User:PajaBG/Siniša Mali - mayor

Mayor of Belgrade

When the Temporary Council was formed, Aleksandar Vučić stated that Siniša Mali will not be Serbian Progressive Party (SNS) candidate for the next mayor. However, after the 2014 election in Belgrade, Mali was voted Mayor in the City Hall, on the proposal of the winning SNS. Although he is technically not a party member, he has been a close associate and a personal friend of the party's leader Aleksandar Vučić, but apparently he took the mayoral duty unwillingly. Mali himself said in an 2014 interview that his appointment was the idea of Vučić's brother, Andrej Vučić: "thing is, Vučić's brother Andrej and my younger brother Predrag are best friends. And I always used to help them".

During his tenure, Mali was constantly praised by Vučić. According to him, Mali "has done more for Belgrade than any other mayor", he was the "best mayor" and concluded that things in Serbia would be much better "if everyone would have [their own] Sinišа Mali". Speaking on Vučić, Mali said: "Since I love him so much, I am a bit subjective, but he completely devoted himself to make Serbia a stable country". Of their collaboration, Mali stated: "There is no mistake with Aleksandar. I get the task [from him] and then I push it all over. Even when something is not wright, I tell him - I am pushing it, don't worry, it will be OK. I think that is the right approach".

However, marking third anniversary of his mayoralty, his tenure was described as the "deluge of affairs", with "turbulences characterizing all 36 months" of his office, while Mali himself was later labeled as the "walking affair" and a "problematic character followed by his affairs". Foreign press named him "controversial" and "scandal-ridden".

Mali regularly gave bombastic announcements of numerous, often grandiose projects, majority of which never materialized. He lightly disclosed numbers, prognoses and deadlines which for the most part turned not to be true, and constantly blamed the previous administration. "Istinomer", the site which follows the statements of Serbian politicians and checks how true they are, in 2016 rated Mali's statements as being truthful in only 13% of cases (2 out of 15). Still, in October 2016 Mali stated: "Everything we promised, we carried it out, there is no reason not to carry out something that we have promised". However, crosscheck of the promises he gave up to that point showed that they have not been fulfilled in 66% of the cases. Furthermore, Mali's statements in general have been labeled "short legs" (Serbian phrase for lying) more than any other politician.

2014

City debt

When Đilas was removed and the electoral campaign began, minister Zorana Mihajlović and Siniša Mali claimed that the city of Belgrade has a debt of over 700 million euros. Đilas disputed that, saying that the city owns 400 million euros, which was later confirmed by the Ministry of finance, headed by Lazar Krstić. Serbian Progressive Party, a political opponent of Đilas, already had the majority in the government at that time. However, that didn't prevent Mali from raising the sum of the city’s debt in the next several years, which he allegedly found when he took over, constantly changing the number: 960 million in December 2013, 1,15 billion in March 2015, over 1,15 billion in December 2015, 1,12 billion in December 2016 (out of which he alleged 443 were paid off during his tenure) and over 1,1 billion in March 2017, out of which 450 was paid off. In December 2016, during the 2017 city budget hearing, Balša Božović, head of the councilor group of the Democratic Party in the city's assembly (which administered the city prior to 2013), handed over to Mali a framed report of the Finance Ministry's Public Debt Administration which confirms that the city debt on the day when Mali took over was 385 million euros. Mali later handed over another framed report to Božović claiming a debt of 1,18 billion. Božović replied that his "gift" has an official stamp of the state institution, while the other thing, given to him by Mali, is just a piece of printed paper. Official data from the Public Debt Administration shows that the city’s debt is stagnating for years (in million euros: 414 in 2013, 414 in 2014, 406 in 2015). Official data and Mali's claims are incompatible, especially since he claims that during his tenure the city didn’t borrow a dime.

In June 2017 Mali repeated that city "repaid hundreds of millions of euros of Đilas' debts". However, later that month, Fiscal Council of the Republic of Serbia, an independent state body accountable to the National Assembly of the Republic of Serbia, published their report on the fiscal results of the largest cities in Serbia. The report stated that the debt of Belgrade at the end of 2013 was c.410 million euros. The council concluded that city is extensively in debt. In September 2017 Vučić said that the "debt of Belgrade in 2013 was €1.5 billion and today it is cut in half, to €666 million". As the rumors of the snap elections in the city appeared in September 2017, Mali began talking about the debt and bad financial situation he encountered on a daily basis. He accused Đilas of ruining the city and for financing the campaign against him in the previous three years. As he constantly mentioned the high numbers, the Fiscal Council corrected him. Member of the Council Vladimir Vučković, though praising Mali's handling of the city finances, said that Mali is mixing apples and oranges and that debt can't be calculated that way. President of the Council Pavle Petrović said that Mali calculates debt by "his own personal methodology", but Mali said how the citizens are not interested in the methodology, but in the real debt. In December 2017, finance minister of Serbia Dušan Vujović, member of the same party as Mali, supported the Fiscal Council saying that there is only one, international methodology, which has to be applied, thus the press accused Mali of inventing and imagining the debt numbers.

Former mayor Đilas sued Mali and in April 2019, Mali was ordered to pay 150,000 dinars (€1.270) in damages to Đilas for, among other insulting and inaccurate things, falsely accusing him of being a thief who is campaigning to regain mayoral office so that he could continue to steal from the city budget. Mali responded by saying he will appeal and that he will continue to call Đilas a thief and a robber, because he "has no other name for him".

GUP - General Urban Plan

While he was still heading the temporary council, in April 2014 Mali expressly abolished the city's Highrise Study, without any debate, which was dealing with the construction of skyscrapers in Belgrade, not allowing their construction in the old section of the town, or on the locations where they would obstruct the view on the protected or historical areas. After these changes, highrise could be built anywhere in the city. Also promptly, Mali changed the GUP in order to allow for the controversial Belgrade Waterfront project to be built without international architectural design, which was a requirement for such projects before. Also, by the former study and GUP, construction of a forest of skyscrapers, which is Belgrade Waterfront, was forbidden on that location.

Bus Plus system

After taking over as the president of the Temporary Council, Mali began criticizing BusPlus system, a privately owned payment method of city's public transportation company GSP Beograd. He clashed with the former mayor of Belgrade and member of the same Temporary Council, Nebojša Čović, who claimed that the system is good. In the next months, Mali publicly stated that the city will buy out the system, or, since he labeled the system "intolerable", the third solution will be find. By April 2014, however, the campaign against BusPlus stopped and nothing changed within the system.

Obrenovac flood

During the major 2014 Southeast Europe floods and the possible catastrophic flooding of the Belgrade’s suburb of Obrenovac, in the morning of 16 March 2014 Mali invited residents to stay at their homes. Soon, the total evacuation was ordered due to the impending deluge which subsequently badly damaged Obrenovac and caused fatalities. When asked few days later will he resign for inviting people to stay at home and that way being partially responsible, Mali replied how that is an insolence, that it is not true and that he never said that, even though his invitation was actually aired on various TV news.

Social politics

Just a few days after Siniša Mali was sworn as a mayor, the city began cutting social benefits. In April 2014, city reduced maternity benefits for both employed and unemployed mothers, by 50 to 60% and all the other social welfare for all types of citizens, from 30 to 50%. Also in April, social subsidies for the communal bills were reduced for the pensioners and young mothers and from May the reduction also included war veterans and invalids, families of the killed in action, recipients of the help and care benefits, families with the handicapped and the severely ill members and foster homes. In August, city government abolished almost all subsidies for the kindergartens, including those based on the number of children in the family. Reductions for the children with congenital and chromosome malformations, diseases of the muscular-skeletal system and connective tissue, mental disorders, neoplasm, etc., were abolished, too. Also, a 10% rebate on the purchase of the first apartment was revoked. In November, Mali signed a memorandum with the Minister of labor, Aleksandar Vulin, by which the remaining welfare users, which are able-bodied, will have to do communal work for the city, when called. If they are to refuse, they will be stripped of the welfare. Mali stated that this will give the welfare users "an opportunity to change their lives" and "open a new perspective and horizons for them".

Kindergarten tuition

New law concerning the tuition for the kindergartens was voted in 2009. Parents were supposed to pay 20% of the "economic price" and the rest was to be paid by the unit of the local self-administration - city or municipality. Majority of units followed the law from 2010, but some, including Belgrade governed by the Democratic Party at that time, didn't. This became publicly known in 2014. Following the scandal, city decided to go by the law from 2015, but they raised the economic price by 50% (from 20.000 to 30.000 dinars per month), thus keeping the amount which is paid by the parents on the same level, more or less. Additionally, unlike some other cities, Belgrade refused the restitution of the overpaid amounts to the parents. Mali said that the city will wait for parents to individually sue the city and when they get the judgments, they will see what will they do. Time limit for the lawsuit in this case is three years. It is estimated that the minimal amount of the illegally obtained money is several million euros. Out of 17,000 families which paid more than they should, about 13,000 lawsuits against the city were filed. In August 2017, the Court of Appeals rendered first final judgments which rulled that city has to return money to the parents. As of February 2018, the city had to pay 342.6 million dinars (€2.85 million) in damages to the parents. By August 2019, the amount grew to 2.5 billion dinars (€21.2 million), with city administration expecting the full amount of money they will have to return to the parents will reach 4 billion dinars (€33.9 million).

