Lack of parking spaces in Gouvia leads to complaints as Municipality rents space to private business
Gouvia
16 Mar 2023
/ 14:48
CORFU. The Cultural Association of Gouvia has raised concerns about the lack of parking spaces in the area and the municipality΄s decision to rent out space to a leisure boat business.
The community of Gouvia, and beyond, is troubled by the fact that the local authorities fail to understand the obvious, leading to the decline of the area. "The availability of parking spaces has always been a significant issue, leading to congestion and often causing road accidents," says the Cultural Association of Gouvia. Despite calls for the creation of a municipal parking lot, the municipality decided to rent out space for leisure boats, disregarding the wishes of the local community.
The Association's statement:
"Our Association's efforts, as well as those of all those who are actively involved in our community to secure reasonable parking spaces, have been ongoing, but unfortunately, the local authorities have provided meager results. This is despite our own initiatives to revitalise and beautify the municipal parking spaces, which unfortunately have not received an adequate response."
Given the above, without involving the local community and regardless of the consultations we had regarding the beautification of the municipal parking lots, we were surprised to learn that they had been granted to third-party individuals by the Central Corfu Municipality for a small price, presumably for the construction of a parking space for recreational boats. Of course, the contracts signed by our municipality are etremely vague and could allow for many other uses, leaving huge margins for indefinite and arbitrary interpretation in the future.
As everyone knows, the area of Gouvia is a highly-developed tourist, commercial, and residential area, which attracts a multitude of tourists and activities throughout almost the entire year.
Our position is clear: In an excessively saturated and crowded area of commercial and tourist activities, beautification is the only solution, according to our repeated practical proposals, and the concession of all spaces for the parking of residents, businesspeople and visitors to our area, while simultaneously creating conditions for the beautification of the space.
The Gouvia community and beyond is feels frustration due to the Municipal Authority's inability to comprehend the obvious, leading to the predictable decline of our area. It is truly tragic that while we must ensure the obvious provision of parking spaces wherever possible, some are seeking to create dangerous situations.
We demand the immediate revocation of lease agreements and the immediate redevelopment of municipal areas with their simultaneous use as parking spaces. We believe that we are fighting for the obvious and will not support or tolerate any solution that is devised by the Municipal Authority, which, while serving no economic or other benefit, condemns our area to obvious risks."
Andrianos Spyrou - President
Nikolaos Alexandros Argyros - Secretary
The Association's statement:
"Our Association's efforts, as well as those of all those who are actively involved in our community to secure reasonable parking spaces, have been ongoing, but unfortunately, the local authorities have provided meager results. This is despite our own initiatives to revitalise and beautify the municipal parking spaces, which unfortunately have not received an adequate response."
Given the above, without involving the local community and regardless of the consultations we had regarding the beautification of the municipal parking lots, we were surprised to learn that they had been granted to third-party individuals by the Central Corfu Municipality for a small price, presumably for the construction of a parking space for recreational boats. Of course, the contracts signed by our municipality are etremely vague and could allow for many other uses, leaving huge margins for indefinite and arbitrary interpretation in the future.
As everyone knows, the area of Gouvia is a highly-developed tourist, commercial, and residential area, which attracts a multitude of tourists and activities throughout almost the entire year.
Our position is clear: In an excessively saturated and crowded area of commercial and tourist activities, beautification is the only solution, according to our repeated practical proposals, and the concession of all spaces for the parking of residents, businesspeople and visitors to our area, while simultaneously creating conditions for the beautification of the space.
The Gouvia community and beyond is feels frustration due to the Municipal Authority's inability to comprehend the obvious, leading to the predictable decline of our area. It is truly tragic that while we must ensure the obvious provision of parking spaces wherever possible, some are seeking to create dangerous situations.
We demand the immediate revocation of lease agreements and the immediate redevelopment of municipal areas with their simultaneous use as parking spaces. We believe that we are fighting for the obvious and will not support or tolerate any solution that is devised by the Municipal Authority, which, while serving no economic or other benefit, condemns our area to obvious risks."
Andrianos Spyrou - President
Nikolaos Alexandros Argyros - Secretary
