The opposition ZNAM sharply replied to Centar municipality after the latest construction incident - a banner falling onto a parked vehicle and damaging a sidewalk. „An accident shouldn't have to happen for the municipality to remember it can issue fines," is the sentence that sums up the whole critique.

The party is targeting mayor Goran Gerasimovski, claiming he only reacts when the media publishes a scandal, not as a systematic approach. Because, as they publicly ask, if an inspection is done once every six months, when exactly are problems uncovered? Before the fall, or after? The reality in Skopje's centre shows that in the last few months there have been more construction incidents than in entire previous years.

ZNAM laid out three concrete demands for the next municipal council session. First - mandatory regular and extraordinary inspections of all active construction sites within a month. Second - public transparency through publication of the inspection reports on the municipal website (which is elementary by European standards and nearly revolutionary by ours). Third - a formal initiative that will be tabled at the next council session.

What's most useful in this statement is setting out a general principle - „safety has no party affiliation." That means ZNAM is calling on all councillors, regardless of party, to vote for the initiative. Politically that's ambitious logic, but rarely successful in Macedonian council bodies where party lines are rigid.

The question many citizens carry inside - is ZNAM's criticism genuine concern or political opportunity? They are the opposition. They have a motive to criticise the sitting mayor. That reduces the moral weight of the statement, even though the material demands - inspections, transparency - are valid.

And Gerasimovski? Silent so far. The municipality hasn't responded specifically to the latest incident. That means either he's thinking how to react, or he'll play the „next season it'll be different" game. At this pace of incidents - three in the last few weeks - the citizen no longer believes either version. Now is not the time for political declarations. Now is the time for procedures that work before the next „incidental" damage happens.