Florence Berthout, mayor various right of the 5th arrondissment of Paris, assured Sunday, October 31 on franceinfo, that a “minority” bosses of Parisian bars and restaurants will not dismantle their ephemeral terraces when they must officially disappear from November 1.
In Paris, more than 12,500 outdoor terraces were created after the first deconfinement to compensate for the closure and the economic losses of bars and restaurants linked to the Covid-19 crisis. Today, bosses would like to keep these additional spaces which was a financial breath.
But today there is uncertainty as to whether or not these terraces will last, because many establishments are still awaiting permanent authorization, in a context where many owners are already not complying with the regulations: “A few smart people, in the minority, but very active, had understood that they did not respect the rules for displays and terraces at all, and therefore they did not make a request”, with services of the town hall, she explains. “There will be a minority who will not do it tomorrow, that is clear “, says the mayor of the 5th arrondissement.
“Yes, to the ephemeral terraces, provided that this does not result in a confiscation of public space. And therefore that there is the sanction for this minority which does not respect”
Florence Berthout, mayor of the 5th arrondissement of Paristo franceinfo
According to the mayor of the 5th district, Anne Hidalgo does not give herself the human resources to enforce the rules: “The reality is that today only the municipal police are in charge of controlling the terraces. The police do it in a very, very haphazard way. It is not the heart of their job. “. But Florence Berthout points to a downside: “Some of the agents of the Parisian municipal police, which Madame Hidalgo announced with a great deal of communication, have no power of verbalization”, she says.
In addition, Florence Berthout believes that these ephemeral terraces create noise pollution that makes life difficult for Parisians: “Especially those who have to wake up in the morning to go to work”. We must act, according to her, if we want families “stay in the center of Paris”. The capital lost 6,000 families during the lockdown.