The art galleries on Tbilisi's Irakly II Street have almost everything they need for success: well-done artwork and a prime location on one of the Georgian capital's most picturesque lanes. What they don't have is customers.
Alexander Cherkezishvili at The Old Gallery hopes the landslide election of Mikhail Saakashvili two days ago will change all that.
"He's young, he's educated; I'm sure he will bring changes," said Cherkezishvili, an unemployed architect minding the gallery for the owner, on Tuesday.
The gaggle of unemployed men hanging around outside the gallery echo Cherkezishvili's hopes, as do most Georgians, judging by Sunday's election results. With ballots counted from 57 of the 75 electoral districts, Saakashvili had 97.6 percent of the vote, said Zurab Chiaberashvili, the central election commission chairman.
Such huge victories usually result only from rigged elections, but international observers called Sunday's balloting substantially free and fair. By comparison, November parliamentary elections were marred by widespread fraud, prompting Saakashvili and other opposition figures to lead massive protests that drove President Eduard Shevardnadze to resign.
"Changes for sure -- though I don't know how," said Goga Tsakareishvili, part of the idle group in the street.
When asked what Saakashvili should choose as his top priority, Tsakareishvili said he should promote respect for law.
"Fight corruption!" shouted 76-year-old Sergei Uchava from a nearby bench, too frail to join the others standing.
Corruption -- ranging from small bribes to massive siphoning off of foreign aid and misappropriation of state assets -- dogs Georgians' thoughts constantly. In its smallest manifestations, it's a demoralizing irritant -- or worse -- a bothersome complication in daily life.
David Rurua says he lost his internal passport once and had to pay US$20 on top of the regular fee to get a new one.
"I'm a Georgian, I need a passport. What could I do?" he said.
Tsakareishvili, an unemployed construction worker, said building inspectors ask bribes for simple home renovations.
"If you build a new kitchen, the inspectors come and ask for US$50 or $US100," Tsakareishvili said.
"They can ask for a million if they want," he said.
At its highest manifestations, corruption has drained state coffers to the point that Uchava can't even expect regular payment of his 14-lari (US$7) monthly pension.
When it doesn't come, "my life goes on, but I don't know how," he said.
Georgia is perceived as one of the world's most corrupt countries, according to the Transparency International watchdog group, and the endemic corruption has discouraged foreign investors and stifled local entrepreneurship.
As they stood and sat in the street, the men were on a symbolic fault line between Georgia's failure and hopes.
On one side of the street, the buildings were in near-collapse, including a 17th century caravanserai -- an inn built around a central court -- where wet underwear dripped from the rough timbers holding up the walls.
On the other side, buildings with filigreed iron and wooden balconies gleamed with new coats of pink and blue paint, spurred by a local and World Bank project to repair the buildings' foundations, pump out the cellars and pave the street.
The buildings showcase the combination of Eastern and Western architecture that charmed visitors to Tbilisi back when tourists weren't an anomaly.
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