"Good morning, it's a coffee that smells...like a tailpipe."
An esplanade overlooking the Jerónimos Monastery and now also a parking lot. Earlier this month, the Belém Borough Council decided to create a parking space with capacity for six vehicles in a small square in Largo dos Jerónimos. removed a set of flower boxes that had been placed there in September to block undue parking, make the square more pleasant, and make it easier to get on and off the bus.
In the same square, where there is now also parking for motorcycles on the sidewalk, there is an esplanade under concession to the Banana Café company. The square is also used by streetcar 15 to make a U-turn and as a resting area for passengers of the five bus lines that stop there. Space is limited, so now people who want to enjoy the esplanade will have to share the small area available with public transport passengers, and vice versa.
Even worse: some of the buses that stop there are articulated, so passengers getting off through the back doors will have to pass between the stopped cars. With the square occupied with parking, there are other accessibility problems: Lisboa Para Pessoas found several people walking along the road, either to access the bus stop, or to cross to Jerónimos Street, which goes up to Restelo.
On the other hand, if the bus stop could already be difficult for people with reduced mobility due to several existing unevennesses, it has become even more so now that there are new obstacles in between. Another hazard in sight exists in the motorcycle parking lot, where a series of white cement blocks have been laid out to enclose the parking area. These blocks could be another threat to pedestrian mobility.
On the esplanade, the unobstructed view of the Largo or Jerónimos Monastery is now blocked by cars, making the esplanade less pleasant and, perhaps, also more hidden from the view of passers-by. Some of the flower pots that had been put in place in September by the municipality were kept, only dragged out of the parking space. Others have had their contents dumped into the boilers of the trees and the pots have been hidden under the Banana Café kiosk.
According to the neighborhood collective Neighbors of Belemwho denounced the situation in her Facebook group, the car parking spaces in the middle of Largo dos Jerónimos parking lot were a situation that had been dragging on for several years and whose resolution had already been requested several times from the local authority.
The places that exist there, and that have been legitimized again by the Junta de Freguesia de Belém, are "illegal"as they are "less than 25 meters from the bus stop", hindered "the accessibility to the stop (which is over elevated)". The flowerbeds had been placed in September "with spacing aligned with bus door exits, to allow handicap access ramps to open and for wheelchair users and/or elderly people to safely enter/exit without being on top of parked cars."The Neighbors of Bethlehem explains.
Contacted and quoted by Neighbors, the Junta de Freguesia de Belém clarified that "was not aware of the illegality of the places preceding the stop" and that "had not been informed of the intervention, so she could not anticipate the reasons for this change in the Largo". The Board of Bethlehem said that "will, in the immediate future, repair several damaged fixtures in the Largo dos Jerónimos, namely the stone flowerbeds, and will reverse any measures that may have impaired the Largo's accessibility" and fight for the requalification project of Largo dos Jerónimos, foreseen in the program A Square in Every Neighborhood.
A square waiting for better days
The narrow sidewalks, the excess of tar, the tourist attractions, and the high pedestrian flow in the Rua de Belém and Largo dos Jerónimos do not hide the fact that this area awaits a major upgrade. It is foreseen in the program A Square in a Neighborhood Home, a municipal initiative that since 2014 has given the city new squares and expanded pedestrian space through a better requilibrium of the automobile with the city.
The project is not closed and, in one of the versionsRua de Belém would become exclusive for public transportation. However, the drawing that is currently available on the city's website only reveals the elimination of parking on Rua de Belém, the widening of the sidewalks, and the creation of a completely pedestrian area on the square where the Banana Café terrace and the bus stop are located - this square would be widened.
The Largo dos Jerónimos, right in front of one of the main national monuments, presents an opportunity for requalification, decreasing the presence of cars, balancing its space and increasing the area for people. This is an area with high tourist demand, i.e., it is an area essentially sought after by those who travel by public transport or active modes.
2020, under the program The Street Is Yoursa solution was tried pop-up to Rua de Belém and Largo dos Jerónimos. In the first, the pedestrian space would be increased by painting the asphalt with a light blue color. In the second, a "decompression space" would be created for inhabitants and for users of the surrounding Pastelarias that do not have an esplanade, such as the Pasteis de Belém. There would also be 40 flower beds and 30 individual benches.
In Largo dos Jerónimos, where the Junta has now placed the parking lot, a GIRA station and the relocation of the bus stop were planned. The area in front of the Tropical Botanical Garden would also be pedestrianized and cleared.
At the time, the Parish Council of Belém - that has been authorizing and promoting parking on the sidewalk instead of finding other alternatives that benefit pedestrian mobility (which often exist due to the width of many streets in the parish) - will have pressured the municipality not to carry out this project.
