Big on promises but light on details, the Beirut Municipality unveiled numerous plans to improve the city Wednesday evening at a town hall meeting open to professionals by invitation only. Despite the hand-picked crowd of around 70 people, disputes still arose, but city council members showed little will to back down on two particularly controversial projects – the Fouad Butrous road and a parking structure beneath the Jesuit Garden in Jeitawi.

Both Mayor Bilal Hamad and Vice-Mayor Nadim Abu Rizk defended the projects; but, for the garden, insisted that no work had yet begun and further meetings to discuss residents’ concerns would be held in the future. Hamad opened the meeting by saying it was “better late than never” for the city to reach out and publicize its plans. Later, Abu Rizk clarified that Wednesday’s meeting was a “general” discussion of various projects and noted, “in the future, we’ll have meetings for each project.”

In addition to giving a PowerPoint presentation, the city council handed attendees books outlining – but frequently not detailing – various proposals ranging from opening a new public garden to improving the city’s sewage network. [Link]