Vojvode Stepe Street reconstruction

Vojvode Stepe street is one of the main traffic routes in the south central part of the city. What was announced as a massive reconstruction of the street began in July 2014 and lasted to July 2015. The original project, which envisioned the work in phases which would allow for the partial usage of the street, was soon abandoned as the company which done the reconstruction, "Ratko Mitrоvić", started getting late even during the preparation stage so they simply closed the entire street. Also, it turned out that it is not the full reconstruction, as the underground installations weren't replaced. Closing of the street caused massive disturbance of the traffic in this part of the city and economic damage to the stores and craft shops along the street. "Ratko Mitrović" asked for an extension of 72 days, but was granted 20 days by the city, to which they allegedly complied. However, after the street was officially opened by Mali, the works continued for weeks. Also, the completed job was of a low quality: badly projected pathways for the visually impaired, parts of the sidewalks, drains, etc. Since the first rains, a pond would form at the bottom end of the street. Mali accused the previous city administration for the "bad contract", but he was already heading the city for 9 months when the works began. He also threatened that "Ratko Mitrović" will be fined for the delays, but instead granted them the extension of the deadline and the city hired the same company for further projects.

2015

Property tax

For 2015, city government raised the property tax for citizens from 10 to 80%. They raised it, on average, an additional 2% for 2017.

Belgrade Waterfront

Siniša Mali is deeply involved in the highly controversial project Belgrade Waterfront. As an advisor to Vučić, he was in charge of negotiations with the investors from the United Arab Emirates. Project is universally panned by the urbanistic and architectural profession and openly opposed by the Serbian Academy of Sciences and Arts and the Serbian Academy of Architecture, while it prompted the continuous protests from the citizens and activists. In March 2015, Mali held a meeting with the representatives of the Serbian Academy of Architecture and later issued a statement that the agreement was reached and that Academy members will participate in the project. Branko Bojović, president of the Academy disputed that, saying that the project is already given the green light and that they didn't agree on anything. Mali said to the people who built Belgrade in the previous several decades "tell me what you don't understand about the project, and I will explain it to you" and then left in the middle of the meeting. The Academy called it a farce, rejected any further contact with the city government on this issue. The extensive criticism of the project from basically everyone except from the members of the state and city government continued. The first constructed buildings have been described as the "dismal and freakish ugliness, standing like scarecrows...good only as hangers for billboards", despite numerous timely, good natured and expert warnings to the city government against this "ugliness and misfortune".

Architect Dragoljub Bakić labeled the project as "manic concreting" and "stillborn". He said that the entire concept of jamming 25.000 people into downtown will lead to the total destruction of the city. He asked Mali what is the public interest in the project and Mali replied: "I am holding €3.5 billions in my hand, that is public interest". However, by 2018 when Mali left the office, Arab investors paid only €40 million, and by that time the price of the works done was estimated to €200 million. Bakić also added that the Sava Amphitheatre, in which Belgrade Waterfront is being built, is a civilizational value which is being destroyed for good. He also criticized the project for not having a proper sewage but has septic tanks planned instead. Architect Borislav Stojkov said it is "unhappy megaproject...without any decent expert, and legally and financially controversial basis". He described it as the emperor's new clothes, under which the emperor is naked (as the allegedly ultra modern buildings have septic tanks instead of a proper sewage system) with numerous bad effects on the traffic system, water, energy, etc. Architect Bojan Kovačević called the project "pollutant" and "nauseous torture of the city". Stojkov later described the project as the "megaproject without spirit and character" with intention to "create an image of quasi-progressive society".

Writer and former diplomat Dragan Velikić wrote that "Belgraders, like slaves, will watch at the towers and pyramids, those gigantic money laundering machines, erected on the Sava plateau. All those big "businesses", all those Fata Morganas already became debts of the tax payers. They will pay for the final losses of Air Serbia and Belgrade Waterfall with even more drastically reduced living standard". Journalist and analyst Filip Švarm sarcastically noted that "Belgrade Waterfront is something of a land art and that we, the way we are, will know to appreciate only in the future, when it will be in ruins, like the pyramids in Giza or the Roman Colosseum". Anthropologist Boris Jovanović in his essay Reality of the post-critical age, wrote: Critics based on the expert analysis remain without any effect compared to the political projects in science, economy, architecture...Convincing critical opinions of the urbanists, architects and builders on the "Belgrade Waterfront" project resulted in no effect, because it is being realized by the political will.

The contract for the Belgrade Waterfront was signed on 26 April 2015 in the building of the Belgrade Cooperative. Several hundred protesters gathered in front of the building, but the police pushed them further, into the Kraljevićа Marka street. At one point, two trams, one in each direction, were parked between the Belgrade Cooperative and the protesters, so that view on the protesters was obscured when signatories (UAE investors, ministers, Mali) left the building. The trams were in regular traffic, so when they stopped, they had passengers which were told to leave the vehicles. Sinišа Mali stated that the trams had to stop because the protesters blocked the street, even though the reporters and numerous photos and videos proved otherwise. Actually, they show that the policemen were on the tracks, not the protesters which were pushed further away. Later, GSP Belgrade which operates the city transportation, issued a statement saying that they were ordered to stop the trams by the Ministry of the Interior.

Šilerova disability center

In March 2015, Mali visited a new building in the Šilerova Street, which he declared a Center for the children with disabilities. He announced that the Center will become operational by the summer of 2015. The total cost of the construction was 400 million dinars, or some €3.3 million. The parents were to be able to leave children in the Center either for few hours or a day, or the maximum of 45 days, which included the 24/7 care, given the condition of the users. Mali said: "Well, this is a completely new service in Belgrade, a completely new chapter which we are opening in the social security sector. There, we will open this institution by the middle of the year". As of October 2018 the building was empty and the center was never opened. Parental organizations asked since then why and were given various answers, like the one that the heating is not functioning well, that there are some problems with the heating pumps, or that the nearby luxury "Villa Jelena" is draining too much water from the system. City administration blatantly ignored to provide any official answer either to the Commissioner for the public information or to the reporters.

Color of the public transportation vehicles

In July 2015 Siniša Mali announced that all vehicles in the public transportation network will be painted in one color and that citizens in an on-line poll voted for the red color. Majority of buses in Belgrade are in yellow. The dinamics was to be that all new vehicles will have to be red, the old vehicles will be successively painted when they are sent for repairs, while the privately owned busses had to be painted by 31 December 2016. Original estimate was that the entire fleet will be painted in six months to a year. Public reaction was negative. Reasons included a dubious voting for the new color which was almost hidden from the general public and many believed that it was rigged. Voting was conducted for a very short period, on the internet site which was still under construction, without city announcing any other data, like the number of citizens who voted, their structure, etc. Citizens also stated that it is more prudent, if they are going to paint them, to paint all of them in yellow as most of the buses are in that color at the moment. Other reasonings included statements that buying new buses is more important than painting them, that other European cities also have colorful public transportation, and that the job was actually rigged for certain painting companies. There was also a matter of price. City stated that the painting of one vehicle ranges from 1,800 to 5,500 euros. Some of the them are already red, but it is estimated to cost several million euros, up to 4 million.

Problems were also several hundreds of yellow buses, part of which were donated by Japan and part were purchased from Solaris Bus & Coach and are still in the warranty period. Japanese embassy, which has a list of strict rules for their gift, rejected the painting, while Solars allegedly allowed it in October 2015, but under strict rules. Still, in December 2016, public transportation company GSP Belgrade announced that they actually never planned to paint all of the city owned buses and as one of the problems listed the Solaris' warranty. Also, trams and trolleybuses will not be painted either, and all the other strict conditions (air conditioning systems, free Wi-Fi Internet, passenger counters, CCTV) will be mandatory only for the private buses, not for the GSP ones. By December 2016, a year and half after the announcement, only 30% of the GSP buses were red, including those originally painted in that color. Suddeenly, a year later, in November 2017 city announced that further 255 buses, including 200 "Solaris", will be painted in red after all, and that main criterium for the tendering offers will be the lowest price. The manufacturer allowed the painting but under its own strict instructions and procedures. By the propositions of the tender, the entire process will be finished in 2019. The cost is not known yet, but it is estimated to be from €700 million to €1.1 billion. Some members of the GSP unions joined the public protest, pointing out that, according to Mali himself, the GSP has the worst economic results of all city owned companies, it has no money for the proper tires and is being subsidized by the city with 835 million dinars (€7 million), and yet so much money is being wasted on the painting.

Ultimately, many of the 650 buses which were to be repainted remained in their colors, while many repainted or already red were painted over with advertisements. Also, it was known from the starts that yellow buses donated by the government of Japan will not be allowed to be repainted, as they remained under the scrutinizing supervision by the Japanese embassy. It was confirmed that the idea was useless, and way too expensive.

