Justice
Bucharest Has Been Squandering Crazy Amounts of Money on Public Improvements
As the city pays more than 20 times the market price for trees, locals smell corruption.
They paid how much?
A new report from the Romanian capital, Bucharest, revealed the huge sums of money the city has squandered on beautifying itself recently—to shocking, even laughable effect. Between 2007 and 2014 the city spent a cool €600 million ($650 million) on aesthetic improvements, consistently paying ridiculous prices for what they bought. Among the more jaw-dropping details are districts paying €1,000 ($1,083) apiece for park benches, and one area splashing out a total of €8,200 ($8,886) on 13 trashcans lovingly fashioned from exotic wood.