Last week, for example, I cursed the Mayor after nearly breaking my arm when I slipped and fell on some ice covering the entire sidewalk on Nalbandian Street. Later, however, Edik Baghdasarian at Hetq Online told me that I was being unfair. In fact, the responsibility for cleaning the streets and roads of snow lies with Gagik Beglaryan, Prefect of the Kentron Community.

[…]

The problem is even worse now with not one area of the city, even in the center, clear of snow and ice. Indeed, as the snow begins to melt, roads have been turned into dirty streams and in some places are impossible to cross. Last night, for example, even the main Sayat Nova road was knee high in water in places, which begged a rather naieve question to the taxi driver driving me to a bar.

“The District Prefect does nothing about this, right? Why doesn’t he clean the roads?” I asked somewhat stupidly. “Tsavet danem, menag pogh oudum e.” the taxi driver responded, which in this context basically means, “Leave it out, he only eats the money.”

[…]

Well, it’s not my place to cast doubts on handling of the local community’s budget by Gagik Beglaryan (AKA Chorni Gago) or his character in general, but here’s a few references to him from recent media reports.

The meeting was regularly interrupted by egg-throwing and clashes between the participants and skin-headed young men. A cameraman of the “HayTV” TV company got his camera damaged during one of the clashes. Among the young men the meeting participants recognized representatives of the Prefect of Yerevan’s Center community Gagik Beglaryan.

http://felist.com/archive/media.arminfo/200404/05214305.html

Law enforcement officers patrolling the polling stations did not intervene. In the Central district of Yerevan, governed by prefect Gagik Beglaryan, a shady businessman better known as Black Gago, opposition journalist Susanna Pogosian was beaten, as well as one local and one foreign observer.

http://prima-news.ru/eng/news/articles/2003/2/21/23201.html

Incidently, last summer while meeting up with RFE/RL’s Emil Danielyan in the Cactus Mexican restaurant on Mashtots Avenue, I saw Beglaryan and had to wonder why the head of the Kentron District needs so manybodyguards. There was one guarding the door, two standing by Beglaryan’s black jeeps parked outside, and one at the bar keeping an ear on the conversation Emil and I were having.

http://oneworld.blogsome.com/2006/02/05/democracy-accountability-local-governance/

Perhaps I should also point out that I was one of those journalists attacked by shaven-headed thugs in 2004 while Beglarian’s people apparently watched as if in control. I’m also still amazed at the security around Beglarian, btw. A local district head in London, for example, would not have so much which says a lot about the man himself, perhaps.

Still, let’s see what he has to say for himself during next month’s campaign.