After wanting to rush the removal of the esplanades to give the space back to cars, the Arroios Borough Council has taken a step back: the merchants can breathe until the end of the year. Until then, an evaluation will be made "case by case" in "close collaboration" with the Lisbon City Hall.
After all, the terraces that were allowed in parking spaces during the pandemic can stay until the end of the year. The Junta de Freguesia de Arroios backed down on its decision to give the space back to cars in the face of pressure from tradersThis was a great turnout for the most recent session of the Parish Assembly, which took place on Monday, June 27. "This parish is not against terraces"said Madalena Natividade.
The President of the Arroios Parish Council added that it was necessary to "finding a balance" e "study case by case", "in close collaboration with the Lisbon City Council". According to Madalena Natividade, "We all know that terraces in parking lots are a complex issue. On the one hand, there are the residents who have a right to rest. On the other hand, we have the traders who need to make a profit and even survive".
In her intervention at the Assembly, Madalena Natividade (Independente/Novos Tempos) never mentioned the concern about car parking, despite the fact that this was the argument previously put forward to hasten the removal of the temporary terraces. The Arroios Council said so a month ago, to Público newspaperthat the parish "is located in a densely populated area of the city of Lisbon, with numerous narrow streets and thoroughfares and where residents and workers find it difficult to park on a daily basis".
At the end of May, several traders started a petition against the end of the terraces that, in the context of the Covid-19 pandemic, had been authorized in parking spaces in the parish of Arroios and throughout the city of Lisbon. In March 2022, there were at least 365 terraces authorized in parking spaces There were 68 in the parish of Arroios alone. This number may have been higher, as some establishments have since closed their terraces.
The traders had always known that the authorization was temporary, but they had hoped that it would at least become definitive with a case-by-case assessment of each situation and each terrace. Lisbon City Council had pushed back a decision on the terraces until the end of the year, allowing the temporary permits to remain in place until then, as long as the respective Parish Councils agreed. Now, o Lisboa Para Pessoas tells the story of the "Nameless Square"This is a small square divided between two parishes: on one side is the parish of Penha de França; on the other is Arroios. On the one hand, the terraces could remain until December. On the other, the Junta wanted to remove them by the end of September in order to increase the parking supply.
Merchants' testimonies
O Lisboa Para Pessoas articletogether with the Público report who had left earlier and Message which came out shortly afterwards, may have helped to give voice to the shopkeepers' protest and put pressure on the Arroios Parish Council, leading to the backtracking that has now been announced.
Ricardo Maneira, bar owner The Journey of the Hours and one of the people we talked to in May, presented at the Parish Assembly the same arguments he had given us: that terraces have been encouraged by Lisbon City Council with public support, that they have created new jobs, that they bring life to neighborhoods and the city in general, and that it is possible to find solutions to increase the parking supply that don't cost the removal of terraces.
Miguel, the owner of Maria Food Hubsaid that the terraces are "a way for people to get together, to get out of the house" and mentioned that "We've been trying to talk to someone from the executive since March to explain the problem". The owner of a wine bar said that, as such, she managed to "taking a [parking] sticker for a car you're not going to use". “I prefer, as do many people, to have a terrace rather than a car"adding that many of the clients he receives "they are people from the neighborhood who prefer to occupy the public space with a terrace rather than a car". Guilherme Pereira said that "Covid is not over. People's perceptions aren't over, they're still looking for comfortable places where they can socialize, without worrying about the person who sneezed next to them and other circumstances that are still in the back of our minds".
In general, the traders present reiterated that the terraces have allowed them to hire more people and expand and sustain their businesses, saying that they have small indoor spaces where they can seat few people. They also argued that their customers are mostly locals and that there is no question of them not paying the public space occupation fees from which they are still exempt (cities like Porto have already started charging them). "We want to be able to pay for the esplanade, that's not the point"said Francisco Nuno Bernardo, owner ofThe Cheese Cousin. "We want to understand what made you want to end it on September 30 and be able to counter-argue. We don't have a single person in our entire street who tells us they're in favor of ending the esplanade."
Mariana Góis, "co-owner of a small neighborhood café located in Praça das Novas Nações"He said that he has lived in the parish since 2004 and that "parking was already a problem then, and it still is". But "the spaces that this executive wants to take away from small traders represent less than 0.5% of all the parking spaces in this parish", who says there are around 5,000.
Luís Castro, from the Neighbors of Arroios association, made a point of "show another perspective" of the terraces in the parish, expressing concern about noise at night. "The right to rest is fundamental" and has "Precedence over the right to exercise economic activity"he argued, adding that "we don't want to replace terraces with parking spaces, what we want is for these establishments that generate noise after 9 p.m. not to be able to do so". He also mentioned that the terraces "they are a cancer for the parish, especially when they are extensions of establishments that don't have the capacity to carry out their activities within their own space"because "they have very small spaces where they can't operate profitably".
The Arroios parish council has guaranteed that the terraces can remain until at least December 31, as is happening in the other parishes of the city (Arroios was the only one to want to end the licenses earlier). The council chaired by Madalena Natividade wants to study the terraces one by one to decide whether or not to continue licensing them, in conjunction with Lisbon City Hall. The municipality told Público has recently been analyzing the issue of terraces to decide what to do after the exceptional regime ends at the end of the year.
Trees around Arroios Market
At the same Parish Assembly, the Arroios Market was discussed. Now with the project for new bike lane on Almirante Reis canceled, which would mean changes to traffic and parking in that commercial areaThe Junta de Freguesia is talking about transforming the axis between Rua Carlos Mardel, Mercado de Arroios and Alameda with the "tree planting", a "creation of green spaces" and the "beautification of streets and building facades"as explained by the Junta's treasurer, Rui Vilela Dionísio. The intervention will be carried out in conjunction with the Lisbon City Council as part of the European project Conexus. The idea is to give that axis a new importance and centrality that will reinforce the attractiveness of the Arroios Market, which has acknowledged having "many empty stalls".
The treasurer of the Junta de Freguesia de Arroios, with responsibility for commerce and public space, among others, was responding to a customer worried about the "big parking problem" at the Arroios Marketwhich he says discourages traders in the area. Luís Castela pointed out the existence of many empty stalls in the market and presented "a long-term idea"the creation of an automobile circulation corridor - "electric cars"he said - to allow traders to unload "for the elevator to the basement" and customers "carry their shopping"in the style of drive-in. From that customer's point of view, there could even be display stands next to the vehicle circulation area.
Rui Vilela pointed out that a "tender for stalls and stores that are available in the three markets of the parish" - Arroios, Forno de Tijolo and 31 de Janeiro. On the other hand, the project to beautify and create green spaces around the Arroios Market could bring much-needed shade to the area and make it more attractive for residents and visitors to stay, which could lead to an increase in local businesses. There will also be a "review of parking spaces"; and in the Market Square in particular, the aim is to "reinvigorating the wedges" that last year were intervened with urban art with "green spaces and leisure facilities for residents".
