Olympic champion Natalya Sadova became the chair of the Public Council of the Vodnik Stadium.

      According to Natalya Sadova, the Vodnik Stadium is located in the very center of Nizhny Novgorod and deserves special attention.

      The first meeting of the Public Council of the Vodnik Stadium took place in Nizhny Novgorod. Representatives of the city administration and Council members, among them active athletes, coaches, local residents and public figures, met in the model library on Minin Street. In addition, a resident of one of the houses neighboring the Vodnik Stadium — Svetlana Shartanova, who had previously expressed a desire to speak on behalf of residents not included in the Council at a meeting with the mayor’s office — was invited to the discussion.

      The meeting lasted about an hour and a half. The first item on the agenda was the open-vote election of the chair of the Public Council, their deputy and the secretary. Sergey Gorin, chairman of the city’s Public Chamber, noted that, since this concerns a sports facility, the Vodnik Stadium, it would be appropriate, in his view, to choose the chair from among athletes, and proposed the candidacy of Natalya Sadova — an Olympic champion, current coach, director of Comprehensive Sports School of Olympic Reserve No. 1 and chair of the public organization “Athletics Federation” of the Nizhny Novgorod Region. As a result of the vote, Natalya Sadova was unanimously elected chair of the Public Council.

      According to Natalya Sadova, the Vodnik Stadium is located in the very center of Nizhny Novgorod and deserves special attention. “It needs to be put in order, reconstructed and given a new life in a modern format. And this format, of course, should remain sports-oriented: there should be new running tracks, a football field and an ice hockey rink. I believe residents will be satisfied, since their needs must be met,” she said.

      Oksana Shlykova, head of the “Football Moms of the Nizhny Novgorod Region” community, whose son previously played football at Vodnik, was unanimously elected deputy chair. Yaroslav Kuchev, chair of the “Healthy Nation” movement, was unanimously chosen as secretary.

      Next, the participants discussed a number of issues concerning the current state of the Vodnik Stadium, development of the master plan, timelines and overall development plans.

      Leonid Streltsov, deputy head of the Nizhny Novgorod administration, said that the Vodnik Stadium is one of the city’s oldest sports facilities. “It was opened in 1937. To date, the facility’s wear exceeds 90% — the stadium is in an unsafe condition, which has been confirmed by the relevant examination. The priority task has been identified as preserving the sports facility — the Vodnik Stadium — where it is planned to create a football field with running tracks, open multifunctional sports courts, a covered ice arena with a multifunctional sports hall, rooms for table tennis, martial arts and training equipment. We place special emphasis on the fact that the stadium’s grounds have always been ‘for the people,’ so the facilities will be available for year-round training of schoolchildren, members of sports clubs, youth sports schools, and will also be open for free visits and sports activities by Nizhny Novgorod residents,” said Leonid Streltsov.

      During the discussion, participants addressed the “images” that periodically appear in the media showing how unknown authors “see” the development of the Vodnik territory. For example, in one such render, the original source of which is currently unknown, new residential buildings are shown next to the new stadium. The topic was raised by Council member Alexey Belyaev, chair of the Commission on Youth Affairs and Healthy Lifestyles of the city’s Public Chamber.

      Leonid Streltsov emphasized that the Institute for the Development of the Nizhny Novgorod Region Agglomeration is currently only working on creating the master plan, so no official reliable information has yet been released, and the “images” most likely do not relate to an official document. “Vodnik has indeed been slated for renovation for many years: there were many projects, beautiful images, but in the end nothing was implemented. I believe that until an official master plan, and then a project, is presented, everything else has no basis. I urge you to wait for the official document,” said Leonid Streltsov, stressing that after the project is developed it will be presented to the Public Council.

      The next issue discussed by Council members was interaction with residents of territories adjacent to the Vodnik Stadium. Those present noted that such a dialogue is extremely important.

      Alexey Rybolovlev, head of the administration of the Nizhny Novgorod district, emphasized that a scheme of bypass routes was developed specifically for local residents who are accustomed to using the stadium as a transit zone — additional sidewalks will be organized to make it easier for Nizhny Novgorod residents to get around. “For example, this was requested by Svetlana Sergeyevna Shartanova, who is present at the meeting. We supported her and the residents on this. A few days ago, as agreed, we walked the route together and looked at everything. There are two options for transit routes: the first is via Alekseevskaya Street and Gruzinskaya Street, the second is via Volodarsky Street and Osharskaya Street. Timewise these routes add only about two minutes compared to going through the stadium itself. There are minor adjustments that need to be made — to widen a sidewalk here, to repair a staircase there. We are working on this now,” Rybolovlev said.

      Anton Ermakov, director of the city’s Department of Physical Culture and Sports, reported that to ensure the safety of Nizhny Novgorod residents, including youth, security at the dilapidated stadium will be strengthened, and a fence will be installed around it in the near future.

      At the end of the meeting, professor, Doctor of Sociological Sciences Sergey Sudyin, head of the Department of General Sociology and Social Work at the Faculty of Social Sciences of N. I. Lobachevsky Nizhny Novgorod State University, took the floor. He noted that the topic of the future Vodnik Stadium concerns many city residents — each for their own reasons: sports activities, convenient pedestrian transit, walking dogs near home, excursion activities and more. “As one of the mechanisms for interacting with residents on the issue of developing the Vodnik area, our university is ready to design and conduct a sociological survey. Let’s find out what people want to see in place of Vodnik, how the space should be filled, what worries Nizhny Novgorod residents — for example, changes to usual pedestrian routes, changes to usual places for physical exercise and running, and so on. We actually have local residents present here, and I think they will help us conduct the survey among their neighbors. I invite you to participate!” Sudyin proposed. Local resident Svetlana Shartanova commented on conducting the survey, noting that residents would gladly accept this proposal. Members of the Public Council supported Sudyin’s initiative and unanimously voted for the development and conduct of a sociological survey.

      At the end of the first meeting of the Public Council, after a discussion in which every Council member and the attendees participated, Artur Shtoyan, director of the city’s Department of Social Communications and Youth Policy, announced the next meeting. “Dear Council members, today’s meeting was very productive, especially regarding the dialogue with local residents, which we, of course, will continue. The Council will also meet regularly and discuss current issues. I propose we not postpone the scheduling of the next meeting and get together, say, in one and a half to two weeks,” he added. Those present unanimously supported the proposal.