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Dear Friends, Help with this if you can.

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From: save hydra <savehydra@yahoo.ca>
To: mjmalia@hotmail.com
Subject: Fwd: Is Hydra Protected

Is Hydra Protected?

The objective of this letter is to inform interested
people, of a specific plan that is being proposed for
a
large-scale tourist development at the edge of Kamini
settlement on Hydra (site previously owned by Richard
Branson). We request, those who receive this
information, if they are so concerned to respond by
voicing their opinions, to the addresses given below
and a copy to savehydra@yahoo.ca

The Large Scale Development Proposal
Proposal: To build 53 separate units for a hotel
project in an agricultural area at the edge of Kamini
settlement on the inland way to Vlichos.

Proposal by: Hotels Hellas Hydra owned and
operated by Polemis a Greek ship owner based in
London
Architect: Alexandros Tombazis, a highly eminent
and respected professional.

Record of Proposal: Four applications were presented
to the First Ephorate of Byzantine Antiquities,
official body of the Ministry of Culture, responsible
for Hydra (24/06/04, 08/09/04, 15/03/05, and 21/03/05.

17/05/05 the First Ephorate observed that such a
development in an agricultural area, which has always
been the natural edge of town, would be injurious to
the physiognomy of Hydra settlement. This proposal for
town development with contemporary criteria, does not
conform with a protected historical
settlement which is listed as a monument and an
archaeological site.
19/10/05 Proposal on the agenda of the meeting of
the Central Archaeological Council together with two
other large development proposals (in Avlaki on
the coastal road between Hydra and Kamini). The
council postponed the meeting due to the absence of
the Architect of the Kamini project.
20/12/05 Project was presented alone. At the
meeting the owner and Architect were present. Also
present in opposition were :
The Architectural Association of Greece,
represented by Professor of Architecture at the
N.T.U.A. Eleni Maistrou, who was also representing
herself as a member of a team who made a proposal for
Hydra, for the Ministry of the Environment, concerning
the Hydra Town Plan.
The Council of Architectural Heritage of
the Elliniki Etaireia (the Hellenic Society for the
Protection of the Environment and the Cultural
Heritage) represented by architect-planner Iosif
Efremidis,
The Ecological Association of Hydra,
represented by its president Manolis Tsakiris and
members,
Giannis Lyras owner of an adjoining
property represented by his attorney.

The Central Archaeological Council postponed their
decision to a later date demanding further
clarification from the developers regarding the
property in relation to the town limits of Hydra.


OBSERVATIONS
The site of the proposed development
is and always was agricultural land.
This is the same site that was previously owned by
Richard Branson’s Virgin, whose proposal for a similar
project was turned down by the Central Government over
a decade ago.

The official town plan is seen to be poorly drawn and
unnecessarily vague, especially considering that the
area under concern is a declared and listed, protected
historical and living monument and
archeological site.


Although the present archeological law is stricter
than it was a decade ago, it does seem to be
protecting and guiding the development of Hydra which
has taken a real estate market direction. For the law
to work it is necessary, as the First Ephorate
proposed, that a legal framework be formed to account
for the particuliarities of the
Hydra settlements and landscape. The special building
regulations which the Archaeological law dictates have
not been formulated.

This gap in legislation allows for many infringements
of the guidelines for protection, such as:




Three story buildings (ie basement + 2 stories)

Building on agricultural land
Partitioning of the hillside landscapes to
create new plots
Hiding Hydra churches which were the landmarks
of the town.



Cutting the rock with machinery light and heavy




This large-scale proposal of a hotel consisting of 53
buildings in the valley if approved sets a precedent,
which would encourage a wide-scale and irreversibly
damaging development of the entire island.