Communal police

On 21 October 2015 reporters from KRIK wanted to ask Mali about the Bulgarian apartments, but Mali declined to answer. A group of people in civilian clothes which surrounded, and apparently guarded Mali, physically confronted the reporters refusing to show any identifications, confiscated their cameras and cell phones (including the private phones) and deleted the recorded videos. Among them, most prominent was Nikola Ristić, chief of the Belgrade's Communal police (which is not a "proper" police}. As the reporters easily retrieved the recorded materials when the phones were returned to them, Ristić was distinctly noticeable on the video. Mali apologized for the behavior of, as he admitted, communal policemen and ordered a full investigation. However, he appointed the very person who was one of the main participants in the incident, Ristić, to conduct the investigation. Mali claimed that "you can't really see" Ristić on the video, even though Ristić was standing next to him. Ristić however admitted that he was there, but claimed that he was totally oblivious to everything that happened: I didn't see that. Do you understand that I am walking, I am going, I am walking. I move from one point to another, I don't see what happens. After ombudsman Saša Janković reported on communal police's "irregular and unlawful conduct", on 21 February 2016 the communal police issued their statement in which they notified the ombudsman that "from now on, they will conduct only in the legal manner and within the jurisdiction of their service". Ombudsman also recommended the firing of Nikola Ristić from the position of the communal police chief, but Mali stated that he "doesn't think about it".

New Year's decorative lights

On 7 December 2015 prime minister Vučić publicly scorned Mali for not lighting the decorative New Year's lights in Belgrade. He called city workers lazy and asserted that they didn't place the entire lighting system because they don't want to work on Saturdays. Vučić added that "when people see the beautiful (lights), they will spend more money and the GDP will grow". Instead of the traditional lightning of the decoration on the Saint Nicholas Day, on 19 December, lights were turned on in the late November. Next year, city began to put decorative lights already in the first days of October. City authorities, including Mali, said that it was because the tradition of early New Year lights exists in many European cities and that people buy more stuff when there are lights. The lights were turned on 11 November 2016 which, as the clerks from the communal services stated, "made Belgrade a leader in the region". Mali said that the early and more abundant lights will bring tourists to Belgrade and that city will receive new millions of euros of income. In December 2016, journalists reported on the dubious tendering for the city's New Year's decoration. From the published documentation, previously published catalogue of the firm which got the job and city's tendering documentation, it was obvious that the decoration on the photos were identical in both documents. City administration claimed that they never said that the decoration "must look" like the examples in the photos, and that they are merely "visual description of the imagined decorative element". However, the company which already had the decoration from the photos, "Keep Light" was chosen for the 1.5 million euros job.

In July 2017 a new request for tender for more lights was announced, in an amount of 170 million dinars (1.4 million euros). In August 2017 it was announced that the same company, "Keep light", got this other job, too, as all the other offers were rejected as invalid. The lights in question, both in 2016 and 2017, are produced by the Greek company "Fotodiastasi". Instead of copying the photos like the previous year, this time the obvious drawings based on the Greek catalogue were placed in the official request. For the New Year 2018, the decoration of the city began already on 28 September 2017, and the lights were turned on from 4 November. In November 2017 city announced new tender for further decorations. In general, costs of the New Year celebration organized by the city sky rocketed during Mali's administration: for 2014 - 4,5 million dinars (€39.000), 2015 - 8,2 million (€67.000), 2016 - 22 million (€182.000), 2017 - 50 million (€405.000), 2018 - 100 million (€840.000). One of the performers hired for the 2018 New Year's Eve was a turbo-folk singer Aca Lukas, who was paid €50.000. This caused a controversy. Though highly popular, Lukas had a string of scandals behind him, including drugs, family violence and an incident when his car was towed because of the parking violation. He verbally attacked the towing workers and, using numerous expletives, threatened them saying he will call "mayor" and "Mali" on them. Mali said that he doesn't know Lukas personally and that he will have to pay the ticket.

Controversial business collaboration with the "Keep Light" company spurred further scandals. A plastic, 18 m (59 ft) tall fir (the usual Serbian colloquialism for the Christmas tree) was placed on 15 December 2017 on the Square of the Republic, three days before the contract for its placement was signed. Then was discovered that the price of the fir is €83.000 or $98.000, which caused the public uproar and the plastic tree was nicknamed "the most expensive fir in the world" as it cost more than the 2017 Rockefeller Center Christmas Tree ($25.000). Mali first refused to answer to the reporters but later returned and said that he was surprised by the price, too, and that he ordered for the contract to be annulled immediately. "Keep light" agreed to the amicable breach of contract, but stated that they are giving the fir as a gift for the citizens. It turned out that on the very day when the scandal broke out, city signed another contract with "Keep light" for additional decorations (€200.000), further payment in January 2018 (€250.000) and fireworks (€235.000). On 22 and 23 December citizens protested in front of the fir, throwing plastic bags and toilet paper at it. Mali then claimed that the fir purchased in 2016 cost €100.000 but the papers show its price was €39.000.

Though "Keep light" collaborated with the city before Mali took over as a mayor, it wasn't accused of rigging the tendering process before, nor way paid this much - during Mali's tenure, till the end of 2017, the city paid almost €4 million to the company, with the amounts growing almost exponentially by each year: 2,98 million dinars in 2014 (€25.000), 57,03 in 2015 (€475.000), 190,65 in 2016 (€1.590.000; though city officially announced it will spend only 20 million/€165.000) and 203,9 in 2017 (€1.700.000). The tree gained attention in the international news. When the lights were taken off after six months, asked why were they on from September to March, Mali replied: "And why not?" When the scandal broke out, president Vučić defended Mali, claiming that there were three additional bidding companies and that warranty on the three is 10 years. When city was forced by the Commissioner for information to disclose the documentation on the matter in March 2018, it showed that the only company was "Keep Light" and that warranty period is only 1 year.

Additionally, the city owned communal company "Javno osvetljenje", which exists in order the maintain the city lights in Belgrade, claimed that it can't do it, so they joined in a consortium with the "Keep Light", where the care of the regular, non-decorative city lights (anti corrosion protection and painting od the poles) is entrusted to the "Keep Light". The contract is signed for 2 years and is worth 175.6 million dinars (€1.48 million).

Mali's constant claims that this is good for tourism and that the city will attract more visitors because of the abundant and early decorative lights, was disputed. Aleksandar Seničič, director of the National Association of tourist agencies of Serbia (YUTA) said that there is no co-relation between the decorative lights and number of tourists. Economist Ljubomir Madžar said that "tourists are not moths to gather around the lights".

Post-Mali follow up; In 2018, the placing of the 2019 New Year's lights began already on 11 September. Deputy mayor Goran Vesić said: I am a politician, the only comments that matter are the elections. And on the elections it was clear whose comments are important...those who are against the lights, as you know, survived a fiasco". By August 2018, a total of 340 million dinars (€2.87 million) was paid to the "Keep Light" in 2018, lifting a total since the new administration took over, to 794 million dinars (€6.2 million). In September 2018 an additional contract was signed, for the further decorations, by which "Keep Light" was paid 250 million dinars (€2.1 million). In November 2018 additional 30 million dinars (€250.000) were paid to "Keep Light" for "decoration for festivities": 300 aluminum decorations cost €835 each.

Cvetni Trg

Despite relatively recent revitalization by the previous administration, city decided to do another reconstruction of Cvetni Trg, one of the central squares of Belgrade. As soon as the project was chosen, both professional and public opinion were already against it. Nevertheless, city government pushed the project and the new square was officially opened on 16 December 2015. Small square, which gave a feel of being cosy and tucked in when in it, was completely buried under the white conqrete. It was soon nicknamed the “Concrete square”, and seen as a sickly white, empty, sterile and resembling a great tomb. It was soon evident that, apart from being completely botched, it was poorly done and that it may need new reconstruction soon. Composer Ivana Stefanović , in the text Great white emptiness said that the result makes you feel negative and unpleasant spending time in it and that the spirit of Cvetni Trg, that of the small city garden, was killed and replaced by the graveyard silence. Despite the public outcry, Mali, said that the new square is “probably the most beautiful in Belgrade”.

Bulgarian tourists

In December 2015 Mali announced that Belgrade will be visited by 90.000 tourists from Bulgaria for the traditional 2016 New Year's Eve festivities in downtown Belgrade. According to the data of the State Statistical Institute, on the entire territory of Serbia there were 13,072 Bulgarian citizens in the whole month of December 2015.

Deficit figures

Also in December 2015, Mali claimed that he inherited the largest deficit in the city's budget in history, over 20% and that he managed to reduce it to 7% in 2015. Official city documents however show completely different situation. During the last revision of the city budget before Mali took over, in June 2013 the deficit was 6,3%, not over 20%, and by the revision of December 2015, it was 9,7%, not 7%, which is actually an increase of 54%. During almost entire Mali’s tenure, the deficit was on average higher than in the period before.

2016

Snow

In January 2016, city government was criticized about the way it handled the snowstorm. Defending his administration, Mali said: "We were ready for this snow, of course, but even in some other cities which are wealthier than we are, like New York, when there is a snow, the city is not functioning for 10 days, or when there is snow in California you have 20 dead people".

Old Sava Bridge

In March 2016, Mali announced the massive reconstruction of the Old Sava Bridge, slated to begin in the late 2017. In the next 15 months, he was explaining that the project was to include the widening of the bridge with one extra car lane in each direction and separate tram tracks. The metallic arch construction was supposed to be cut and elevated above the traffic lanes, effectively making the bridge on two levels and the documentation asked for the bridge's specific metal arch to be preserved. Upper level was to be turned into the pedestrian and bicycle paths with lush vegetation. Ending constructions were to be replaced and instead of the main bridge span one pillar with the joint beam was projected. Width of the navigation path on the Sava river at the bridge's main span was to remain the same.

