Sadness spread yesterday Saturday 9/11 the news of the death of Yannis Boutaris. Mr. John is gone, but he will be in our hearts forever,” his family said in a post.
Yiannis Boutaris, who passed away at the age of 82 in a private hospital in Thessaloniki, where he had recently been hospitalized with serious health problems. overcoming his reputation as a successful businessman and as the most unconventional Mayor of Thessaloniki, he managed to make his name a “property”.
“I am familiar with death”
Giannis Boutaris, in an interview different from the usual ones, had spoken on the web show “SamTimes” of Grtimes.gr in April 2019, where he declared that he was familiar with death.
Having served two terms in the opposition and two terms as the Mayor of Thessaloniki with the Initiative, he described what had happened in those 12 years.
The question of creating a crematorium was not missing from the conversation and what obstacles he encountered in his attempt to build it, while he reveals what he did immediately after the death of his wife.
“I am familiar with death. Because my wife was sick for 5 years. All this time we have been discussing death, separation, etc. These necessarily bring you into a familiarity. You wait for it to come. The expiration date has arrived. It’s heavy, but I’m also going to tell you something that maybe I shouldn’t say. When my wife was taken dead from the house, then I danced at home alone to songs that we danced together”, Mr. Boutaris confided in the show.
“I’ve lived it, I’ve had enough of it… Goodbye!”
In another interview, Yiannis Boutaris, a few days after the announcement of his decision not to run for the municipality of Thessaloniki for a third time at the end of November 2018, spoke about the difficulties he faced during these eight years while evaluating himself.
“I’ve lived it, I’ve had enough of it… Goodbye!” he had told the Athens/Macedonian News Agency, looking back on the eight years in the mayoralty, from 2014 when he was elected as the 60th mayor in the city’s history, until today. “The decision I made was easy, the announcement of the decision was difficult,” adds Mr. Boutaris.
He stated that he was moved by the comments towards his person after the announcement of his intention and at the same time relieved, proud of the implementation of the Holocaust Museum idea, “broken” that he did not manage to proceed with the extension of the old beach and the reconstruction of Aristotelous Square.
Grading himself in terms of the work done on improving the citizens’ everyday life, he said that he would not score more than 7 out of 10, while when asked how he sees the next day for Thessaloniki after the 2019 elections, he emphasized that the city will not turn back as “we opened a running river.”
He clarified that in order for Thessaloniki to move forward, it needs a mayor who has a vision, and expresses the optimism that his municipal group “Initiative” will find the right one, who will lead a ballot.
Finally, he made it clear that he is not interested in either the Parliament or the European Parliament despite the proposals he occasionally accepted, noting that “the best involvement is citizen participation in Local Government”, “many things depend on the mayor for everyday life” of the citizen.
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