Chisinau resident discontented with name of Octavian Goga Street

The Municipal Committee for odonyms and memorial plaques refused on Tuesday January 23 to change the name of Octavian Goga into Irinopolskaia. The request was submitted by an inhabitant of Chisinau. Committee’s secretary Ana Raileanu said at the meeting that the petitioner, the citizen Platonova T., considers that Octavian Goga is “a fascist” and “and he does not deserve a street name, while the metropolitan bishop Irinopolski lived in Moldova and is buried here”. The members of the committee justified their refusal by the fact that changing a street name could create a precedent and could discontent other inhabitants. The chairman of the committee, deputy-mayor Petru Svet said that the name of the street can not be changed without taking into consideration the opinions of the other residents of the street, the merits of the person after whom a street will be named, and his contribution to the city. In case the name will be changed, the inhabitants will have to pay for changing their identity and ownership papers. The committee will ask the opinion of the Metropolitan Seat in what concerns the possible change of Street’s name into Irinopolski. O. Goga, former Irinopolskaia, is the name given to the street in 1991. The opinion of the aforementioned Committee can serve only as a recommendation. The final decision belongs to the Municipal Council. The committee examined at the same meeting the request of another citizen to change the name of the street and by-street Gherman Pantea because they are very close and often mixed up. The committee created a working group to discuss with the rest of the inhabitants. According to sources from the City Hall, no petition related to this issue was submitted since this name was given to the street and by-street 7 years ago.