Gazprom and the end of November

I think I had hoped to write at least every two weeks, but I long ago lost that rhythm. Often I have found it hard to switch my mind to retelling what I am doing instead of just experiencing it, and have often tried to spend extra time with friends… and sometimes watching TV! There is a pretty good channel here that more or less approximates our PBS in its lack of commercials and emphasis on cultural programming, called “Kultura.” When I’m trying to wake up I turn on this channel, which shows European news (dubbed into Russian) until 10am and then shows lots of old Soviet films. In fact, lots of channels show old films from the era of the great government-supported studios Mosfilm and Lenfilm… and although they often have ideological content, they are much more complex than you might suspect from a distance. I saw one that I liked in late summer: a glorification of the building boom in the 1960s that liberated people from communal apartments and seemed wonderful at the time. The film showed several intriguing subplots of professional rivalry and uneducated talents proving their worth.

On the other hand, I do NOT stop to watch all the copies of American programming, such as ‘Stars on Ice’ or ‘Three up Above’ or ‘Supernanny’ or the nanny sit-com. At least they aren’t American versions dubbed into Russian! ‘Friends’ is presented that way. Every once in a while, when I want to hear an American voice, I come across that and try to hear the words before the dubbing kicks in.

The dark time has come here. It is still pretty dark in the morning at 9am, and by 4:30pm it’s evening. Today for the first time in a couple of weeks I can see some blue sky at the top of the closed courtyard that my windows look out into. I am grateful that my central heating has been going full force since I got back from Moscow, but on the other hand the temperature has been in the 40s or a bit higher for almost that long. I come home and put on a t-shirt and yoga pants, and open all the windows. There isn’t any way for me to adjust the temperature at this point!

Since getting back from Moscow about 10 days ago, I have spent part of my time following events surrounding a proposed skyscraper by the company Gazprom. Some of you may have read about this in The New York Times or somewhere else… Gazprom, currently the fourth-largest company in the world (or just oil and gas company? I’d have to check), recently transferred its headquarters to Petersburg (at Putin’s request?) so that its tax money would come into the Northern Capital, as they call it. (Recall that Putin is from Petersburg, and the word is that he wants some of the country’s money to flow here, to raise its prestige.) This inrush of funds has created a situation of unusual excitement around building projects, and Gazprom itself (or rather its CEO Alexei Miller) decided that he wanted an office headquarters to match his significance. He organized an architectural competition for the building and set 300 meters as the minimum height. For the past month, the six semifinal projects were on display in the local Academy of Arts, and city residents were told they could vote. Meanwhile, many residents have been absolutely in a fury over the idea, and NOT because they don’t want new architecture in the city. It’s the height of the building above all that irks everyone.

In case you get the impression that those backward Petersburgers don’t appreciate modernity… What has amazed me over the past two weeks is the level of sophistication with which the average person (who is interested in this situation) can discuss the architectural significance of adding such a tall element to the city’s skyline. Everyone can explain quite clearly that Petersburg is a horizontal city, based on a system of low main structures plus open squares plus a few high points, mostly the spires of cathedrals. The fact that the proposed skyscraper would ruin this horizontal impression from almost any direction stands out, and it’s even worse that the proposed site is right across the river from one of the high points, an 18-th century cathedral in baroque style. The architects did their best to make it seem as though they were taking account of the city’s history; to a great extent they succeeded, in my eyes. But most peple I have talked to say that they need new architecture, they really want it to be built here… just farther away from the historical center of the city, please! If you try to tell them about the Eiffel Tower in Paris, they will remind you about La Defense, the ultra-modern business section of Paris that was deliberately built further away from the city center.

Just yesterday I was talking with a local architect, and it occurred tome that the Eiffel Tower is a terrible analogy for what Gazprom wants to do here. The Eiffel Tower ends up being basically transparent, as is the local TV Tower (another frequently advanced example of why a skyscraper wouldn’t be bad). Beyond this transparency, the Eiffel Tower ends up being basically a public space in its entirety; you have to be able to afford to go into the restaurant, or even up to the top – but anyone can. You can get fond of it, as my acquaintance said; you can say, My Paris, my Eiffel Tower. The Gazprom tower would be off-limits to everyone but Gazprom employees. Most of the architects designed lovely public spaces at the bottom of the tower, but those public spaces assume a lot… that Russian security services would handle them the way that the architects envision, that they could be open on a regular basis in spite of terrorism alerts… In fact, the building’s likelihood to become a target for terrorist attacks is another reason many residents don’t want it.

In general, just so you have this perspective – people are articulate, passionate about their city, and knowledgable. They don’t trust their government system or the way that these things usually turn out… And they also know that the city doesn’t have the firefighting capability to service even a 15-story building, so what would happen if there were trouble one with 50?

I am enjoying and paying attention to certain things that I like about being here, about my familiar routes. Recently I had a good transportation day: in the morning I caught (on the run) a streetcar and rode three stops… It was morning, quiet in the car, the driver announced all the stops ahead of time, and streetcars are my favorite form of transportation anyway… At the end of the day I came back to my neighborhood by metro, and I had my favorite magazine with me and read my favorite (humorous) column on my three or four trips up and down escalators as I descended, transferred lines, and ascended again. Simple pleasures.