However, in May 2017, after the city publicized the project papers, it was obvious that all the time they wanted to demolish the bridge completely and build a new one, even though they publicly talked about the reconstruction. Mali now claimed that the bridge was obsolete, unsuitable for traffic, with rotten wooden piles and obstructing the river traffic. Citizens protested while the experts rejected the reasons named by the authorities, adding that it is a mere money throwing on the unnecessary project. Mali said that the old bridge will not be demolished but moved, and that citizens will decide where, but he gave an idea to move it to Zemun, as the pedestrian bridge to the protected area of the Great War Island. In an article "Cloud over the Great War Island", Aleksandar Milenković, member of the Academy of Architecture of Serbia, opposed the motion. He expressed fear that having in mind the "synchronous ad hoc decisions of the administration", the reaction should be prompt as the seemingly benign idea is actually a strategically disastrous enterprise (concerning the protected wildlife on the island). He also suspects that the administration in this case, just as in all previous ones, will neglect the numerous theoretical and empirical guidelines.

In June 2018, architect Bojan Kovačević stated that Mali got the idea of connecting the island because of the meeting held several month before, where the Belgrade Waterfront investor Eagle Hills company, discussed with the city officials a possibility of construction on the protected island. The project should include the private villas, golf courses and a de lux hotel.

Kiosks

In March 2016, city decided that all kiosks in the city must look the same and have to be in black color. As stated, they were personally chosen by the mayor, without the tendering of public hearings. However, Mali later stated that he didn't choose the kiosks cause "he can’t draw even a stick figure", that he knew that there was a working group headed by the city urbanist Milutin Folić and some commissions which dealt with it. He added that he signs dozens of documents daily, so he "probably signed that one, too". Folić claimed that hundreds of companies produce specified kiosks, but it turned out that there is only one in Serbia, "Intergrad" from Bačko Dobro Polje. As one kiosk costs 10,000-12,000 euros, the entire replacement of 750 kiosks in three central Belgrade municipalities (Savski Venac, Vračar and Stari Grad) which had to be replaced by the end of 2016, would cost circa 8 million euros. Just few days after the look of the new kiosks was defined, first one appeared at Cvetni Trg.

Contract numbers

On 2 April 2016 a foundation stone was laid in Obrenovac for the future Chinese-French "Mei Ta" factory. Journalists asked Mali about the discrepancy in the number of the workers which were to be employed, as the number of 770 workers was in the contract, while Mali and others talked about 1,370. In the end, Mali said to the journalists that they should listen to what he says, never mind the contract.

Demolition in Savamala

In the night of 24–25 April 2016, a group of 30 people masked in balaclavas, using heavy machinery, hastily entered the Hercegovačka street in the neighborhood of Savamala and demolished several buildings and barracks. They also held bystanders and security personnel from the vicinity, forcing some of them out of their cars, tying them up and taking their mobile phones and ID cards. After a while, they disappeared, leaving the rubble. The lot that was demolished is part of the Belgrade Waterfront project. The incident became a highly polarizing issue in Serbia and is cause of public reactions and mass protests ever since. Mali staunchly claimed that city had nothing to do with the incident, but his other original reactions were bewildering. Constantly asked by the reporters how is he not interested into the security of his own citizens due to his obvious detached attitude towards the incident, he responded that, since no one actually knows what happened, he feels secure and that he didn't inquire on anything about it (for example, the police, which was called by the neighbors and bystanders during the incident refused to come to scene) cause it is not his job.

However, two weeks after the incident, prime minister Vučić stated that those who demolished the buildings by night are "complete idiots" and they should demolish them by day, in which case he would help them personally. Despite previous denial by Mali, in June 2016 Vučić asserted that the highest authorities in the city government are behind the incident. In the next period of several weeks, Siniša Mali was conspicuously absent from public life, even being absent from the festivities of the Belgrade’s slava, Feast of the Ascension. In February 2017 his ex-wife Marija Mali stated that he admitted to her that he organized the demolition "because some people didn't want to move out". No legal actions against Mali ensued.

Number of construction sites

Mali often compared the building activity in Belgrade to the previous administration, claiming that there used to be only 40-50 construction sites in the entire city in 2013. In 2016 he claimed that there were 489 construction sites on 24 October and 500 on 22 November. On 23 March 2017 he numbered 502 while 5 months later he doubled the number: 1,111 on 13 August and "over 1,000" on 18 August. Just three days later, on 21 August, Vučić said that there are 500 sites, raising the number to 556 on 14 September, and to "over 1,100" on 1 December.

In 2018 city administration claimed that they issue permits for over 1,000,000 m² (11,000,000 sq ft) of newly constructed floor area per year, while before 2012 and 2013, during the previous administration, there were only 200,000 to 300,000 m² (2,200,000 to 3,200,000 sq ft) built yearly. However, the official city statistics shows that new construction was 843,000 m² (9,070,000 sq ft) in 2012 and 800,000 m² (8,600,000 sq ft) in 2013, compared to 405,000 m² (4,360,000 sq ft) in 2015 and 2016 each, or decline of 50%.

Musical fountain in Slavija

In the process of reconstruction of the Slavija Square, city decided to build a musical fountain on the central island of the roundabout, with a diameter of 32 m (105 ft) and the water jets 16 m (52 ft) high. Criticism from the architects, apart from the traffic solutions, was directed to the needlessness of the fountain on such a place. Also, as Belgrade is known for its strong winds, the water from such a high jet streams would constantly wet the pavement of the square. City government replied that the fountain will have wind sensors. Construction of the fountain began on 3 December 2016. As a response to the constant criticism including the fact that the fountain will be completely surrounded by some of the busiest traffic in the city, thus inaccessible to the pedestrians, and a high price (214 million dinars or some 1,75 million euros), city manager Goran Vesić stated that those who do not like the musical fountain, don't have to listen to it.

In March 2017 Transportation Secretariat sent a memo in which warned that the project is not adjusted for such a major traffic section. Secretariat warned that the planned dispersion of the water will make the roads wet and slippery in summer and create ice in winter, as it is suppose to work throughout the year, thanks to the special heaters. They concluded that the fountain projected that way is not suitable for the highly frequent roundabout but rather for the parks and open green areas and that it can endanger the traffic. Ban on further construction was suggested if the inadequacies are not fixed. Solution turned out to be a changed direction of the sprinklers, 74 out of 458, within the fountain. The fountain was opened on 6 June 2017, after a month of delay and at the final cost of 254 million dinars (2,06 million euros), with taxes. As the fountain is unreachable, Vesić stated that the new park, across the fountain, will be a place where the "citizens will gather, watch at the fountain and take photos of it". Criticism continued. Milan Vujanić, professor at the University of Belgrade's Faculty of Transport and Traffic Engineering, asserted that the fountain is still a safety risk. Engineer Borislav Stojkov, who devised the 1979 urban plan for Slavija, called it a "kitsch-parade", waste of money and "Potemkin village in the center of Belgrade". Member of the Serbian Academy of Architecture Slobodan "Giša" Bogunović described it as the "rosemary on the lapel of the ragged suit", "illiterate pleasing to the taste of politicians and ignorant councilors" and "water well that swallowed lots of money". Author and critic Milan Vlajčić called it an "insult for Belgrade", a "Chinese rattle" and a "nonsense". Politicians, on the other hand, praised the project. Vesić dismissed all criticism calling it "political" and that after only three days, the fountain became the "symbol of Belgrade".

President Vučić defended the project saying that he can't give an answer to "those who complain that they have no access to the fountain...what did they expect, that they will be able to wash their feet in it" and to "people who hate the entire world". Vučić added that those who criticize the fountain actually can't forgive him "because he participated in three strongest, most compelling victories in the modern Serbian history", referring to the last three electoral rounds. He asserted that the fountain is among the ten most beautiful ones in Europe. Siniša Mali declared it a "new symbol of a new, different Belgrade" on the day of the opening.

Budget figures

On 29 December 2016, city adopted the 2017 budget which was to have a previously unrecorded surplus of 3.24 billion dinars, or €26.5 million, which Mali described as the "road to fiscal consolidation". Only three weeks later, on 26 January 2017, the budget was already revised and the finances plunged into the deficit of 5.5 billion dinars or €45 million. The budget was revised again on 29 June 2017. Mali announced that city managed to save additional 3 billion dinars (€24.6 million). The published budget, however, showed that the overall deficit grew to 7.5 billion dinars (€61.5 million) so the two thirds of the "saved money" is actually a result of the higher deficit. Additionally, despite Mali's constant claims that city didn't take any credits or loans since he took over, the revision showed that deficit is partly covered with the "incomes from loans" in the amount of 3.4 billion dinars (28 million euros).

Despite Mali's frequent statements how proud he is on himself concerning the handling of the city finances, on 6 October 2017, Serbian government, by the decision signed by the prime minister Ana Brnabić, transferred 10 million dinars (only €83,000) from the state budget reserves to Belgrade, because of the “reduced income to the budget of the local administration”. With the same explanation, the government transferred further 100 million dinars (€830,000) to the city on 19 October, less than two weeks later. Mali and Vesić, however, claimed that the city budget and finances are more stable than ever and that the budget income is "much larger". Asked why is then this money needed from the state, city administration explained that it was for the 10 years old debts for electricity of Grocka, one of the suburban municipalities of Belgrade. With 110 million dinars forwarded from the state budget, though being the most developed part of Serbia, Belgrade was the third among 169 local self-governing units (after towns of Zaječar and Jagodina) by the amount of money subsidized by the state government.

