The Left Bloc criticized Moedas for not agreeing, in October 2022, to make a timely "Contingency Plan" to mitigate the impacts of future works on traffic, involving the different public transport operators and also including cycling. However, the proposal to develop such a plan has now been discussed...
The Left Bloc (BE) managed to approve, this Wednesday, May 3, in a town hall meeting, a proposal to mitigate the effects of the works on car traffic by promoting public transport and cycling. Beatriz Gomes Dias, bloquista councilor, believes that the city council should articulate with Carris, Lisbon Metro, CP and even TML, responsible for the operation of Carris Metropolitana, and prepare collective alternatives.
The Bloco's proposal had been submitted in October 2022 to be discussed and voted in a meeting of the municipal executive, but Carlos Moedas was late in scheduling it (it is up to the Mayor to receive the proposals from all councilors, including the opposition ones, and define the agenda of each meeting). It only did so this week, with the BE proposal going into this Wednesday's public meeting as an extra agenda.
"In view of the constraints on the Metro, the lack of reinforcement of Carris and the non-preparation of active mobility alternatives, the city is chaotic and the traffic situation tends to get worse affecting hundreds of thousands of people trying to go to work or put their children in school."The BE wrote in a note sent to the media on the eve of the meeting. The party says that "had anticipated this problem".Beatriz Gomes Dias met with Carlos Moedas in April 2022. "In light of the failure to come up with solutions, the Bloco councilwoman presented a proposal for a contingency plan in October 2022"which Moedas took a while to schedule "contrary to the law and CML rules".
The Rules of Procedure of the Lisbon City Council (CML) state that proposals must be discussed by the third meeting after their presentation. In BE's accounts, 25 meetings have elapsed. When Beatriz Gomes Dias wrote the text in October of last year, it was already known the constraints that the works of the General Drainage Plan and the construction of the Circular Line would have on the downtown area and the riverfront. At that time, there had not yet been the collapse of the sewer in Rua da Prata that led to the blocking of this artery, nor had the sidewalk requalification works started in the downtown area. Arsenal Street.
Although Moedas' executive has recently presented a plan for mobility downtown and along the riverfrontIn order to remove through-traffic from that area and respond to the various construction projects underway, BE's proposal remains current and appears to be complementary. The proposal wants the City Council to develop a "Contingency Plan" for the duration of the different construction projects in that area. A plan for "strengthen the supply of public transport in the most affected areas and develop alternative routes so that the impacts on car traffic are mitigated through the use of public transport"and that you have "taking into account the use of active mobility alternatives, namely bicycle paths and pedestrian areas, which allow for maintaining the mobility of the residents in the most affected areas".
"The Contingency Plan should provide for an effective and comprehensive communication plan that indicates to the townspeople the road traffic constraints and the public public transportation alternatives." The BE has no doubts: public transport and also active mobility are fundamental also in this critical and exceptional stage to respond to possible increases in car traffic and air pollution, an environmental and public health risk. The bloquista proposal was approved unanimously.
"During the period between our meeting and the presentation of this proposal we have not had any response from you, nor any plan presented by you."Beatriz Gomes Dias reiterated at this week's meeting, which was publicly broadcast. "At the time, we made a proper reading of the impact that the works of the General Drainage Plan and the Circular Line were going to have on the city, and we gave you a perfect instrument to solve the problems we were identifying. (...) But you not only ignored the proposal, but now you consider that you don't have the capacity to respond to the people who live and work in Lisbon, but the people know that you have the instruments to do so."
This is not the first time that councilmen without portfolio in the Lisbon municipal executive regret delays in the scheduling or implementation of proposals of their authorship, and this criticism has been recurrent in public meetings of the City Council. The Left Bloc itself has another proposal waiting "for more than a year in Moedas' drawer, having passed 58 meetings" since its submission for scheduling. This is a proposal for "implement Reduced Emission Zones in Avenida da Liberdade, Baixa Chiado and Ribeira das Naus". e "measures to control the volume of car traffic in the most polluted areas of the city, for example, Parque das Nações, Telheiras and Belém".
The delay in scheduling this proposal led to the BE playing a leading role an unusual episode in the public meeting of the City Council on March 29. In this one, Ricardo Moreira, councilman replacing Beatriz Gomes Dias, presented a cake to celebrate one year of the proposal, which, according to him, was requested to be scheduled for March 30th, 2022. "Inside that very large drawer of yours where you put the opposition's proposals is there a proposal from us and it's not the only one, there are six others there"Ricardo Moreira said. Moedas responded to the episode in a good mood, highlighting the use of humor by the bloquista councilman and referring to his disagreement regarding the ZER project in the downtown area.
