LOS ALCÁZARES / Permanent occupation of the urban public domain with false hostelry terraces. Not everything is worth it.

PHOTO REPORT

MORENTE

Not everything is worth while permanently occupying public pedestrian spaces for private commercial exploitation, either as false hostelry terraces, or as a «showcase» of any type of merchandise. But of course, if it is the City Council itself that allows, tolerates, consents or simply turns a blind eye, passers-by, pedestrians, will be gradually expelled from places, walks and sidewalks. The sumun of the durable urban appropriation is the hospitality industry, especially those establishments that do not resist to lose smokers clientele, and find in the Town Councils the remedy for their ills. That is, mockery and profitability of the Anti-Tobacco Law with the help of the Local Administration.

Not everything is valid when a City Council attends to the requests of certain merchants who, by the way, do not have enough, to conform them when they feel comparatively aggrieved by what others are allowed and they do not. Let’s see. If the owner of a bar / restaurant occupies a sidewalk – no matter how wide – other owners of similar establishments will want to do the same, because they have the same «right». At the time of studying and deciding new requests, curiously, only City Hall and hoteliers will intervene; the rest of the population, starting with the immediate neighbors to which will be (no doubt) new false terraces, will not count for anything.

■ URBAN LANDSCAPE, SECURITY, HARMONY AND AESTHETICS

Not everything is valid to make exclusive concessions to private economies. You have to respect the neighborhood rights, the urban landscape, personal security, not alter the harmony of the whole and maintain the aesthetic. It is socially illicit and morally reprehensible to occupy sidewalks, to privatize pedestrian streets, to invade passages and to take control of the road, without control, gradually restricting spaces for the transit of people or circulation of road traffic. And by the way, raise for the public coffers. False terraces are allowed in inadequate (on the edge of sidewalks) or small-sized sites, putting at risk the physical integrity of citizens. The «street» concessions of the Municipal People’s Group have mortgaged the urban future. From their particular concept of local economic development, promoting the commercial exploitation of the streets (they said that they had to squeeze the lemon), started in 2011, they reached a limit of bad doing in 2016, which seemed to be the end, but it has not been A) Yes. In 2018 it has been confirmed and … continue and continue. And «your» Regional Government saying thank you.

Not everything is valid when granting a municipal license, through the Mayor’s Decree, to temporarily install awnings, umbrellas, tables and chairs (equipment of a traditional hotel terrace) because the dealer’s business will take him, if the municipal authority does not prevent it, to «build» enclosed fixed enclosures in spaces that, without belonging to anyone in particular, belong to everyone. When a privilege is granted individually, where is the limit? So far, in Los Alcázares, there is no limit.

■ REGULATORY ORDINANCE OF TEMPORARY FACILITIES

The existing in the municipality for many years is not applicable, nor will it be, because neither has been respected, nor will be respected, you can bet that it is and will be. The «new» Ordinance that comes out of the consensus of the local parties, whose study was announced in the Municipal Plenary last April, to normalize / legalize the abuses / abuses committed so far (pillage of urban heritage and permanent occupation of the public domain) if it is It will not be respected any day, you can also bet that it will be like that. Why. It is clear: because the Popular Municipal Group is subject to the mercantile interests of a few, disregarding the rights of the majority.

If, as the current Ordinance currently in force says: «The objective is to make the different neighborhood needs compatible with the technical and urban conditions demanded by the regulations» Who or what has prevented them from applying it? It is very clear what they should have done and ignored. It is written and it is clear:

«REGULATING ORDINANCE OF TEMPORARY FACILITIES. It is applicable to all temporary facilities that are located in the municipality either during the summer season, or in any other period of the year. 4. REMOVABLE PORTABLE FACILITIES DAILY. They must comply with the Regulatory Ordinance on Environmental Protection against the emission of noise and vibrations as well as the remaining environmental regulations. The holders of these farms must sign by small fences of 50 or 60 centimeters in height, according to the aesthetic criteria established by the City Council, the delimitation of the area occupied by the tables and chairs, ensuring, in any case, free transit of pedestrians and, where appropriate, vehicles »

https://www.losalcazares.es/images/Ordenanzas/Ordenanzas%20No%20Fiscales/InstalacionesTemporales.pdf

