The demolition of a 40-year-old municipal building is ongoing

The old municipal building, which has been serving in Balıkesir for about 40 years, is being demolished due to earthquake risk. The building, which has been used as the municipal service building in Balıkesir since the 1980s, served the Karesi and Altıeylül districts after Balıkesir gained metropolitan status in 2014. Demolition works are ongoing in the building, which was decided to be demolished due to earthquake risk. Eyüp Yıldız, a citizen who expressed his views on the demolition of the building, said, ‘I think it is a very correct decision to demolish the municipal building. Of course, some people do not welcome its demolition with tolerance. Why do they not welcome it, well, as I mentioned a while ago, some say it’s a matter of profit, some say what will happen in its place, some say they were shown green area to be built, it could be something different. No, brother, if it’s going to be a green area, it will remain a green area in my opinion, but the building is really dilapidated, yes, very dilapidated. Because its structure is very old.’ Ahmet Kaya, another citizen, said, ‘I have been running a tea house among the municipality for 28-30 years. Our municipal building is now being demolished. A history is about to disappear, in fact, the demolition has started. It would have been nicer if the fire department had done irrigation here, it would have been a more controlled demolition, or if it had coincided with a day when people were not on holiday, it would have been better. Now, since the municipality has been moved outside the city, it may be a bit difficult for our elderly population. They may have transportation problems. As you know, elderly people prefer to pay real estate taxes, environmental cleaning taxes, or occupation taxes in cash. They have difficulty in keeping up with technology. It was better in the market but it moved outside the city center. This may be a bit of a problem for our elderly population. We hear from some written and visual media that it will be a square where our national holidays such as May 19th, April 23rd, October 29th will be celebrated. We are waiting for this from our metropolitan mayor. Our mayor, Ahmet Akın, promised this before he was elected, hopefully, we will see. It is our only wish and desire for it to be a beautiful place, a beautiful square, a good place in the city center that will represent Balıkesir nicely.’