Third revision ensued on 7 November 2017, and the city government continued to claim that the new, smaller deficit, 7.2 billion dinars (€60.5 million), is a result of savings. Opposition pointed out that it is not the real reason, as budget shows that the income from the local taxes was bellow the previously projections and a series of planned projects were postponed for 2018 or scrapped (including the controversial flag mast, one new school and social housings, improvement of the Vinča landfill, reduction of the primary health care, etc.). They also accused the city administration of ilegally draining the money, as in projected debt returns they calculated an exchange rate of 130 dinars per 1 euro, though an average rate in 2017 was 121.8 and on the day of adopting the revision it was 118.6. Citing the same reasons as before, the government transferred further 185 million dinars (€1.55 million) from the budget reserve to Belgrade on 27 December 2017, 13.25 million dinars (€112.000) and 90 million dinars (€760.000) in March 2018, and 360 million dinars (€3.04 million) in May 2018.

Post-Mali follow up; Despite continuous claims that there is a huge amount of surplus in the city budget, in November 2018, further €150,000 were transferred from the state to the city. Citing old debts from the period administration, deputy mayor Vesić said that questioning these transfers is "scandalous" and that those who "ask questions about the state help to Belgrade, don't want for the Government of Serbia to help the Belgraders". Total transfer in 2018 was over €4 million. Mali, now a finance minister, said that he doesn't know what for was the last amount of transferred money, while the new mayor, Zoran Radojičić, said: "I don't understand what exactly are you asking me, what money, when, how, what..." In 2019 city administration claimed that the budges is "never higher", but citing "unpredicted costs which may endanger liquidity of the city", Mali's ministry pumped into the city budget 222 million dinars (€1.88 million) in February and 100 million dinars (€850.000) in May 2019.

2017

Relationship with Aleksandar Vučić

Prime minister Vučić often discussed Mali's position. On 14 February 2017 Vučić stated that Mali hardly can remain on the mayoral position as he must pay political price for the Savamala incident. On 3 May 2017 Vučić, in the presence of Mali, announced that he decided, even though it is administratively not his decision to make, that Mali will no longer be the mayor. The change will happen soon, he asserted, but this time as the reason he gave was the impossibility for Mali to work in the constant atmosphere of campaigning against him. On 20 June 2017, when Vučić already took over the position of the President of the Republic, he named two things which he considers his greatest failures as a prime minister, and one of them was that he didn't manage to "defend Mali": "I consider him [Mali] by far the best mayor in the last 30 years and I don't see any failures on his side". He added that he can't forgive himself from not defending Mali from the attacks which, Vučić alleges, were heftily financially supported from the abroad.

However, Mali remained in office the full term and then was elected as the Finance minister in the Serbian government on 29 May 2018. After rumours that the new elections may be held in December 2017 instead in the spring of 2018 when they are due, on 26 September 2017 he said: "Most likely, I will not be the candidate in the next elections and most likely I will resign before the end of my tenure, but I am leaving with a smile, proud on everything we have done in the previous three years". He added: I don't know when are we going to have elections. Maybe I won't (resign). Already tomorrow he corrected himself, saying that he only meant to resign in the case of snap elections and that his own resignation is not his decision, but of the ruling majority in the city hall. In November 2017 Mali stated: Who is heading Belgrade is less important than a team of people who follow the vision of the President of Serbia Aleksandar Vučić for Belgrade to be a better and more beautiful place to live. He stated that he doesn't think of second candidacy and that he has no regrets as the statements he was giving, he gave them depending on the circumstances. Still, a series of, highly professional, promotional videos were placed on city's twitter account, all with the mayor in them. Asked who is paying for the videos, Mali said: "It's done by the organizations which donate their money and time so that we could represent Belgrade in the right way". In December 2017 Mali stated that he conducted "concrete strategy for the realization of the president Aleksandar Vučić's vision". Vučić described Mali as "having non-existing emotional intelligence" but having "astonishing results".

Despite previous statements, Mali remained in office until the next elections, held in March 2018. Asked whether he will remain a mayor, Mali replied: "If president of Serbia Aleksandar Vučić suggests to the city councilors that I should remain a mayor of Belgrade in the next four years, so shall it be". As the voting for the new mayor dragged on, in April 2018 Mali stated: "I never chased any tenures. People, what is the most important to me is that I am in the team of Aleksandar Vučić".

Landfill Vinča fire

On 18 May 2017 pockets of methane on the city landfill in Vinča burst into flames. Wide section of Belgrade was covered in smoke and bad smell, sometimes completely, forcing citizens to use masks.. In May and June the smoke reached downtown Belgrade spreading further and further and the situation was usually bad in the evenings and mornings. The efforts included covering the enflamed area with earth and the usage of the solution of the brown algae, so the fire above the ground was extinguished but the smldering from the deep of the landfill continued. City Institute for Public Health continuously issued statements that the levels of the basic pollutants in the air are not above the allowed levels, but also admitted that the actions to extinguish the fire are not solving the problem and that "sensitive groups" should "reduce time spent outdoors in the case of smoky haze". Among the substances checked by the Institute are carbon monoxide, nitrogen oxides, sulfur dioxide, ground level ozone, suspended particulate matter below 10 μm (PM-10) and phenols. However, dean of the University of Belgrade's Faculty of Chemistry, Ivan Gržetić, stated that the smoke is not that harmless, since Vinča is not a managed landfill but rather a plain, unregulated dump. He said that the fire probably started years ago at the much deeper level, 20 to 40 m (66 to 131 ft), and that it is highly likely that the fumes contain polychlorinated dibenzofurans and dibenzodioxins, but that Serbia has no special measuring devices to check their levels. He asserted that those compounds are cancerogenic but a good thing is that the smoke is partially dispersed by wind before it reaches the city. Mali stated that there is a problem, but not that much of a problem as it is presented, and that "such things happen".

In order to prove him that burning garbage is a problem, a group of activists brought two metal barrels under the windows of the City Hall and burned rubbish in them. Commenting on the performance, titled "Greetings from Vinča", Mali said that it is "irresponsible that some five people come to me in front of the City Hall, light fires and scare my people". Acting ombudsman of Serbia, Miloš Janković asked from all involved institutions to make public, not only the results, but also to disclose all information about the way they measure the fumes and a detailed list of all substances covered by those measurements. He was supported by Rodoljub Šabić, state Commissioner for the information of public importance, but the city administration called their initiative "utterly pointless, unjustified and malicious" and that the intended purpose of their action is to "scare the citizens and to raise panic". On 26 June 2017 the city garbage managing company, "Gradska čistoća", announced that after filling of the burning section of the landfill with over 65,000 m³ (2,300,000 cu ft) of earth, the fire was extinguished. Only then, the information that at one point the exploding methane burned on an area of 20 ha (49 acres) (or 30% of the landfill) was disclosed. Still, authorities stated that they can't be sure if the fire was really extinguished in the deep.

Flagmasts

Without any previous public mention of the project, Mali announced on 26 June 2017 construction of the 120-metre-high (394 ft) flagmast in the neighborhood of Ušće which would hold the Serbian flag, 20 m (66 ft) by 30 m (98 ft). He already declared it a symbol of Belgrade which would bring many tourists who will take photos with the mast, which is "important for the entire Serbia" and will make Belgrade a modern and more beautiful city. He also added that the project is an "initiative of president Vučič". Despite bringing the idea out of the blue, Mali said that the money for the project, 200 million dinars, has already been marked in the city budget, due to the previous "savings". Asked how is that a priority when one third of Belgrade still has no sewage system, Mali said that both the sewage and the mast are needed. Dragoljub Bakić, member of the Serbian Academy of Architecture, said that the city government treats Belgrade as the "prey" the won, labeling their politics as an "urban reality show as they bomb us every day with some other nonsense". The commissioner Šabić publicly criticized the project on Twitter and was slammed by the author of the idea, president Vučić on the press conference who said that Šabić is "against the Serbian flag" and that "those who never do anything, criticize all the time". Šabić replied that Vučić always subjectively and without any criteria defends people from his close circle and that being against the pole which would cost 1,65 million euros is not the same thing as being against the Serbian flag. He added that it would be better to buy something meaningful, like the MRI for some hospital.

Mali then announced the expansion of the project. Apart from the one tall, whose price in few days grew to 230 million dinars (€1.9 million), 30 additional flagmasts, each 30 m (98 ft) high, are planned. Three of them will be placed on ten entry points into the city. They will cost additional 134 million dinars (€1.1 million), so 31 flagmasts will cost the city almost €3 million. Reminded that for that money a kindegraten or a school could have been built, Mali said "don't your worry about it" and that we are "rich enough country and rich enough city", repeating Vučić's claim that those who are against the project actually don't like the Serbian flag. Three days later, Mali changed his statement and said that the idea is not Vučić's but is actually a joint decision of the city and the state. Later, the projected cost of the single, large mast was raised to 360 million dinars (€3 million) and then to 406 million, or €3.4 million.

