Pedestrians banished from sidewalks
Pavements in Athens, where they do exist, are usually occupied by tables, trees, motorcycles, cars
Pedestrians apparently have no place to go in Athens. Instead of enjoying the right for carefree strolls or hurried walks, and pushing a stroller or a wheelchair, they encounter all kinds of obstacles, from shop tables, chairs, trees and cars, while balancing on broken, slippery, upturned slabs.
Tellingly, according to a survey by the National Technical University of Athens (NTUA), 39% of Athens’ sidewalks are less than one meter in width, while they are poorly constructed and destroyed by constant digging or illegal parking.
Moreover traffic police controls are not paying off.
Of the 1.5 million confirmed tickets issued by the municipal police in the three-year period 2020-2023, 1.2 million remained unpaid.
At the same time, four out of 10 food outlets were found to be illegally occupying public space with table seating.
It is also worth noting that the potential revenue from the tickets for the municipality could reach 45 million euros, if of course the tickets were paid.
In 2023, 481,956 tickets were issued, of which 279,794 were verified and only 7,870 tickets were paid.
In terms of table seating, more than 2,000 of the 5,194 inspections conducted by the municipal police in 2023 revealed illegalities because either establishments without a permit were exploiting public space or they occupied more square meters than their licence specified.
In 375 cases, because the business was frequently discovered to be infringing the law, the municipality removed the tables that had been installed, and in 31 cases, the enterprises were closed for one to five days. Closing the business for a few days is the last measure the Municipality of Athens can take when the owner does not comply, but enforcing it takes extensive procedures that can take months.
Kathimerini understands that the new municipal authority intends to implement a system which will enable the municipal police and citizens themselves to immediately identify offenders and to check whether a restaurant is complying with the provisions of the law on the use of the premises.
Typically in European cities, the space where table seats can be placed is clearly marked on the sidewalk.
