Author: Klevis Paloka
Although the Mayor of Tirana, Erion Veliaj, through various campaigns exposes a green capital, in fact the opposite is happening. The municipality directed by him is allowing the establishment of businesses in the green, public spaces, between the buildings in the different neighborhoods of the Albanian metropolis.
In the data provided by the Albanian Center for Quality Journalism, it is shown that only for the year 2021, the Municipality of Tirana has approved 276 permits for the use of public space. The number of those who have applied is relatively high, but the number of beneficiaries is also high.
"During the year 2021, 394 commercial entities have applied to DPTTV to be equipped with a permit for the use of public space. Of these, 276 subjects were provided with a permit for the use of public space, while 118 subjects were denied their application.", says the official response of the Municipality of Tirana.
The growth of businesses in this field is also confirmed by the data of the Institute of Statistics. According to INSTAT statistics, 5052 subjects with food and drink Services (bars and restaurants) are registered with the municipality throughout Tirana. On the other hand, the municipality's Open Data portal for 2020 counts 850,530 citizens as registered residents in the capital.
So according to the calculations made by "Sinjalizo", Tirana has 594 bars per 100 inhabitants, and with this figure it is ranked in the capital with the most coffee bars in the world per 100 inhabitants.
Tirana at the top of the list?
According to World Cities Culture Forum which deals with studies on the world's largest capitals, among the capitals with the highest number of coffee bars in the world is Buenos Aires in Argentina, with 367 bars per 100 inhabitants. Meanwhile, in second place is Rome, the capital of Italy, with about 331 bars per 100 bars. Tirana is not included in this list, but based on the number of bars published in this forum, Tirana leads the list as the capital city with the most coffee bars per 100 inhabitants in the whole world, surpassing even the largest metropolises of the world.
Based on these data, "Sinjalizo" decided to monitor some main axes and spaces between the residential blocks of the capital of Tirana and to request information from the Municipality of Tirana about the public space occupied by bar-café subjects and when it expired. the license that was given to these businesses.
From the data made available by the Municipality of Tirana, 11 of these subjects had their license expired, but from the monitoring done it results that they continue their economic activity normally. There are even those subjects whose permission to occupy public space has expired in 2018. Only 4 subjects had permission until the middle of 2022.
According to the Municipality of Tirana, in the last three years, space permits have been revoked for 77 permits and 42634 cases have been punished with administrative measures.
"For the detected violations, the public space permit was revoked, of which 2019 permits were revoked for 21, 2020 were revoked in 26, and 2021 permits were revoked for 30. During the years 2019, 2020, 2021 from the Services of the Municipal Police in the territory of the Municipality of Tirana, a total of 42634 cases of occupying public space without the relevant permit were found. For this, fine administrative measures have been taken and the public space illegally occupied by individuals or various entities has been vacated. If we divide them according to years, it turns out that the situation for each year is as follows;
- In 2019, they were found and punished with an administrative measure16614 growing.
- In 2020, they were found and punished with an administrative measure16214 growing.
- In 2021, they were found and punished with an administrative measure 9806 cases", it is emphasized in the response of the Municipality of Tirana to the Albanian Center for Quality Journalism.
Ironic is the fact that the Municipality of Tirana asks for help in verifying the subjects that "Sinjalizo" asked for specific data, and in the documents made available, the address of each subject is also determined.
"Following your letter, the Territory Protection Inspectorate, Tirana Municipality will verify the occupation of public spaces by unauthorized constructions in accordance with law no. 9780, dated 16.07.2007 "On the Inspection and Protection of the Territory from Illegal Constructions"changed). For the above, we ask for your further cooperation by providing us with the exact addresses where the entities listed by you operate. We are waiting for a response from you so that IMT, Tirana Municipality can start the verification of the subjects in question”, specifies the Municipality of Tirana.
How did the sidewalks disappear?
According to the decision "No. 158, dated 26.12.2019", the areas and fees for the "System of local taxes and fees in the city of Tirana" have also been defined, where fees of 1500 ALL/m2, 750 ALL/m2, 400 ALL/m2 and 200 ALL/m2 for Zones A, B, C and Administrative Units outside the city of Tirana, respectively.
So, based on the above table, the income for the months of January-July 2021 from the space occupancy fee is calculated to be ALL 157.748.084 for the Municipality of Tirana.