Post-Mali follow up; In August 2018 it was announced that the state government approved the construction of the 80 m (260 ft) mast, one third shorter. It was also announced that it will cost less and that construction will start in the spring of 2019. Deputy mayor Vesić claimed that the mast was shortened because of the statics, saying that "when the geological research was done, it was simply the most optimal for this type of terrain, and that's it". Asked why is so much money being thrown on this project when for that money 5 kindergartens can be built or 20 streets paved with the asphalt concrete, Vesić replied: "citizens voted for our politics, among other things the mast, too, and we will build it". Triggered by the case of the Slavija fountain, which could be purchased on AliExpress for ten times less than the city paid for it, some activists noted that the mast was shortened only because the tallest mast available on AliExpress is the 80 m (260 ft) one.

Metro

In 2014 Siniša Mali announced that the construction of the first line of the Belgrade Metro will start in early 2016. In 2016 he postponed it to 2017, then in between 2017 and 2018 and finally to 2018. However on 3 July 2017, Mali announced the new plan for the future Belgrade Metro by which the works will start in the late 2019 or early 2020, with the most optimistic deadline for the first line to become operational as 2023, but most likely, not before 2027. Pressured by the reporters that this is far cry from his first promises, Mali said: "I never said 2016. I do not know that I said 2016. But OK, it is possible that I said it. If I said it, I accept that I made a mistake, it doesn't matter anyway" and added "if I said something in 2013 or 2014, I apologize, let's make that a my mistake". The plan envisioned the first two lines as Makiš-Mirijevo (via Belgrade Waterfront) and Zemun-Ustanička.

The project, one of many in the past five decades, differs from all the previous ones as it sets the crossing of the major lines under the controversial Belgrade Waterfront, instead under the central city squares of Terazije or Republic Square. Mali also announced that the first line is actually going to be Makiš Field-Mirijevo (that is, Višnjičko Polje). Architects and engineers reacted negatively, especially since both terminuses are at the moment nothing more than still un-urbanized heaths, though mayor Mali said that this line will connect the future projects which will "with the development of metro, bring billions of euros in investments and millions of square meters of new business areas". Architect Branislav Jovin, who authored the 1970s subway project, said that everything in the city is being subordinated to the Belgrade Waterfront. He addressed the right of 1,65 million inhabitants of Belgrade who deserve more to have a metro instead of the, still non-existing, population of Belgrade Waterfront. As the project is an ultra luxurious complex for the rich, Jovin asked "do you really believe that people who live in those luxurious apartments will commute via metro?". He also believes that Makiš was chosen because of the announced project of Tesla Grad ("Tesla City") by Bogoljub Karić, Karić, a tycoon who fled the country so that he wouldn't be trialed for financial schemes, returned after the change of government. The critics also pointed to the fact that Makiš is the major water purification facility in Belgrade and made negative remarks on mayor's assessment that his SMART plan is the "first serious survey" on the subject as the first surveys date from the 1960s, while in the 1970s the full project was finished. Three weeks later, city indeed announced that Karić's company "BK Group" won the competition for the project of "Tesla Grad" in Makiš Field with Mali personally giving advices what should be built in the complex. On the very day when this was announced, Karić stated that he already finalized everything at the meeting with Mali and city architect Folić and that the project is just one step away from realization. Some architects, like Marin Krešić, openly called the Makiš project "pesty".

Mayor Mali issued a statement in February 2018 saying that "nowhere in the world the subway is built in densely populated sections of the city". This caused a massive public mockery of his statement in social media, while experts published maps and explanations refuting his claim.

In February and March 2018 the future metro was one of the focal points of the city government in the campaign for the local elections in Belgrade. A fast construction of the metro was promised and a motto "as quick as saying 'metro'" was coined. Celebrities were enlisted to promote it and to buy the tickets for the future subway. After winning the elections, later in March city administration announced a new spatial plan which prioritized a whole series of other projects and pushed the construction of the metro behind. New schedule includes: finishing of the paperwork and starting of the first phase of the first line (Makiš-Ada Huja or Mirijevo) in 2027; finishing of the second phase of the first line (e.g., completing it), finishing of the paperwork for the second line (Ustanička-Zemun) and beginning of its construction in 2033.

Criticism of the pushed Makiš-Višnjica route continued. Members of the Serbian Academy of Sciences and Arts, transportation engineer Dušan Teodorović and a public transportation expert Vukan Vučić disapproved the project. Vučić said that the projected crossing of two lines at Belgrade Waterfront is pointless because both the main bus and railway stations will be dislocated from that position. Teodorović asserted that investors and city administration draw all sorts of lines (metro, railway, etc.) like children do with the markers. Nenad Kecman, executive manager of the Serbian Railways, stated that this is the only case in the world that metro line is not connected to any railway stations. Former head of the Belgrade's Urban Institute and architect Borislav Stojkov also pointed to the disconnection of the planned system with the other routes of the urban transportation and a fact that professionals from the field were not consulted.

Graffiti and detergent

Belgrade is notorious for the graffiti vandalism which is ruining the façades for decades, while occasionally pouring of detergent into the public fountains occurs. After incident in September 2017 when the detergent was poured in six fountains, Mali, for both the graffiti and the fountains, accused the political opposition: "I don't know how to call that, other than a political madness of the opposition".

2017 reconstructions

In the summer of 2017, major traffic congestions developed in the wider downtown area as the city began several large reconstructions of important traffic spots. Due to the delays because of the failed tendering and problems with permits, the reconstructions of the Ruzveltova street (which began in May), Bulevar Oslobođenja and Slavija (June), Bore Stankovića (July) Branko's Bridge, Plateau of Milan Mladenović and Beogradska (August) and Glavna in Zemun, all overlapped in August. The streets in the vicinity, like Makenzijeva, Nemanjina and Kneza Miloša ended being overloaded with traffic. As the number of works on major traffic points grew and all of them began to overlap, the major traffic jams developed which made harder the circulation through town for everyone: drivers, passengers and even pedestrians. In total, some 50 lines of public transportation of all types (buses, trams, trolleybuses) are affected: their routes have been changed, shortened or temporarily abolished and bus stops displaced. At one point, it appeared that the changes are happening every few days.

The decision of the city government to reconstruct all these streets at the same time has been described as unreasonable. The idea of reconstruction is not criticized as such, but the overlap on several important traffic spots, which are dug all over and many lines of the public transportation are disturbed, points to the bad planning of the works dynamics. Additionally, the signalization for the drivers is on many cases poorly placed so the vehicles cruise all over while the notifications for passengers are also badly placed. It was also pointed out that city services are not doing their job as they should. The traffic lights were not adapted to the new circumstances, there is not enough traffic policemen to regulate the traffic and they misjudged the capacity of the city to work on 150 streets at the same time which resulted in having only few workers per day on some of the problematic spots. City officials advised the citizens to check the sites on city's web page, but neither everyone uses the internet nor the site is always correct (works on Plateau of Milan Mladenović weren't announced at all). The proper alternative directions were not suggested so Belgrade has been labeled the "blocked city" and "city in red". The summer of 2017 has been named as an example of a good idea with a bad plan, it was nicknamed the "hell summer", while the commuting through the city was described as a "nightmare".

Concerning Slavija, there is also a matter of the fountain which was shut down and conserved until the works on the square are finished. Fountain worked only for two and a half months, so questions are asked why the square wasn't finished first, cause now there are additional costs (conservation, etc.) for already too expensive fountain. Also, there is a criticism whether the Branko's Bridge and Bore Stankovića had to be reconstructed at this moment, as the city already dragged with those repairs for years. Especially deemed unnecessary at this point is the reconstruction of the Plateau of Milan Mladenović. It is located on one side of the Terazije Tunnel, while on the other is, already in reconstruction, Branko's Bridge. The tunnel is, for the most part, jammed even in regular conditions. Mali addressed the matter of Branko's Bridge, where the reconstruction was to last for six months: "I am counting (to be finished in) two, two and a half months at the most. So, not six months, not till the end of the year. We will get through the jams together", but then added "I don't want to guess the deadlines". After changing deadline back and forth several times in the next several months (9 months, 6 months, 2 months, end of 2017, 2.5 months), Vesić announced in October 2017 that the bridge will be fully finished in March 2018.

In August, in Mije Kovačevića street, the already finished extension of Ruzveltova, a brand new pavement was drilled and dug where the bus stops are so that granite blocks can be placed instead. City manager Vesić said that they have sent an inspection, but that he is sure "the investors have done everything like they should have" and that there will be no additional costs. But a day later, Luka Petrović, city investments secretary, which manages the reconstruction, said: "Touring the street, city urbanist Milutin Folić suggested that at the bus stops a granite blocks should be placed to break the monolithic [sic]. By placing the granite, the stops will be indicated, the monotonicity will be gone and the street will be more beautiful". He added that the enlarged costs are "little" compared to the entire investment. Most of the works will continue in September when even the worse congestion is expected. On 1 September the public transportation's winter timetable starts, which means over 200 additional buses on the streets. Also, on that day starts the school year and majority of people return to work after holidays. Mali's comment was that overlapping is actually a good thing: "I don't think that there is a lack of coordination, instead there is a large number of projects which overlap at some moment, but in the end, that is a good news." He added that before his tenure, there was a "gap of 10-15 years when nothing was built in Belgrade, just some two or three boulevards or something". For the drilling of the new pavement, he gave a third explanation, that it was a "project error" which was corrected. Few days later he added: "I talk to the people (in the streets) and they are not that much nervous, and this is not much of a problem for them...I can tell by the people that they are joyous". Despite the traffic jams, he added that "because of everything, the illusion is created that you can't pass through some parts of the city".

