There is a movement arguing that Limassol (aka LMS) become the capital of Cyprus. Let's face it, LMS is cool, much cooler than you and I combined, but do we really want the Second City to be Capital City?
Firtstly look at the logistics: you would need to move all the government buildings, the parliament, the executive and the judiciary to the coast, imagine the cost and slow-down of the governmental process. All of the Ministers would relocate here (for the beach mostly) and the city will be filled with government officials (who we so dearly love - NOT).
Limassol would be clogged up with traffic, although there are better road links in LMS, a new city centre will have to be built for the government, and so the care-free attitude Lemesians have will disappear and be replaced with a hectic, twitchy, neurotic attitude pf Nicosia. The beach culture will end.
Plus there would be no point to Nicosia if LMS becomes Capital City. Nicosia will become a ghost town and cease to exist. The whole point of Nicosia is that is it the capital, other than that, it has no function. There is no sea, no natural beauty, nothing exceptional other than some cultural locations.
Nicosia's beauty lies in its symbolism, which is having been capital for the past 10,000 years (I feel like i lived there for about 7,000 of them) and that it is the last divided capital in the world (Jerusalem has been united since 1967 and is no longer a divided city, neither is Berlin). Having the capital divided is a great marketing symbol to highlight the division of CY. It will also be capital of a United Cyprus if we ever sort the problem out. LMS just doesnt have the image to the Capital City. It's more of a Clubbing Capital.
So there you have it, denying Nicosia the role it has always held and turning LMS into a Capital City would have a reverse effect for both cities.
However, here is the facebook group about this movement. They make an excellent point but really, LMS has always been the diamond in the rough, and not all good things need to be polished off to the beautiful, right?
No comments:
Post a Comment