Facebook page.

– Recently, one of the Internet publications published (deliberately or not – I’m not going to analyze) the biased piece that Uzhgorod allegedly has lost the status of the sakura capital of Transcarpathia. For those, who have been following this topic in recent years, the absolute groundlessness of such "sensational" claims is quite obvious. Instead, the issue of sakuras, as well as greening in general, is important for our city and therefore deserves another clarification for our citizens. So, here are some numbers.
As of the beginning of 2017, there were several thousand sakuras in the city, the oldest of which were planted in the 1920s-30s. In accordance with the current legislation, the average age limit for trees and shrubs in green plantations of settlements is 45 years for streets, passages, squares and 70 years for parks. Thus, the oldest sakuras on the streets of Uzhgorod have exceeded the age limit more than twice and, according to all rules of care for green plantations, should have been long replaced. In particular, such practices are observed in all European cities. Of course, there are exceptions for individual, unique, historical trees (the oldest tree in the city, trees associated with historical events, etc.) that are preserved even if they have exceeded the age limit, but are still relatively healthy and do not pose a permanent direct threat to people.
Due to a number of reasons, in the last decades, little attention has been paid to the issue of landscaping in the city – new trees were planted chaotically and unsystematically, and the old ones were not properly cared for.
Since the end of 2016, the authorities have revised approaches to the lanscaping of the city. In particular, in 2017 alone, we planted more than 700 trees of various species, including more than 100 sakuras. In the autumn of last year, within the framework of the arrangement of green spaces in the central part of the city in the "Galagov" quarter, with a meticulous approach to assessing the condition of each individual tree, only 12 (!) dry or semi-dry sakuras were cut, while more than 200 trees were planted, including over 100 sakura saplings.

In view of the above, I think it is quite obvious that the current authorities approach the issue of preserving our unique feature – the green face of Uzhgorod – very cautiously and reasonably. And to those, who dream of moving the capital of exotic trees from our city, I want to say – Uzhgorod was, is, and for many years will remain the sakura capital of not only Transcarpathia, but all of Ukraine!