The works in Ruzveltova and on the Slavija were awarded to the "Ratko Mitrović" company, which was already criticized for its handling of the 2014 reconstruction of the Vojvode Stepe street but the city employed the company again. The situation, described as the "months of collapse" was further aggravated by the temporary strikes of the workers of "Ratko Mitrović" because their salaries were months late and the company didn't pay their social and health insurance. On 13 July 2017 they organized strike because the payments were 5 months late. They were again on strike on 11 September 2017 cause they received only part of the February salary. It was announced that the company didn't pay the insurance and pension fees for the workers since 2014, which raised question how the city could choose such a company because one of the conditions was that they have no debts to the state. Branislav Simonović, from the University of Belgrade's Institute for the general and physical chemistry, calculated how much the disorganized reconstructions cost citizens of Belgrade in the 4 months which is the projected deadline. He took in an account the slow down of the traffic, number of vehicles and commuters per day and calculated that citizens lose 5 million hours and spend additional 750,000 liters of fuel per day, or 600 million hours and 90 million liters in 4 months. Taking in an account the average fuel prices and the minimal wages, he calculated that reconstruction costs citizens a minimum of €425 million just in delays. He added that additional 30,000,000 m³ (1.1×10⁹ cu ft) of exhaust gases will pollute the air.

Further aggravation ensued because of many political high delegates visiting the city in autumn, or cultural and touristic festivities (like inline skates festival Rolerijada). They all influenced the partial and temporary closing of the important, still operational streets and further massive displacement of the public transportation lines, enhancing the jams. On 13 October 2017, while the excavator was digging a channel on Slavija, a lump of hard material fell from its bucket onto the main water pipe in this part of the city causing it to burst. As a result of the pipe burst, described as a "deluge", the water was ejected 3 m (9.8 ft) in the air and the pond was created in the center of the square, up to 2 m (6 ft 7 in) deep. The water then spilled over into the ending section of the Kralja Milana street, further complicating the traffic. Though the problem was fixed later that day, the communities on social networks had a field day with the comments and photomontages. They especially made fun of mayor Mali's comment on an previous incident with the Slavija fountain ("it isn't cracked, it overspills") and his and president Vučić's pet project Belgrade Waterfront (in Serbian, Beograd na vodi, "Belgrade on the water"). When the Plateau of Milan Mladenović was completely paved, due to some problems with the subterranean installations, everything had to be dug again. When the granite slabs were placed in late October 2017, in less then 2 weeks many of them cracked. Due to the problems with the electrical wiring, the newly arranged location was excavated again in February 2018. Section across the street was dug out, due to the another impending reconstruction, in March 2018.

Political analysts, and especially the oppositon, accused city government of actually cramming so many works at the same time deliberatelly, as a propaganda for the next city elections. They are due in spring of 2018, but snap elections in December 2017 were frequently mentioned. The notion was enhanced when the three most problematic spots were open for traffic simultaneously on 16 November 2017 (Slavija, Bulevar Oslobođenja, Ruzveltova) even though not all work has been completed. Citizens noted that not much appears to be changed after such a long reconstructions, while mayor Mali admitted that on Slavija only the pavement was changed and that works were prolonged as the city decided afterwards that the newly paved sidewaks should be dug again and replaced with the granite slabs. It turned out that on some sections, bicycle paths, promised by the authorities to be set in all reconstructed areas, were either completely skipped or designated on the pedestrian sidewalks, narrowing them in some parts to the width of only one person. By January 2018, Slavija wasn't completely finished even though a deadline was 4 December 2017 and the park, promised by the authorities, turned out to be a large concrete-granite plateau.

Soon, the problems appeared, apparently as a result of hasty and low quality work. By January 2018 the granite slabs on the sidewalks and concrete bedding for the tram tracks were cracking, the asphalt concrete with which the streets were paved was denting, while the painted marks and signs were peeling off. Even though still being under construction, the cracks and deterioration were quite visible by February 2018. City architect Milutin Folić then announced that the plateau will host info-center, public restroom, a mini store and an observation point from which people could watch the fountain. He set the deadline for October 2018. Still, by April 2018 the damages and cracks were widespread and the granite plating of the plateau began to crumble. The city secretariats, contractors and planners all accused each other, blaming the bad project, dumping prices, bad sub-contractors, etc. The same contractor, "MBA MIljković" has been previously hired by the city several times and each time there were problems (Vojvode Stepe Street, Ruzveltova Street), but city continued to hire them "because they always had the lowest price". City ordered them to fix the problems by May or the penalties will be collected. Mali was reminded by the media what he said after the botched reconstruction of the Vojvode Stepe Street by "MBA Miljković" on 31 July 2015: "We are now preparing the reconstruction of the Slavija Square and if we do it wrong, you have the right to hang me on Terazije".

Post-Mali follow up; When Mali left the office, several streets still remained unfinished, including the Slavija Square (see Slavija Square 2016-2018 reconstruction). Bore Stankovića was still three-quarters unfinished in September 2018 even though the deadline was 30 May. It is a short, but for the local traffic important street, yet it was completely closed for traffic.

2018

Investments

In February 2018, Fiscal Council warned that city drastically reduced investments since 2013. In 2008-12 period, on average €200 million yearly, was invested from the budget. During Mali's tenure, the number fell by 60%, to €80 million. Lack of investments in the city's infrastructure is one of the reasons which made the city finances to appear to be in a much better shape than they are.

Vučić's administration of the city

City administration continued to announce city projects which are the ideas of president Vučić. In April 2018 it was stated that "based on the initiative of president Vučić", further 54 fountains will be built all over the city. Also on the Vučić's initiative, one of the new streets in the Belgrade Waterfront will be named after the former president of the United States, Woodrow Wilson.

Belgrade Marathon

Though Mali is a marathon enthusiast and participant in the half-marathon run, in 2017 it was reported that something is not functioning right in the organization of the annual Belgrade Marathon, but the city administration denied it. Reporters claimed that the European Athletic Association deleted the event from their calendar because of not awarding the prize money, even though the organizers were received money from the city, state governments and sponsors. City administration denied it.

In 2018 event it became quite obvious as almost none of the renowed foreign athletes participated, and the Serbian runners who won had by far the worst results in the history of Belgrade Marathon. Then it became public that the privately owned company founded to organize the event is deep in debt, that it hasn't been paying the awards to the winners (which is why the foreigners decided not to participate further) and that 2018 winners will not get any rewards because of the bad results. Also, letters from the European Athletic Association became public. They warned Belgrade Marathon on 12 September 2016 regarding the complaints from the athletes for not getting the prize money and revoked the EAA certificate. Since nothing has been done to correct the situation, on 19 January 2017 the EAA removed Belgrade Marathon from the European Athletics Calendar. On 3 March 2018, EAA writes that it has been promised by the event administration, in three letters, that they will pay all the prize money, but not only that it didn't happen, a number of complaints grew instead. EAA concluded that until everything is paid, Belgrade Marathon is "not considered a part of the athletics family". They gave a deadline for the full payment as of the end of 2018.

Manager of the Serbian Athletics Association, Slobodan Branković, confirmed that EAA removed the marathon from its calendar because of the debts. He said that the "nice story went wrong", and that it is curious that prize money hasn't been awarded as both the city and the Ministry of sports were donating money for the marathon. In 2018, both city administration and Nikolić, manager of the Belgrade Marathon claimed that nothing is actually happening. It was claimed that the 2018 marathon had the largest number of participants ever and continued to compare the event with the New York or London marathon. It was even said that the records, for both male and female runners, were set last year, in 2017, which is not true (see Past winners of the Belgrade Marathon). Estimated debt in April 2018 was €300.000. Nikolić further refused to openly say that they were expelled from the EAA ("marathon is not in this year's calendar, just as it wasn't last year") and said that their calendar is only informative anyway and that marathon is part of the Association of International Marathons and Distance Races. He called everything a lie intended to spoil the marathon and that an orchestrated campaign is going on against the event.

Criticism of urban politics and general assessment

In 2014, while Mali was still head of the Temporary Council, the Council annulled the High-rise study, city's document which prohibited the arbitrary construction of skyscrapers all over the city and ordered the preservation of the panoramic view on city's cultural and historic landmarks. The area where skyscrapers are forbidden was significantly reduced later in 2015 and 2016. This gave way to numerous, and often in every way controversial projects of dozens of buildings up to 220 meters high: Belgrade Waterfront, Skyline Belgrade, Hotel Jugoslavija, West 65, Block 42, Central Garden, etc. Some of them were later amended and designed by the foreign architects never visited Belgrade. This direction of urban development was criticized as "uncontrolled skyscraper construction", "urban anarchy", "urban ulcer", "insane solutions" and a situation in which any investor, with a politician behind him, can place skyscraper wherever he likes it.

