Carlos Moedas blamed decision on predecessor: but documents show otherwise
In this post-truth era it is unsurprising to hear that yet another political figure has been inventive with his interpretation of the truth. But the ‘jacaranda furore’ in Lisbon, has just gotten a whole lot uglier.
This story started earlier this week, with ‘public outrage’ over a council plan to cut down 25 healthy, beautiful, iconic-when-in-bloom jacaranda trees (and ‘transplant 22 others’ – a plan many say is doomed to failure, ergo 47 trees are likely to be destroyed) to make way for an underground carpark.
Moedas maintains that there is no need for all the lamentations, his council will be replacing all the trees and planting more. But locals are unimpressed: why destroy beautiful, mature, healthy trees for saplings that might not make it, and will take years to give the kind of shade and joy that the current trees give?
Then Moedas played the “it wasn’t my decision” card: this is a plan decided “years ago” by his predecessor, Fernando Medina – a man who has been blamed already for many things by Carlos Moedas.
SIC Notícias, however, says that “documents disprove Moedas; Medina refused to cut down the jacaranda trees”.
And so we have a monumental embarrassment, on top of an environmental scandal, months before voters decide on who should be running their municipality for the next four years.
SIC gives the latest update, explaining that this morning the ‘schedule’ had been that council workers would be turning up bright and early to start cutting down more trees. But “contrary to what happened yesterday” when trees started being culled, in spite of the anguished intervention of one shopkeeper (see image above), today’s programme came to a juddering halt – very possibly thanks to the injunction sought by PAN (People Animals Nature party). SIC admits it is not sure why the work did not move forwards.
In the middle of all this confusion and sawdust, the council has apparently “guaranteed that it has reached a deal with the company constructing the underground carpark” to ensure the planting of no less than 200 jacaranda trees in the city of Lisbon.
It sounds ‘good’ on paper; but these trees will take years to reach the glory of the ones due to be felled – and locals have been left with a very sour taste in their mouths. Will politicians really say anything to get their way? It seems so.
As Observador online wrote yesterday: “The trunk of the first tree to be cut down had a poster stuck to it with the face of the mayor of LIsbon, and the words: “Wanted for Environmental Attack. Reward: A city with more biodiversity”.
The trees being felled stand in Avenida 5 de Outubro. There is already a public petition circulating against this intervention, that has gathered over 50,000 signatures in a week. ND
Inês Sousa Real of PAN holds up the ‘Wanted’ poster depicting mayor Carlos Moedas
Source: SIC Notícias/ Observador/
