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A new urban development policy - imperative for the local authorities.

Mixed architectural styles, desecrated monuments of culture, illegal constructions all around, showing ignorance rather than tendency - all this additionally disfigures the picture of the town. It became unrecognizable and its beauty is melted with contemporary mass culture, kitsch, ignorance and megalomania of those who have excess of money but lack of conscious and education to preserve the spirit, charm and style of the old Prilep.

This is a sublimated opinion of experts, architects, educated citizens who love their native town, casual passers-by, newsboys or burek -sellers at each corner of the Railway Station, shopkeepers who were not informed how to arrange the exterior of their shop in the Old Bazaar - cultural monument protected by law.
It’s a pity that no local authority so far had a sense for urban planning of Prilep. The town has lost its spirit and identity. Over there is a cross on Markovi Kuli and a church of St Nicholas in the center of the town, just opposite to the statue of Metodia Andonov Cento. Immediately behind Kursumli An there is a monument of Alaxander the Great. Such a catastrophic compilation of distastefulness is hard to find anywhere else in the world. Everything goes!

-The town is not a backgammon, to group the figures as we wish. There ought to be some law, a strategy or plan for development – said a woman from Prilep, who insisted on anonymity, afraid that her subjective truth might be misunderstood.

Another woman, who lost her job in the transition period, said that the blame for this situation lied in all the majors elected so far.

-I think that pluralism destroyed our town. Each authority brings new plans, new conceptions. Prilep is not a private property of some political party. If they do not know how to develop a good development policy, they can ask and take examples from abroad. Our mayors visited so many countries, twinning our town to so many towns throughout the world. I don't believe they've found such disorder elsewhere.

While preparing this article, however, we met many cocitizens who claimed that Prilep, especially in the last few years, has developed faster than ever.

- We can see many fountains in the center of the town, and also the monument of Itar Peyo, I've heard that the monument of King Marko will be erected soon... So, why should we complain? Something is always better than nothing.

- Well, the local authorities surely know whether these monuments fit in with plans of the town or not. They would certainly not work on their own - was the remark of a retired person.

Some of the employees in Komercijalna Banka expressed their satisfaction with the complete management of the space around the Bank, with a sole remark that the granite pavement was not the best choice. It must be replaced with some other material, because whenever it rains or snows, it becomes unsafe to walk on and older people are at risk to fall.

In addition, there were cafe owners who reacted to the fact that some of them were allowed to usurp the space of the City Promenade, and others were not.
And thus, everyone has its own observation, its own opinion coming from the heart, motivated by love for the native town and by desire to see Prilep as beautiful as it can be.
In one they all agree: with well-defined and sustainable urban development policy, Prilep will become a modern, urbanized town with contemporary roads, parking space, markets, squares and industrial zones, by example of the European towns. Our aspiration is to enter into European Union, but such as we are, with this outfit, no one will want us there.

Monika Taleska, journalist