Though some occasional smaller projects were praised, the notable architects, engineers, writers and artists almost universally slammed architectural projects during the tenure of Siniša Mali. Engineer Borislav Stojkov, university professor and member of the Academy of Engineering Sciences of Serbia who devised the 1979 plan for the Slavija Square, characterized the development in this period as the "political mimicry...dependent on the decision from the top of the political spectrum and the appetites of the foreign investors who has their own calculations, unlike the city administration". Such politics, he continued, resulted in "large shopping malls on all sides of the city without any urban logic, gigantic and harmful interventions on the Sava bank (Belgrade Watefront), large residential complexes in downtown without any visible solutions for the effects on the environment, inappropriate objects like the mega-fountain on Slavija...all without noticeable influence of the domestic architects and urbanists and followed with the huge amounts of political marketing". The weakest urban link in Belgrade, communal infrastructure (traffic, sewage, waterworks, electric grid, gas and heating systems) are even being further degraded by the inappropriate projects. He added that development of the city is unsystematic, of poor quality and without necessary coordination, without any estimate what will be the benefits or the harms caused by the projects. The foreign investors are dictating the unnecessarily lumbering residential buildings and excessive business and commercial centers and the infrastructure is mainly done during the electoral campaigns. That way, Stojkov asserted, Belgrade is losing its identity. The old identity is being destroyed by the American and Arabian recipe which allegedly creates a "new identity", buried under the ostentatious amounts of money poured into the megaproject like Belgrade Waterfront which doesn't have a shred of essential interest or spirit of the citizens of Belgrade. He cited Noël Coward: "The higher the building the lower the morals". He especially criticized the way the traffic is handled in the city, pointing to the fact that Mali and city bureaucracy, which are not competent, without help from the experts, are developing the strategy of urban development and labeled the administering model of the city as "inadequate" and "consequence of the defective organization of the city administration".

One of the moves most widely, and uvinersally criticized was the haste relocation of the Belgrade Main Railway Station without finishing (properly or at all) any of the secondary objects which were to take over the traffic.

Addressing the need of Vučić, Mali and Vesić to declare everything they have done the "new symbols of Belgrade", architect Bojan Kovačević, president of the Academy of Architecture of Serbia, called those "symbols" a "cancerous parodies" and that every nonsense made by the administration is being declared a new symbol: Belgrade Waterfront, residential buildings, shopping malls, Slavija fountain. Quite the contrary, he asserted, those new projects are actually ruining the real symbols of Belgrade as Belgrade Waterfront and similar projects are actually walling the city inside and that "walled city actually became the standard syntagma of the administration". He added that the previous administration also excelled in stupidities, but not that much and not so drastically. Kovačević called the Belgrade Waterfront an imported Dubai model in the provincial way due to the cultural profile of the ruling elite, and labeled the hastiness in pushing the Belgrade Waterfront agenda - like the closing of the Belgrade Main railway station even though the new railway facilities weren't finished - as the "raping" of Belgrade. Kovačević said that city administration "went too far" and that their handling of the city borders insanity.

In December 2017, Bogunović described the urban politics as a "post-revolutionary ethos", "partisan fanaticism", "autocratic remodeling on one side, and uncoordinated action on another", also criticizing the overuse of stamped concrete and concrete paver blocks. He called Belgrade Waterfront an "architectural bogeyman". The development of Belgrade was described as the "investors urbanization" and handling of the city as an "architectural massacre". Summing all the misses in 2013-18 period, the NIN magazine labeled the Vučić-Mali-Vesić administration of Belgrade as the "aesthetics of the city destruction": walled-in city devoid of any taste and crumbling Potemkin villages which paralyzed the city. Urban politics of the city government has been described as the "thorough concreting" of the city. Art historian Irina Subotić called the ongoing works as a transformation of Belgrade into Las Vegas and urbicide as a result of the rural traditionalism and Neoliberalism. The urban politics has been described as a string of "sloppy, hastily done bad projects", pointing out that Mali was in the office solely to push the Belgrade Waterfront agenda and nothing else and that city was in earnest handled by the city manager, Goran Vesić.

Also, by 2018, the reporters began publicly writing about the bad, anti-city moves of Mali who just takes a percentage on anything done in the city, not carrying at all about the effects on the citizens. Polemicist Teofil Pančić wrote that Mali is product of a "system rigged to unmistakable favors progressively less meaningful, greedier and the least choosy ones, that is, people with the minimal creative biography and maximum of the pragmatic "knowing of everything", at the expense of those who have the will and knowledge to operate in the authentic public interest". Architect Ljubica Slavković said: We see that here we have destruction, and then construction of something new. I am sure this is not the way because, first and all, we irreversibly destroy the city we live in. This government does not adopt existing symbols, because it will bare a certain responsibility, instead they are removing them.

In an analysis of his work and promotion to the ministerial office by the Deutsche Welle, it was concluded that the Serbian Proigressive Party got so comfortable in its haughtiness and has no fear for its ratings, that Siniša Mali from the "complete idiot" (as Vučić named those involved in the Savamala incident) and a suitcase full of affairs and scandals, reached the ministerial position. Political scientist Boban Stojanović said that "when you have so many affairs in which you damaged the public interest, and then you got rewarded, it is clear that here things function the way that those who get the work done, are awarded". NIN journalist Vladan Marjanović stated that "even for the low standards of the Serbian politics, Siniša Mali represents an unusual phenomenon" and that "the way he is, Mali deserves to be remembered, after Aleksandar Vučić himself, as the greatest personal symbol of the moral decay of the Vučić era".

Other architects, urbanists and professors who publicly criticized Mali's urban politics include Ksenija Petovar ("do whatever you want" policy), Marin Krešić (shut down of the professionalism; nonsensical, circus attractions, breaking of the law), Stevan Vujović (stabilocracy and multiparty kleptocracy). Architect Dragoljub Bakić assessed that there is no urban politics or planned development in Belgrade, and that this is a finished story cause Belgrade is ruined for a long time because of the "terrorism of the investors". Architect Dragoljub Bakić, who projected some of the neighborhoods of Belgrade (Nova Galenika, Višnjička Banja) called Mali's urban policy wrong and pointless, an urban tyranny which turned Belgrade into the "variety provincial town". Bakić added that "they don't respect anything, don't know anything and make mistakes which can't be undone". He concluded that "urbanism doesn't live here anymore". Architect Miroslav Simeinović Simeun said that discontinuation with the long-term strategy of urban development is fatal and that fatality we are surviving through right now with the "investors' urbanism", when those who have money can build whatever they want wherever they want. Slobodan Maldini said that Bernard Tschumi deconstructivist motto "first rule of architecture is to break rules" is present in Belgrade architecture, infortunatelly in a completely different context. The laws are constantly broken but instead of original architecture this produces a complete urban chaos. Maldini said that "yes men project however they are being ordered to" and called the projects in Belgrade "bad, destructive, meaningless and harmful for the society in the long run".

Aleksandra Pavićević from the Institute of Ethnography of the Serbian Academy of Sciences and Arts said that "we live in an environment where because of the construction of an underground garage the Antique Belgrade has been threatened...because of the sale of the apartments the bridges are being torn down and the railway stations are being relocated". Writer Dragan Velikić said that "scars which government makes on the face of Belgrade will never fade away", referring to the administration as "junta" and the Janissaries. He added that they are "abducting the city from its citizens and handing it over to the worldwide corporations for enormous percentage. After them the mutilated face of the city will remain". Painter and sculptor Miloš Šobajić addressed the "investors' wild construction, who, without a shred of conscience, demolish everything in their path", "bulldozing investments" and a fact that everything is justified with the profit and gaining of the personal wealth. He described some of the new constructions as "concrete bunkers", "concrete contraptions", "unrealistically ugly and impudent". Šobajić concluded that "in architecture, not everything that's new is also beautiful". Journalist Filip Švarm jokingly noted that for the administration "the goal is to wrestle the title of the capital of kitsch from Skopje in few years". Former city architect, Đorđe Bobić, labeled Belgrade, especially in connection with the Belgrade Waterfront project, an "extorted city".

It was also noted that there are almost no areas in which experts didn't protests. Every suggestion and criticism is being rejected, while an additional motive for this in technical sciences (construction, transportation, architecture) is a financial interest. Traffic engineer Dušan Teodorović said that "all decisions in Serbia and Belgrade so far, concerning the construction of a new transportation infrastructure, or a reconstruction of the existing one, are done without any, even remotely meaningful traffic analysis...they just crack open the skull, so what happens, happens".

On 1 June 2018, members of the "Ne davimo Beograd" initiative, transported a pile of the rubble which remained after the Savamala demolition and unloaded it in front of the building of the Finance ministry, Mali's "new workplace". The message of the performance was that he "can ran from one office to another, but he can't hide his responsibility for his actions".

Despite everything, in an interview in June 2017, Mali stated: "no one ever said anything bad about the way I governed the city, no one ever told me that some of the tendering were rigged or that there were some wrong investments", adding that he is not behind the demolition in Savamala. He also said that he lives of his salary (102.000 dinars or 830 euros monthly) and the money he saved „in his previous life“.

During his tenure, he laid foundations for the wild investors urbanism, where if investor had political backup, he could build whatever he wants, wherever he wants.