Please send your responses to the following Greek
Ministry of Culture addresses and a copy of your
response to savehydra@yahoo.ca




Minister : Geogious A.
Voulgarakis
Secretariat
tel.:+30-210-82.01.648,82.01.649
fax:+30-210-82.01.435
20-22 Bouboulinas Str., 106 82 Athens
e-mail: protocol@minoff.culture.gr,
minister@culture.gr

Deputy Minister : Petros Tatoulis
Secretariat
Latani Ioanna, Lytra Vasiliki
tel: +30 210-82.01.656, +30 210-82.01.489
E-mail: ptatoulis@minoff.culture.gr
20-22, Bouboulinas Str. 106 82 Athens

General Secretary: Christos Zachopoulos
General Secretary's Officetel.: +30-210-82.01.444,
82.01.658
fax: +30-210-82.01.353
20-22 Bouboulinas Str., 106 82 Athens
e-mail: protocol@gsecoff.culture.gr, gensec@culture.gr

This is dreadful, HP . With the hotel would come, as well... no doubt... various forms of transportation. Too many people at one time on too small of an island... like being stuck in the cruise ship portion of the waterfront at loading/unloading time... except all the time! The ambience of the island will be destroyed by either/or and, most certainly, both!

I'll write... yet, against mega money, will it do any good at all?? All anyone can do is try... why must all good things come to an end?? I hope this will motivate people from here to go to Hydra while they can still enjoy it in its present form... and to write to these upper echelons, as well.

~ Lizzy

to build a luxury resort on Hydra. Will these people succeed?

Certainly, the more people who write, the better! There are quite a few posters on this list who have been to Hydra, and perhaps even feel they have a stake in keeping it pristine.

My previous message should have read "RICHARD BRANSON TRIED AND FAILED to build a luxury resort on Hydra"

By the way, I wrote a novel called STATIC CONTROL about that very, very thing -- the island threatened by a European developer -- a few years before Branson appeared on the scene.

It took me years and years to finish -- so I can hardly claim it was prophetic. I ended up publishing it myself because all the publishers were either too slow, or wanted me to change it...

Lizzy -- you are very tolerant of me talking about my books. It's available at http://lulu.com/diamondback and it even has an ISBN number.

I swear I just remembered this now -- it;s not the reason I started this thread.

I started this thread because an e-mail came asking me to help save Hydra!

Ι will write them.
Ι might be able also to have direct
access to Minister of Culture office.

Strange thing is that I can't find
anything about this in the Greek Media.

Hands off Hydra bastards!


Dem

Tolerant ? I keep asking you... . Thanks for the info, and I've also written to those addresses regarding Hydra.

No problem, Ann, it's very clear the reason you started this thread .

Love,
Lizzy

Oh no, not again.

During the Branson saga, I made friends with a young British architect working in a junior way on the project. He told an interesting tale, of inflated eurogrants being offered in exchange for Branson setting up a new national airline. Then the Government changed and the whole project collapsed.

Writing letters is 'careful nibbling': all well and good, but it does make more sense to go for the jugular. Look for the money. And when you find it, publicise it. In Greece, there's usually a eurogrant hiding in the background somewhere, trying not to be noticed. And EU money being used to destroy an EU Monument ...?

Also... Ten years ago, many local Greeks supported the Branson project, believing it would bring work to the island. It is important to disabuse them of this: the work will be done by off-islanders, who will then disappear with the proceeds.

But the worst thing about the Branson plan was that he was intending to ferry his super-rich clientele to the hotel by helicopter. The noise of those things is horrendous. That prospect alone should motivate every resident, whether ex-pat or Greek, to agitate.

Last Friday BBC World had a reportage about the project. The new houses would be located
between the ex-prison in Kamini and the cemetery up on the hills. The architect who has made
the plans said in the interview that the houses will be built in the same style with all existing
houses in the area. The reportage made it clear that the project has created conflicting feelings
on the island and elsewhere.

Anybody interested can read more
on Hydra Ecologist's Association blog:
http://hydraseal.blogspot.com/

There are some posts written in English.

Especially this one:
Branson project for Hydra again rejected by KAS
http://tinyurl.com/2skhh6

Dem

Hands off Hydra bastards!
Hands off, Hydra bastards!
Hands off Hydra, bastards!

Personally, I find the first one more interesting.

p.

e-mails sent.

All of a sudden this topic has short-term and a long-term dimension !