Neighbors on the warpath against the consolidation of street terraces in Barcelona

The Federation of Neighborhood Associations of Barcelona (FAVB) has made public a harsh statement charging against the approval in the last plenary session of the year of the modification of the terrace ordinance. “The government of the city of Barcelona has approved an unnecessary and dangerous ordinance, and it has done so with the support of a right-wing party and with the opposition and the very critical abstention of the rest of the municipal groups, which makes it clear that it is not a consensus modification “, points out the neighborhood manifesto, in which it is ensured that with the measure the local government breaks the political consensus that existed in 2018, “while also persists in making any citizen and social consensus impossible“.

In the eyes of organized neighbors, it makes it impossible “for many reasons”, but for one as clear as that this modification is “the result of pressure from the Restoration Guild until the last moment “,” which has ended up introducing substantial modifications in the text approved by the plenary session outside the period guaranteed by the right of participation“, they denounce very angry.

The social and neighborhood entities of the city recall that they raised a set of allegations, that “discussed with all municipal groups were well received.” “They were of pure logic”, summary. They give an example: “if the road is occupied, it would be reasonable to free the sidewalk from tables”. Allegation that was not accepted, “as they do not accept the problems that derive from the use of chamfers”, they continue manifestly angry.

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As the militant neighborhood manifesto continues, the government has announced that nothing changes from the previous ordinance, but that statement is, from his way of seeing things, “absolutely false”. From this modification “the door is opened wide to be able to install terraces on the road where it did not make sense for them to be due to the urban structure of the street, and it is also done without establishing any limit, which will change the conditions of profitability of the premises, obviously increasing it, “they consider from the FAVB.

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According to the organized neighbors, the only ones who win with the measure are the restaurateurs, “while the neighbors will see the number of conflicts grow in front of their house, where until recently there were none and that will be added to the conflicts that have not been resolved for a long time. many years, like those on the streets of Enric Granados y Blai, Huesca Square, Poblenou Boulevard, Royal Square, Gràcia Squares…, and more recent ones, such as Parliament, the Paseo de San Juan The Gaudí avenue.

The neighborhood communiqué also emphasizes that this ordinance “has never analyzed or shared any study, or any reflection, on the use of the little public space in the city.” “It benefits a sector that, once the pandemic is over, and the possible losses are overcome, will enjoy a privileged position to earn a lot of money on behalf of the health of many neighbors, increasingly commercializing the public space that would be necessary for a balanced and healthy city. Today an unfortunate page has been written in the history of our city “, they conclude.