Several bar and restaurant owners have started removing the makeshift terraces they’d installed in parking spaces in Palma and the rest must be gone by close of business on Friday or they'll be fined 600 euros.
When the coronavirus measures were tightened customers were banned from eating an drinking inside bars and restaurants, but the owners were allowed to put tables and chairs on parking spaces outside. With the Hospitality Sector now closed for 15 days there are no customers and Palma residents are demanding that they be allowed to re-occupy the parking spaces.
"The logical thing to do, and to be in solidarity with the residents, is for these terraces to be removed while the establishments are closed so that people can park their cars,” agreed CAEB President, Alfonso Robledo.
When they were given the go-ahead for the terraces, some bar and restaurant owners settled for the bare minimum and marked their territory with a couple of plant pots, but others went all out, installing custom-built platforms, putting up umbrellas and spending a fortune decorating their street spaces.
"These platforms can cost 1,000 euros and removing them within a few days is very complicated,” said Robledo.
The Department of Home Affairs says all establishment owners have been informed that they must free-up the parking spaces by Friday and is launching an information campaign in the Sector.
“As soon as the restrictions are lifted they will be able to put their tables and chairs back on the parking spaces,” said Cort.
Pavements
"Once the Covid crisis is over these parking spaces must be relinquished and bars and restaurants banned from putting furniture of any kind on the pavements,” insists Vianants en Lluita who called for “compliance with the Universal Accessibility Act and the right of people to enjoy public space.”