Economy before safety
The much talked about ‘ new normal’ could be anything but normal for certain sections of society.
As the government relaxes more COVID-19 measures and comes up with new ideas to revive the economy in as short a time as possible, certain people are being left out of the equation.
One such instance was the decision to relax encroachment rules for restaurants with outside areas. These establishments have been told that they have to choose between using their outdoor or indoor catering areas – they cannot use both – but are also being urged to choose the first option.
Since many establishments have relatively small outdoor areas, they are being allowed to place more tables and chairs outside. The reasoning is that it would not be viable for them to reopen their business with a very limited seating capacity. Restauranteurs have rightly pointed out that they are being forced to use only a fraction of their normal diner capacity, but their landlords are not halving the rent, and ARMS is not sending them reduced energy bills.
So, the rules are being relaxed and more platforms, tables and chairs have appeared on pavements overnight. In essence, the authorities made an existing problem many times worse. And it is happening all around.
Nationalist MP Kevin Cutajar has raised the issue in Parliament, saying that disabled persons need more than a COVID fund. Organisations who represent disabled persons have been fighting for years for more accessibility, but the government has taken it all away, he said.
Oliver Scicluna, the Commissioner for the Rights of Persons with Disability, expressed similar thoughts when contacted by this newsroom.
They are both right. But this is an issue that does not affect only the disabled. It also affects parents with pushchairs. Why should they have to endanger their children’s safety by walking on the street because the pavements are blocked. And what about the elderly and all others?
Walking safely on a pavement is a right, not a privilege. Navigating our kerbs, with garage ramps and several other forms of obstacles is already a challenge. Now, we have made the situation worse. Yes, catering establishments, like all other economic sectors, should be helped to overcome the effects of the COVID-19 crisis, but the relaxing of measures cannot come at the cost of people’s safety.
And just because the authorities say that the rules will be eased does not mean that operators should go the whole hog and take up all the space they can get their hands on.
The authorities should know by now that, when some leeway is given, there will be some who take advantage of the situation. They cannot just say that the rules are being relaxed and leave it at that. There should always be some form of oversight.
The Local Councils Association has called for studies on where catering establishments should be allowed to set up tables and chairs in terms of the existing policies, and as such the government should take heed of this proposal in terms of changing the regulations in general in the future.
So this is, once again, a case where measures are being introduced without proper consultation and foresight.