New street in Chisinau named after famous filmmaker

The Chisinau Municipal Council (CMC) has named a new street of Chisinau’s Rascani district after the late artist Emil Loteanu. The street is placed in a block of one-storied houses, close to Calea Orheiului and Bucovinei streets. The new Emil Loteanu Street is neighboring other new streets, such as (Academician) Eugen Coseriu Str., (Mayor) Gheorghe Pantea Str., (writer) Valentin Rosca Str., (poetess) Olga Vrabie Str. and (singer) Petru Lescenco Street. At a previous CMC sitting this decision was postponed due to some opinions advising to honor such a renowned artist with a central street of the capital or at least to rename the Studentilor Str. of the same Rascani district after him. The district pretur opposed to this proposal saying that it would trouble the residents and businessmen, who would have to change their IDs and papers. Therefore, the municipal specialized Commission admitted that the pretur’s arguments are viable, “giving” the famous filmmaker another street from the district. Over the last years the Commission retained from changing streets’ names and didn’t endorse such proposals. According to Commission’s members, if the proposal to name a central street of Chisinau after Loteanu would have been accepted, it would have led to a precedent supporting other proposals of changing streets’ names. Previously, the communist councilors repeatedly demanded to change the names of multiple streets, insisting to name them after Soviet Army leaders: Tolbuhin, Belski, Berzarin and Timoshenko.