SOCIETY TODAY

Civic Initiatives by Parents

Christine Leșcu, 25.09.2019, 12:33

A city like Bucharest, overcrowded, polluted, and inhabited by people who are always in a rush, stressed out by the daily issues of urban living, seems difficult to turn into a place where children can be raised properly. Such an endeavor should be aided a lot by civic involvement, represented by an initiative like Grow Up Romania. This is a project started in 2016 by a group of civic minded parents, who wish to turn Bucharest into a family friendly environment, aware that this can only be achieved by working together, and that griping all by yourself is not enough. Complaints should be brought to the authorities, whose duty is to improve the city. Dana Ostacie and Alma Cazacu are among these parents, young moms who, in addition to working regular jobs and raising children, volunteer to mobilize other parents to act for solving problems that they share. Alma Cazacu tells us about that:

“Bucharest is a difficult place, it is very difficult to cross the city, to go from point A to point B without tripping on garbage and other obstacles, without coming across dilapidated playgrounds… We ran a questionnaire for parents in our informal online group for mutual help. The most often encountered problem they complain about is cars parked in pedestrian spaces, which makes it impossible to push a pram around safely. 64% of parents who answered the questionnaire have complained about that. 57% of them complain about a lack of public toilets suitable for changing diapers. The lack of ramps and elevators on public transportation to accommodate prams is another complaint, made by 48%. 44% of parents are upset about deteriorated and dirty public playgrounds, which endanger kids and their health. We are trying to build a bridge between citizens who believe everything should be done by the authorities, without complaining. They have to be aware that they have to raise their voice in order to be heard.

It did not take long for a significant number of parents in Bucharest to mobilize and start filing complaints with authorities in the six sectors of the capital city. Here is Dana Ostacie:

“We managed to bring together on Facebook 7,000 people on the Grow Up Romania group page. Our basic activity is mobilizing citizens in order to convince them to act. First and foremost we offer them information, such as how to file complaints. Initially we filed many complaints regarding public spaces, and in this way we found out exactly where to file what in order to avoid being passed around from one institution to another. As a result, we have put together a set of instructions we put online, in order to help people get in touch with authorities. In 5 minutes you can send an e-mail with pictures of the place you want to draw attention to, giving you much better chances to have your problem get solved.

Bucharesters are usually discouraged by the bureaucracy and skeptical about their chances of getting their problems solved. However, they were encouraged by the success of some members of the Grow Up Romania group in getting complaints addressed by the authorities. Some examples are pedestrian crossings that were newly painted, having a telegraph pole moved because it stood in a bus station, as well as placing public lighting on playgrounds in a park in which kids could not play in winter in the evening. Here is Dana Ostacie once again:

“It is important for people to follow through. Ideally, complaints about a certain problem should come from as many people as possible. The more they are, the bigger the chances for this problem to be fast tracked. It is easy now, because we have e-mail. We just need to motivate them and give them confidence. After we told people about our successes and posted the contact data for authorities, we guided people, and showed them how to tell the authorities about their problems, the messages started pouring in. We are very happy that people are getting involved and started to send us pictures with what they achieved.

Not all complaints are addressed, and not all problems get solved. Responses vary depending on which town hall or department you are contacting. In addition, civic involvement also takes mutual support. To this end, Grow Up Romania has its own campaigns, such as cleaning up dog feces, posting signs asking drivers to refrain from parking in pedestrian areas, or reminding people of some basic rules of hygiene, such that people realize that the well-being of every family depends on the actions of all citizens. Here is Alma Cazacu once again:

“We strive to have a mild tone in our campaigns, to not be aggressive. For instance, some messages posted by parents telling drivers to stop parking on the sidewalk are very aggressive. We believe that education is not compatible with aggression, which is why we made a flier that explains to people that it is very hard to navigate a sidewalk for parents or for people in wheelchairs if there are cars there. The most important thing is to remind these drivers that once they step out of the car they are simple pedestrians too. It was harder to get through to people who walk dogs, and who didn’t clean up behind their pets. Which is why we made posters in order to avoid a direct discussion, to avoid the impression that we are singling people out. We don’t want to single out anyone, just to make them understand that it is not OK to leave filth behind.

For the near future, Grow Up Romania will keep trying to turn Bucharest into a family friendly city by getting parents involved and helping them solve their own problems.