You're reading: Craftsmen can now call Andriyivsky uzviz home

Controversial order to keep artists off the famed hill for winter is reversed after the Kyiv Creators organization does some hard lobbying

ght the power and won.

The 200‑plus merchants who peddle their art, crafts and souvenirs on Kyiv’s picturesque Andriyivsky uzviz have won their battle to stay put for the winter.

On Nov. 29 the Podil District Administration rescinded a earlier decision to ban the sellers from the hill from Dec. 1 to April 30. The controversial order, announced in September, was ostensibly made to protect street merchants and their customers from hazards posed by icy streets and menacing icicles, officials said.

News of the pending ban caused an uproar among artists who immediately formed an organization, Kyiv Creators, and began lobbying.

They wrote letters to Economy Minister Yury Yekhanurov, head of the Entrepreneurs and Enterprises Union Anatoly Kinakh and Kyiv Mayor Oleksandr Omelchenko. They picketed the Verkhovna Rada and called the media.

Eventually, authorities got the message.

“Under pressure from Kyiv Creators and considering the public opinion on this issue we decided to cancel the decree banning trade on Andriyivsky between December and May,” said Ivan Dubytsky, deputy head of the Podil District Administration.

But what about the hazards?

“The problem of icicles will be solved as usual,” Dubytsky said. “We’ll send workers to remove them,” he told the Post Nov. 28.

Traditionally, winter is a busy season for the craftsmen, who do brisk business just before the Christmas and New Year holidays.

Artists on the uzviz were thrilled about the decision to rescind the ban.

“We are absolutely content with such a resolution of the conflict,” said Serhy Herasymenko, a member of Kyiv Creators.

Mykola Romanyuk, head of Podil District Administration, took the matter one step further. He promised the artists that as long as he was in his post, no one would ban trade on Andriyivsky.

Following the decision, authorities resumed issuing licenses for new traders on Andriyivsky, despite having earlier claimed there were already too many traders on the crowded street.

Kyiv Creators’ 200 members sell souvenirs, works of art and crafts on Andriyivsky uzviz. They each pay Hr 360 for a city license, plus a monthly fee of Hr 16 and an annual fee of Hr 72.

For most of the merchants, selling wares on the uzviz is the only source of income. Many artists sell their own work, although Herasymenko said about one‑third of the traders are middlemen.

The Kyiv Creators and Podil District Administration do agree on one problem that has been plaguing the hill in recent months. Both sides want to oust unlicensed squatters.

“We are against chaotic and unlicensed trade at the bottom of the uzviz,” Herasimenko said. “There are many different people here. Some think they shouldn’t have to pay for anything at all.”