Zenoviy Siryk: “Sadovyi will sell both his mother and the devil to make a deal with any current government”

How did Andriy Sadovyi manage to stay in power at the beginning of his presidency in Lviv? Is it true that the best psychiatrists in Lviv helped him? Who finally provided Lviv residents with water and at whose expense? Lviv journalist Oleksandr Syrtsov learned about this in an interview with Zenoviy Siryk. He was elected to the Lviv City Council four times in a row and served as acting mayor when the deputies dismissed Lubomyr Buniak from office early. Zenoviy Siryk is a person who knows the backstage of Lviv politics and how it was actually implemented.

Mr. Zenoviy, Lubomyr Buniak’s main merit is considered to be that he solved the long-standing problem of uninterrupted water supply in Lviv. In fact, he did not solve the problem completely, although the situation has improved dramatically, but for many years Lviv residents have not known what a daily supply of water in their homes is. Was it inevitable, or is there a significant share of Lubomyr Buniak’s personal merit here?

If instead of Bunyak, Ivanenko-Petrenko had been there, everything would have been much faster and easier. Kuibida finished his term with a signed and voted agreement on water supply to the city. And now Buniak asks me:

– Have you read this agreement?

– I even voted for her!

– Well, how could you, look here, there is a certain amount for consulting services…

And then it started: “What do we need those consultants for, I’ve been laying pipes all my life…”

And he stopped it. Then he said: “I didn’t sign it.” I explain to him about the continuity of power.

“Well, then let this council vote.”

Although his term included at least half of the MPs who had voted for this resolution in the previous term. However, the second vote on this resolution was delayed.

Nobody understood his motivation, and it took us six months or a year to bring it to the session. In practice, it was not such a big project. It was simply necessary to replace old Polish and Austrian pipes in the center and switch levels, because when water was supplied to the 9th floor of Mayorivka, pipes in the city center were torn because of the height difference. By today’s standards, it’s a small project.

Also, when we agreed that Buniak would be the best to lay the pipes, he was inspired. He said he would even put it down in a week or two. He wanted to spend 90% of the budget on pipes and started saying that we didn’t need the EBRD. So, from one conflict I got into a new one. It was always the case with him – the end of one conflict was the beginning of a new one. He then decided to install pre-insulated pipes.

I said: “Do you think that you are the only ones who know their developers?”

There was a scientist in Lviv who showed that a pre-insulated pipe will lie in the ground longer than a bare one. But most importantly, I managed to launch their production and defend my dissertation. Buniak was eager to make water in a few weeks. Then I suggested that he limit spending on pipes: “90% of the budget for pipes”. But the city cannot afford it, because it has other expenses. However, even what he did was not enough; without the loan, it would not have moved forward. And then Sadovyi solved everything very simply. Before Sadovyi,decisions were made as if for yourself, so that your family could benefit from it later. And Sadovyi said: “I am your hired manager here, and I don’t care how you live.” That’s why he tripled the tariff and applied pressure. The pipes were torn, but for our money. He decided that the people of Lviv were wealthy. And at the expense of that tariff, he began to patch up the holes. How to check the quality of a pipe: where it breaks, that’s where they change it.

Unlike Liubomyr Buniak, Andriy Sadovyi was very stubborn and consistent in his pursuit of his goal of becoming mayor of Lviv. The future mayor was greatly influenced by a group of leading Lviv psychiatrists and psychotherapists, such as Oleksandr Filts, Oleh Bereziuk, who later became a Samopomich MP, Kechur, and perhaps others. Did they really have a big impact on the campaign and the formation of Andriy Sadovyi as mayor?

First of all, Oleksandr Filts, who raised his view of human dignity. Previously, Andriy Sadovyi used to speak to people while talking to them, but looked at his plate. At the first stage, there was Filz. Back then, they even counted how many times Sadovyi looked at you. It is to Filts’ credit that Sadovyi began to pay attention to his interlocutors. And Bereziuk is an office psychiatrist who has been supporting him for a long time. Without that, he would not have lasted long; he kept him in good shape.

There are people with different psychotypes, and not everyone needs the qualities that a mayor needs, such as communication and persuasiveness. He had some peculiarities that were not suitable for this position, but he worked on them.

Buniak did not manage to last one term. Andriy Sadovyi for the fourth time in a row. How does he do it?

I don’t know, but one deputy said that Sadovyi would sell his mother and the devil to get 50% support in the Rada. His strongest quality is his ability to negotiate at any price.