2015 September 2 - 8 TOP3 [
SOCIAL ISSUES]
Dwellers under threat of Olympics-related eviction send request to IOC: we don’t want to move out
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Residents of an apartment complex adjacent to an Olympic stadium construction site on August 31 sent a letter of request to International Olympic Committee President Thomas Bach, calling for a review of the plan to demolish their apartments as the stadium project itself has been revised.
The IOC in the Olympic Movement’s Agenda 21 attaches importance to human habitats and home environments. However, people living in the housing complex run by the Tokyo Metropolitan government, Kasumigaoka Apartments, have been complaining that their community and their right to live would be destroyed due to the construction of Olympics-associated facilities.
These who are currently being obliged to move out also submitted a similar request to the Tokyo Metropolitan government, the Cabinet Secretariat, and the sport ministry.
Their written request states that they want the government institutions to conduct a zero-base review of the dismantlement of the Kasumigaoka housing complex, sincerely explore ways to keep the complex, and create opportunities to speak with the inhabitants.
They have already petitioned Tokyo Governor Masuzoe Yoichi to rethink the plan to demolish their dwellings three times. The governor, however, has not responded even once to their requests. The only thing that the metropolitan government did was to tell them that the authority will carry forward with the procedures for the relocation of Kasumigaoka Apartments.
After submitting the written request, a woman who looks after her 94-year-old mother said at a press conference, “We have lived there for more than half a century. We love our home and community. My elderly mother now often has nightmares because she doesn’t want to move to strange surroundings.”
Past related articles:
> Tokyo JCP to Olympic Minister: Don’t demolish public housing complex to build Olympic stadium [August 5, 2015]
> Tokyo residents petition governor not to demolish public housing for 2020 Olympics [June 23, 2015]