The Lisbon Municipal Assembly rejected a recommendation by PAN and Livre asking the council to immediately revoke parking permits on sidewalks, not only in the Restelo neighborhood, but also in other areas of the city, by the end of the current mandate.
A recommendation by PAN and Livre, entitled "Sidewalks are for people to walk on, not for cars to park on"was rejected this Tuesday, April 16, by the Lisbon Municipal Assembly. The document, which was voted against by the PSD and CDS and abstained by the PS, suggested that the City Council exercise "its powers with regard to the parking of vehicles on public roads and other public places, in compliance with the provisions of the Highway Code".
The recommendation signed by the two parties also asked the municipality (PSD/CDS) to revert "the decision to authorize parking on sidewalks immediately in the Restelo area and other parts of the municipality until the end of this mandate".
Municipal deputy António Morgado, from PAN, and municipal deputy Patrícia Robalo, from Livre, took the view, according to the text presented, that allowing parking on sidewalks undermines the right to mobility and is "a serious attack on the movement of people with reduced mobility, seniors or children, especially those transported in baby carriages". They added that "regulation and supervision of parking on public roads and spaces" in Lisbon is a competence of the City Council, "councils do not have any powers over public parking". PAN and Livre stressed that "Lisbon City Council cannot allow, if it has done so, even temporarily, to disrespect the right to mobility and specifically allow parking on the sidewalk".
In their recommendation, the two parties asked the council to put an end to legal parking on the sidewalk in Restelo, more surveillance throughout the city "in order to prevent parking on sidewalks, crosswalks, second-row parking and other places that jeopardize pedestrian safety and circulation". The text was rejected with PSD, CDS, Aliança, MPT and Chega voting against, PS and IL abstaining, and PAN, Livre, BE, PEV, PCP, Cidadãos Por Lisboa, PPM and PS MP Pedro Roque voting in favor.
Presenting the recommendation to the plenary of the Municipal Assembly, António Valente, from PAN, said that "you can't interrupt rights temporarily and then start disrespecting the right to mobility"neither "legalizing a situation that cannot be normalized". "They make way for cars, they dictate the signs in Belém, but they forget about the people who pass through there every day, especially those with wheelchairs, reduced mobility or who use baby carriages." For her part, Patrícia Robalo, from Livre, showed photographs of various obstacles to pedestrian circulation in the city of Lisbon, some of which are the result of the new advertising contract between the City Council and JCDecaux which has led not only to the replacement of bus stop shelters throughout the city, but also of billboards.
MPs comment on the situation in Restelo
"Pedestrians are being relegated to 'second-class' users of the streets. There are concrete cases that we've been presenting here, from the work on changes to the street furniture at bus stops to the aberration of illegal parking standardized by the PSD/CDS New Times in Restelo."said the city council member, pointing out that "sidewalks are the most democratic spaces in the city, because people of any age, group or social class can circulate freely on them, without the need for a license or vehicle" and, on the other hand, that "walking is the most basic means of getting around, of social integration and of experiencing the urban space, of living in proximity, in community and in the 15-minute city that we defend".
The Livre member of parliament said that according to the Decree-Law 163/2006, o "pedestrians have the right to a continuous, regular and unobstructed circulation channel, with a free width of more than 1.20 meters throughout its entire length" and that Lisbon City Council is obliged to "not create new situations of non-compliance, nor aggravate existing non-compliance" - i.e. to promote accessible pedestrian areas, without obstacles. "The fact that many existing barriers in Lisbon's public space have been created by accommodating car traffic (vertical signs, narrow sidewalks, abusive parking, etc.) makes it essential to adjust mobility policy in order to achieve a fair balance for all road users"Patrícia emphasized.
In response to the Livre MP, Luís Newton, PSD MP and also President of the Estrela Parish Council, focused his speech on the replacement of bus stop shelters and billboards and said that "it's important to correct" the mistakes made, challenging the Assembly and the Chamber to agree to "need to look at this contract" with JCDecaux, saying that it was negotiated by the PS. Miguel Teixeira, a Socialist MP, responded to Newton by saying that "For the right, everything that's wrong is the work of the left, of the PS. And everything that comes from the right is wonderful".
Regarding the situation in Restelo, it should be remembered that, on March 25, the Belém Parish Council, with the support of the Lisbon City Council.., placed vertical signs on three streets in the Restelo neighborhood - Rua Dom Cristóvão da Gama, Rua Tristão da Cunha and Rua São Francisco Xavier - to allow two-wheeled cars to park on the sidewalksThis legalized a situation that had existed for decades. The Junta, chaired by Fernando Ribeiro Rosa (PSD), said that this was a provisional regularization, information that it reiterated to the municipal deputies. "Politics is the art of the possible"he said, explaining that he had to "save" the population of the neighborhood, who were being surprised by fines due to complaints about "two people". "We're doing estimates of how much it might cost to cut the sidewalk on either side."
In the Municipal Assembly, Patrícia Robalo pointed out that "the temporary in our country is permanent or almost permanent" and that "you don't add problems to the problem when you want to find a solution". PCP deputy Natacha Amaro condemned the legalization that took place in Restelo, criticized the parish council's disregard for the citizens' proposal by a group of residents, and asked for the opinion of the Municipal Mobility Directorate to be shared on the matter. Rodrigo Mello Gonçalves, from IL, agreed with the "principle" that "sidewalks should be for pedestrians, not cars"but "we can't agree to an immediate reversal [of the situation in Restelo] because that not only doesn't solve the problem, it makes it worse". The Liberal MP left a "challenge to the city council" to make markings on the three streets in Restelo where parking on the sidewalk was allowed "in order to ensure that the minimum distances of 1.20 meters are met so that people can circulate on the sidewalk".
Other cases in Lisbon
In a statement sent to the Lusa news agency, the Lisbon City Council said that the authorization to park cars on sidewalks in the Restelo district "it was a decision by the Belém Parish Council, with the aim of regularizing a situation that had existed for decades, in order to facilitate parking for residents, avoiding fines"; and indicated that "is working with the parish council and residents on a solution that represents a compromise between road traffic, pedestrians and parking".
Lisbon City Hall also told Lusa that there are other places in the city where parking on sidewalks is allowed, namely: Rua Dom Carlos de Mascarenhas, in Campolide, Avenida Almirante Gago Coutinho, in Alvalade/Areeiro, Calçada da Tapada, in Alcântara, Avenida das Descobertas, in Belém, Calçada das Necessidades, in Estrela, and Avenida do Brasil, in Alvalade. These situations "they may be definitive, but the municipality is working to find better solutions"said the council, adding that "some" were implemented several years ago by previous executives.
For her part, Joana Almeida, Councillor for Urban Planning, was at the Municipal Assembly, said "this [municipal] Executive has looked at the pedestrian network in a way that has never been done before"giving as an example a working with the Faculty of Architecture in Lisbon "to have, for the first time in the Municipality of Lisbon, a mapping and diagnosis of the pedestrian network, with an indication of the obstacles, so that we know what free width of sidewalk we have in each place for pedestrians to circulate". "We're doing well what no one else has done well"added Joana Almeida, also mentioning the municipal program There's Life In My Neighborhood, one of the aims of which is to enable "for people to have comfortable and safe access to the various local functions, of which I would highlight the schools. Most of our public space intervention projects are aimed at guaranteeing safe and comfortable pedestrian access to schools.".
Article updated at 18:30 on 18/04/2024: added statements from MPs.
