The restaurants of Braga, through the association Urbac 19 (Union of Restaurants of Braga to support the covid-19) will meet with the local authority, this Monday, to present some points that they want to see clarified. One of which is related to an alleged “excessive police zeal” in parking tickets for cars parked irregularly in the city center, after 8 pm.
In the letter that will be presented, which O MINHO had access to, businessmen believe that the current context of the State of Alert should allow “relaxation of coercive measures”, under penalty of the restaurants not having customers for dinner. They want to “bring the citizens back to the center instead of chasing them away”.
TO MINHO, the mayor Ricardo Rio says that the Municipal Police will not give in to this type of pressure, adding that even before the entrance of the third round, parking in the historic center was chaotic.
“People have, in the center, where to stop the car. It cannot be on the sidewalk, at the door of residents and garages, in second row, anywhere, in violation of the traffic code ”, he stressed, ensuring, however, that the chamber will continue to support restoration and commerce through exemption from fees and the increase in esplanades, which costs public coffers around half a million euros.
Other questions
But the restaurant does not believe that these measures are sufficient and asks for free seats until the end of 2020, as there are no free seats in the city center, causing demotivation in customers.
The restaurants want to know the number of terrace extensions approved by the municipality (including terraces with platforms) and ask for inspection of illegal terraces that, they claim, several places set up, in an action of “chico-espertismo”.
They also ask for a clear position on the closing time of establishments, something that, they say, causes confusion even in the authority itself, when it comes to supervising, since the law requires closing doors at 11 pm but it is not clear whether customers who are already there can continue until later.
They want even more information about a strategic plan for the portfolio led by councilor João Rodrigues that indicates whether the catering and hospitality sectors will benefit from tourism.
They also request access to updated data on the value of refunds made within the scope of the exemption of municipal fees for merchants
Finally, URBAC19 rejects “polite, evasive and inconclusive” responses: “We want assertive, scheduled and productive responses, and we will continue to do what we can to obtain them”.
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