Penza, 19 May 2015. PenzaNews. On Tuesday, May 19, the well-known Internet activist Ilya Varlamov posted an article in his blog titled “Bad Penza.”

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The activist, known in the blog sphere as Zyalt, speaks about the shortcomings of the city, which he noticed during his visit to Penza on May 16-17, at the initiative of the organizers of “Jazz May.”

“Penza is mundane. An ordinary provincial town that does not stand out in anything particularily. The local problems can hardly surprise anyone. It is difficult to say that Penza has something of the worst or the best kind in Russia,” he wrote in the beginning of his article.

He noted that the first thing that immediately catches the visitor’s eye is a destroyed underpass at the Penza-1 railway station, where one can easily twist an ankle.

“One of the main problems of Penza is a huge amount of visual rubbish on the streets. And it’s not about the city backyards, but the downtown. The outdoor advertising has free reign. There are no arrangement standards of facades and storefronts in the city. They could have at least ban installing the outdoor ads on landmarks,” Ilya Varlamov noted, illustrating the words with photos of historic buildings of the former meat arcade and Gostiny Dvor shopping center, all covered with advertising banners.

“Doesn’t the Penza mayor feel ashamed?” Ilya Varlamov inquired.

The well-known blogger believes that another city problem is an absurd and inappropriate modern architecture. He sited the example of the shopping center “SaniMart.”

“The Penza architecture is quite strange. For the past several years, something is constantly burning in Penza. At present they are less frequent, though – there is almost nothing left to burn. The old wooden buildings have almost disappeared from the city. The local residents can hardly be surprised by fires, they’ve gotten used to it,” the activist clarified.

He added that the city authorities are also very passionate about the demolition of old buildings and the ruining monuments are only patched and painted.

“No wonder. The city is governed by ordinary barbarians who do not respect its history. The things that would attract tourists, the things that would make our children proud, are demolished and burned by Penza authorities. There is no preservation of the historical environment. It’s a pity,” Ilya Varlamov stressed.

He also noted that the city embankment is empty and broken, the river Sura is dirty, many houses in the center still have no facilities, and there is no pavement in the streets.

“The public transport is a mess. The city used to have a lot of minibuses, but due to the fact that the municipal carrier ‘Penza passenger transportation’ went bankrupt, they began to pop up like mushrooms. In total, the city currently has 66 public transport routes (83 last year). The transport ratio is as follows: 115 buses and 65 trolley buses against 784 minibuses,” the online activist explained.

According to him, new houses in Penza “are as miserable as everywhere, for the most part,” and the apartment panel houses are cast in asphalt and parking lots with no yards.

“Penza has a lot of garbage, and as a result, there are illegal dumps. Apparently, it is common for the city. When the people find a representative of the management company and ask why there is so much garbage in the yard which is not even dumped by them, the person replies that there are too many landowners. Therefore, the management company will not engage in such nonsense as garbage collection. Generally, if you look at some local news website, you will see a lot of articles dedicated to garbage, the stench, the stench of the garbage, and so on,” the blogger wrote.

He also noted that in Penza, instead of small trash cans with lids, there are huge containers that emit unpleasant odors and facilitate the spread of garbage around the area.

Ilya Varlamov also wrote about the Lermontov regional library located in a modern building.

“I love libraries, so I went there right away to see what happened. And what I saw was some kind of a barn. The reception area is piled with ad leaflets of jewelry stores, some brothels and fishy caterings. The library itself is more like a hospital. It is difficult to imagine a more repulsive interior. The white hospital walls, the shimmering artificial lights, the staff wearing blue robes… Even the floors are bleached. I even expected to see a dentist’s office a door away,” the activist shared his impressions.

He said that the library charges 31 rubles 50 kopecks for the Internet access, and the cost of services is calculated by hand.

“You can buy seedlings at the library entrance. These seedlings are basically the only thing why you would come to the Penza library. I believe that in a few years the library staff will transform it in some market,” the blogger expressed his opinion.