On May 19, 2009 the first 10,500 signatures of Krasnogvardeyskiy District residents collected in support of the Okhta Center Project were handed over to the Governor of St. Petersburg Valentina Matvienko. The signatures were passed to the Governor by the leader of The Pravy Bereg (The Right Bank) public organization Marat Kozlov.

“With this action we would like to demonstrate that there are not just rivals but also ardent supporters exceeding the opponents in number around the Okhta Center Project. The collection of signatures will still run on”, - Marat Kozlov stated.

According to him, the project supporters are at the moment uniting into a wide coalition. “We are not going to stand aside and observe some other people bearing no relation to Krasnogvardeiskiy District making decisions for us in respect of the way we should live. We will struggle fiercely for the future of both our city and the district”, - Marat Kozlov said.

One of the authors of the petition addressed to the Governor, Vitaliy Misnikov, holding a position of the General Director of the district Agency for Territory Reconstruction and Development and heading the Public Council for Small Entrepreneurship under the Administration of Krasnogvardeyskiy District considers the Okhta Center to represent a unique development project.

“I had two reasons for signing the letter of support, - Vitaliy Misnikov says. – Firstly, the presented project designs are made on a highly professional level, though there are still questions remaining. Secondly, the fact that some organized small groups of the project rivals speak on behalf of all citizens, assuming the right to express various points of view, triggers my deep protest”.

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