The Gremi de Restauració criticizes that in the city as a whole 80% of the authorized watchmen are being rejected during the pandemic
The municipal government undertook to consolidate most of them, especially if they were located on the road
The fear expressed by the restaurant sector several weeks ago, when dozens of denials began to emerge for the continuity of the so-called ‘covid terraces’, authorized or exceptionally expanded during the pandemic, is being confirmed with figures. The Guild of Restoration of Barcelona denounces that the city council is rejecting them in a “massive” way: In the city as a whole, four out of 10 have been processed so far (out of a total of more than 2,800), with a percentage of 80% discarded. The conflict is aggravated in the central district, in old citywhere with the majority of files resolved the suspense reaches 99% Until now, he underlines.
The employer emphasizes that only 6% of the denied terraces are located in those considered “saturated areas & rdquor; by the consistory, where none of those extraordinarily permitted will be maintained, considering that there is an excessive concentration of tables and chairs. On the contrary, they estimate that more than 70% of the discards were due to an “incorrect application of the ordinance”. For example, to “make believe that the terrace cannot exceed the limits of the facade of the premises when, in reality, the regulations are flexible and do allow it expressly”.
The Gremi affirms that after having access to the official data appreciate breaches in the “unequivocal” commitments made by the city council. In Ciutat Vella, with 85% of the files resolved, the denial is practically systematic despite the fact that in its day the extra permits were already “very restrictive”. Your manager, Roger Pallarols, recalls that the modification of the ordinance in this regard has also meant homologating four platform models and “encouraging the sector to request regularization”.
In his opinion, in the last year, “the government has fed with constant public promises an expectation that the restaurateurs have welcomed with hope. Denying systematically and without justification, as is being done, will mean having deceived the sector.”
Flexibility “distorted”
“old city cannot remain on the sidelines of the political commitment assumed by the mayor and the first two deputy mayors. It cannot go it alone,” he adds regarding the territory manned by councilor Jordi Rabassa. “We have asked the government, in writing, to redirect the current catastrophic situation throughout the city and especially in Ciutat Vella.”
The entity affirms that it will fight so that in all the districts the technical criteria are applied “in a homogeneous way” and “consistent with the flexibility that the ordinance proclaims & rdquor ;. The group suspects that the denials in the downtown area are systematic because instead of arguing based on a specific analysis of each case –as announced–, “the same writing is being used for all cases, a justification calculated ambiguous that completely ignores the particularities of each place”, says Pallarols, who believes that it has “distorted“That promised easing.
They also consider that “the exercise of discretionary power by the administration does not exempt from adequately motivating the meaning of the resolutionespecially when it is a denial”. “It is an arbitrary malpractice, contrary to the democratic principles that must govern the actions of the public powers”, argue its technical services
Operation questioned
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Another question you have done unearth the hatchet to the sector, As was the case in Colau’s previous mandate, it is the process initiated by the municipal government to modify the operating manual linked to the terrace ordinance that was reviewed and approved in 2018. This element would have been outdated and should be reformulated, but the local hospitality sector maintains that “the opportunity is being used to introduce restrictions that de facto contradict the ordinance.” The employers appreciate that this collides with the position of the Superior Court of Justice of Catalonia that, “in several recent sentences, has declared that the Manual does not have a normative rank” but rather an organizational and didactic one.
In this sense, Pallarols sees “completely antidemocratic” that proceeding. “The government, probably encouraged by the most reactionary civil servants, is trying to disavow the municipal plenary session.” He believes that “among others, they are trying to recover the regime of distances, rigid and inflexible”, which “leads back to the conflict between the government and the restaurant sector en bloc”. If Colau’s team does not rectify it, they announce that they will challenge it in court.