The plenary session of Girona has approved the new ordinance that regulates the terraces, due to the abstention in the opposition block. The new ordinance updates one from 2012 and this time covers all catering businesses and recreational activities. It specifies, for example, that cultural activities, such as concerts, can be held inside the premises, as long as they are well soundproofed. But, above all, the main novelties that it incorporates refer to the terraces.
As the Deputy Mayor for Urban Planning, Lluís Martí, has specified, beyond providing that “preferably” the tables and chairs are in front of the premises, the ordinance also includes that the terraces can gain space with the road. In this way, they will free up the sidewalks when it is convenient.
Unlike what has happened up to now, Martí has ??also specified that the licenses for terraces will not be granted “à la carte”. Rather, they will be awarded either annually or seasonally. The permits will be renewed automatically if the premises comply with the regulations, but in the event that they have debts with the City Council, the license will be denied.
Martí has ??also stressed that the new ordinance has been made “with the aim of facilitating the balance between activities and neighborhood rest.” But at the municipal level, the text has initially been approved only with the thirteen points added by the JxCat and ERC government team. The entire opposition en bloc has abstained. Guanyem has warned that, if there are no changes, when the text is brought to final approval they will vote against it.
Both the Socialists and Guanyem, in fact, have expressly asked the government team to leave the text on the table. They criticize that the ordinance has been carried out “behind the backs” of the entities, that it does not have the support of neighborhood associations and that it gives the impression that the government “has not listened to the citizens.”
“We don’t understand why they are in such a hurry and we are afraid that it will come to nothing,” explained PSC councilor Beat Esporrin. “We make a very critical abstention, because the content of the text is also full of vagueness”, adds Cristina Andreu de Guanyem.
The neighborhood associations of Figuerola-Bonastruc and Barri Vell have intervened in plenary session to reject the ordinance. The first spokesperson, Susanna del Saz, has criticized that the text “forgets the great problem caused by the inconvenience of nightlife” in this sector of the city.
Del Saz has regretted that the ordinance is “more permissive and lax” than the previous one and has called for “tightening the rules” since it has been “too long” that the neighborhood “cannot enjoy the right to rest.”
For her part, the spokesperson for Barri Vell residents, Ruth Sánchez, regretted that the ordinance does not make it clear how the terraces in the neighborhood will be organized and that the tables and chairs on the street “may change every year.” For this reason, JxCat and ERC have proposed postponing the approval “to seek joint consensus with neighbors and restaurateurs.”
In response to all of them, Deputy Mayor Lluís Martí recalled that work on this ordinance began in 2020 and that it was accompanied by a public consultation. “In this sense, the different contributions have been valued, it can hardly be argued that we have to do it quickly and running”, he stressed.
Martí has ??reiterated that the new text “intends to improve” what was up to now and, in relation to the complaint from the residents of Figuerola-Bonastruc, the deputy mayor has said that the ordinance “has limits” and that everything it does reference to nightlife “makes more reference to issues of public order”.
Before the plenary session, several agents of the Municipal Police have gathered again in the Plaza del Vi, this time to protest against the government team. They affirm that they have reached an agreement to put an end to the overtime conflict that they have been dragging for months.
The SIP-FEPOL spokesman, Sergi Fernández, explained that the agreement provides for an increase in the annual days that the City Council can mobilize the police in an extraordinary manner. From now until 2027 they will go from four to six. In return, during the period, the City Council has committed to making effective the salary increases included in the Valuation of Llocs de Treball (VLT) and the variable supplement.
“We believe that it is a good agreement, where all parties have given in,” Fernández stressed. In fact, the proposal has already received the endorsement of the three unions that were inside and the Municipal Police (SPL, the CSIF and the UGT) and the majority of the workforce. Last Friday an assembly was held and, of the 127 policemen who voted, 88 endorsed the pact, 33 voted against it and two blank.
The SIP-FEPOL spokesman explained that now the next steps, before the agreement becomes effective, involve taking it to the general negotiating table and through the plenary session. To do this, Fernández has asked the unions of the City Council and the opposition groups to support the pact. “The Municipal Police unions have never voted against salary increases for the rest of the workforce and we ask others to do the same,” he stated.
To make their request visible, the Municipal Police officers have entered the municipal plenary session, where before starting the session they have displayed pages forming the phrase ‘Mayor, now it’s your turn’ to ask the government team to work so that at agreement comes to fruition.
In the March plenary session, the PSC and Guanyem Girona have also criticized the economic management carried out by the government team during 2022. They have done so after the financial control plan of the City Council for last year was made known. The two groups have been especially incisive with the remainder, which was 6 million euros, which for them shows that “many projects have remained in the drawer.”
“We find ourselves with the degree of execution of the lowest budget in the history of democracy in the city,” said councilor Bea Esporrin. “The liquidation of 2022 shows that we have not improved economic management and day-to-day politics,” added the spokesman for Guanyem, Lluc Salellas.
The Deputy Mayor for the Treasury, María Àngels Planas, recalled that 2022 was “a difficult year” marked by inflation and rising prices, which meant that there were contests that were left deserted. “It tastes bad that it is said that the management has been a real disaster, because it has not been like that,” she assured.
And here, Planas has said that, in fact, among others, the remainder will be used “to balance the exponential increases in electricity, gas and fuel bills”, and not to reduce the debt. “Currently we are at 38%, which means that it is not necessary,” he pointed out.
Lastly, the Deputy Mayor for the Treasury recalled that, over the past year, “everything possible” has been done from her area to move projects forward. “I think that the extraordinary investments of 13 million euros that are already materializing show it,” she said.