PUB PUBLISHED IN EUROPE ON 12.09.2016 (HEMEROTECA) «The City Council provides a public garden to a private manager for its exclusive exploitation as a false hotel terrace. Institutional abuse and unfair competition […] In Los Alcázares, neither the hotel facilities in full public highway are temporary, nor their owners find any obstacle to do what best suits their own interests. Sidewalks, pedestrian streets, gardens, flower beds, alcorques, everything is at your exclusive disposal. Plan tables, chairs, awnings, structures in height, various sheds and whatever in any place. It is not talking to talk, because in plain sight […] Contravening Municipal Norms and Ordinances wood and metal have the leading voice in the «construction» of new street commercial spaces, delimiting, fencing, roofing and closing the public road . It only remains that the City Council allows the brick, although at the pace we take everything will walk. Aparatosas structures of all kinds are screwed to the ground to prevent displacement [to disguise them put wheels (?)] And that do not fall the sheds that house businesses »Full text and photo report of this in HEMEROTECA.

■ COMMENTS ON THE REPORT PHOTOGRAPHIC

I would like to see the photos one by one in full screen. Go ahead my recognition to the effort of those who exercise this commercial activity in the street (without generating conflicts) using false hostelry terraces. It is your job. However, they do not provide a public and necessary service, nor much less, but they establish a relationship between the client and the interested public. Is not the same. I emphasize it because it is convenient not to confuse the general and necessary, with the particular and secondary. Criticism is the bad repercussion of some private businesses in third parties, without any interest in taking them, eating or smoking in the middle of the street. Negative repercussion that generates unwanted social conflicts. Departing from the barbarities that the Popular Municipal Group is allowing in the Paseo Río Nalón, any alcazareño innkeeper is left with arguments to do the same, or at least try. The photos graphically summarize the «tolerance» street hostess in a poorly managed and unreliable municipality, in which their top managers (PP) say they believe and they show it that way. The innkeepers are merchants, it is their business to invest and get the best return on their investment. Unlike other industrialists or businessmen, they are blessed by the City Council (GMP) and they are allowed to do what others forbid. So they go on: they cut streets to traffic, they occupy pedestrian ways, they divert those who circulate on sidewalks, they raise false terraces attached to buildings, they close them «under lock» (where something similar has been seen), they use all kinds of materials , even riveted metal sheets, never remove them, because they are nailed to the ground and / or attached to the facades. Urbanism and obscurity incompatible with a tourist town that should offer a better image. These hotel specialties are not only present here, in other places there are also bad examples, although not so abundant and concentrated. In El Algar there is a real monument to safety and risk prevention in the hotel trade. Put another way: the danger is on the street and this hospitality too. Not everything is worth it.

■ HEMEROTECA12.09.2016 «The City Council gives a public garden to a private manager for its exclusive exploitation as a false hotel terrace. Institutional abuse and unfair competition

http://newseuropa.es/los-alcazares-el-ayuntamiento-entrega-un-jardin-publico-a-un-gestor-privado-para-su-explotacion-exclusiva-como-falsa-terraza-hostelera-abuso-institucional-y-competencia-desleal/

06.05.2018 «Since the Anti-Tobacco Law both mounts, mounts both, the municipal fundraising eagerness as the commercial yearning in the public road»

http://newseuropa.es/los-alcazares-desde-la-ley-antitabaco-tanto-monta-monta-tanto-el-afan-recaudador-municipal-como-el-ansia-comercial-en-la-via-publica/

17.06.2018 «Provisional hotel facilities removable daily and permanent barracks, attached in rows, in the public domain

http://newseuropa.es/los-alcazares-instalaciones-hosteleras-provisionales-desmontables-a-diario-y-barracas-permanentes-adosadas-en-hileras-en-dominio-publico/