But what did the mayor of Tirana declare, in an inspection of the works of the "Karl Topia" square, near the "Zogut te Zi" area, regarding the parks and the spaces between the buildings?
"From the smoke of the meatballs, it turns into a flower garden and a peaceful space at the Black Bird. I don't know how long it will take us to return each square to its identity, but I know that not a day will pass without changing at least one", said Veliaj in February 2016.
Although about 6 years have passed since this statement, in fact entities that offer the service of meatballs have not yet moved from "Karl Topia" square.
According to experts, the urban situation is not normal and that this will continue for a long time until there is a clear strategy.
Artan Kacani, Doctor of Sciences in Urban Studies and Territorial Policy, says that this occupation of public space has happened since the 1990s and continues to happen and that the urban plan of a city cannot be dealt with in such deep detail, but can give various directives to the urban planning office.
"The situation in terms of urban planning is an abnormal situation, we must understand that many buildings/palaces have been converted into socio-economic spaces. This is a situation that has occurred in the transition of 30 years and will continue until we have a regular address book system. Directory should say in terms of degrees, in terms of activities, and so on. In the cultural aspect, this is a problem, as it pertains to the cultural and urbanistic issue that our cities are experiencing. The regulatory plan does not deal with these kinds of small details, but there may be various directives of the urban planning office, which may address first: square meters based on population density, which should be reduced to a more individual scale and checking licenses, which does not happen. It doesn't happen only for bars but also for other types of businesses. The plan can therefore give directives on how many localities should be for a certain area, or for a certain road, which are not made by local institutions.", says Kacani.
Even for the architect Doriana Musaj, the fact that the sidewalks are getting narrower and narrower and for some categories of passers-by is difficult to move freely.
"Bar-cafes are part of what we consider as the city's economy, very important especially located mainly along the streets. By themselves, cafes do not bring any negative consequences to the city, on the contrary, they are necessary as they provide "eyes on the road". In Tirana, what makes these economic models problematic is the dominance they give to the public space. So the sidewalks keep getting narrower and you will often have to go inside a cafe to get to the other side of the space. Worrying is the continuous expansion of the space occupied by the tables, which often completely blocks the passage, diverting the movement, making life difficult for the passer-by, the mother with a baby carriage, and especially the disabled", says Musaj for "Signalizo".
Architect Musaj emphasizes that the public space has been deformed to the point where it is impossible to read clearly in the city, and for this reason the law does not provide for protective mechanisms, and it is often used in the opposite way.
"Public space as a concept has been deformed to the point that it is impossible for us to read it clearly in the city. The regulator, which is the law, does not provide for protective mechanisms of public space, and it has often been used in the opposite way. Thus, indeed the sidewalk can be used as a showcase of a cafe bar, but exposing a small part of the tables on it, and not blocking the entire space. Often the pedestrian is forced to get off the road to cross, thus increasing the chance of an accident. The occupation of empty spaces, partially used as a rest area for residents of a neighborhood, forces the resident to sit in a cafe even when he does not feel like drinking anything, just because the cafe has a children's play corner, or even because he returns from meeting place to place of residence, in the absence of the treatment of real urban public space. Thus, the spaces abandoned by the local government, whether in maintenance or treatment, fall prey to the use of bars-cafes, transforming not only the physical space from the point of view of form, mobility, but also the space as a social meeting point", concludes the architect Musaj.
Streets crowded with cafes
In fact, one such street overcrowded with bar-cafes is "Muhamet Gjollesha" street. According to the urban planner, this problem is not only on this road, as the density is always increasing.
"As for "Muhamet Gjollesha" street, which starts at "Zogu i Zi" and ends at "Gjergj Fishta" boulevard, we must understand that it is a city ring road, which means that its importance is beyond that of a neighborhood , and being beyond a neighborhood, we must understand that both Services and functions are such and are acceptable and understandable to be such, but the problem is when a series of densities of buildings, different activities are added which then weigh on the burden of the city, that is, solutions with a neighborhood function on the road in the city function collide interests, and here it collides exactly with the intermediate ring, the density is always increasing in this part of the western entrance of Tirana, and more and more it will there are collisions in the sense of busy traffic", concludes the urbanist Kacani for "Sinjalizo".
But the addition of cafes, at the expense of public space, only worsens everyday life in the capital. A successful city cannot be conceived without real public space, and it cannot be replaced by cafes, nor the plastic toys inside them, much less the tables and chairs that have occupied and continue to occupy the common space.
