“We are talking about 2024. The leadership has changed”

Together with the husband of the vice mayor of Sibiu, Mihai Bokor, his associate, Marius Muțiu, came to complain to the local Council about the situation created around the ice cream terrace that was erected a week ago by the City Hall. Mayor Astrid Fodor’s message to those who challenge the local government’s recent decisions regarding ice cream vendors is that, starting this year, the legislation is much more carefully enforced.

While the husband of the vice-mayor Corina Bokor tried to whisper, more or less visibly, different advice about the situation of ice cream sellers in the center of Sibiu – being among those who sell ice cream by weight -, Marius Muțiu (main photo right) brought up the situation presented by the Council Tower more than a week ago. It is the first terrace built by Sibiu City Hall in the city center, a terrace where ice cream was sold and which Marius Muțiu refused to dismantle claiming that he has the right to rent other areas in the public domain in the immediate vicinity.

Read also The City Hall abolished the first terrace in the center: it belonged to the associate of Mihai Bokor, the vice mayor’s husband. “Madame Mayor I don’t think she knows”

“Considering that there is room for everyone, please stop being discriminated against. I invested all my agony, I have 25,000 lei in stock of ice cream, no one takes it from me now, and the investments pay off in about five years”, said Marius Muțiu. He claimed that in the area where his terrace and furniture were removed the other day, there was still room to move it (in front of the June store, more precisely) and that he considers himself discriminated against because his request to place a second terrace was rejected with ice cream in front of building number 39 on the same Nicolae Bălcescu pedestrian street.

“I left from number 39, although there the space was given to someone who does not have street frontage, and I requested the lease of the public domain at no. 20. There, an ineptitude. Now I have to go to court to seek justice. I have 25 years of education, I did not come to make a scandal”, Marius Muțiu showed, among other things, while Mihai Bokor from the hall tried to convey to him other arguments in support of the idea that the representatives of the City Hall would rent the public domain from the center of Sibiu preferentially.

The situation arises in the context in which in several episodes of the “ice cream war in the center of Sibiu”, the merchants in the center of Sibiu claimed that Marius Muțiu was actually an interloper of the husband of the vice mayor Corina Bokor. Mihai Bokor (main photo left) rejected such speculations and showed that – apart from a restaurant they manage together – other associations no longer exist. And that the rumors started from the fact that both the ice cream terrace of the Bokor family and those of Marius Muțiu are supplied with ice cream from the same producer in Bulgaria.

Fodor: “The service has been reorganized”

Alexandru Horobet, who – together with his brother-in-law – set up an ice cream production laboratory in a courtyard on Nicolae Bălcescu (in this case we are talking about the ice cream that is sold) by cup, not by weight as in the cases above). And the story of Alexandru Horobet was presented by Turnul Sfatului in the article more than a week ago.

“I invested almost 100,000 euros in a laboratory, with the hope that I will sell ice cream. We have been selling ice cream in the center of Sibiu for 11 years. Now I’m getting negative responses to public domain rental requests and I don’t know why. In HCL 66/2023 it is clearly written that if a terrace appears, the mobile stand is moved to the left or right. Why are we not allowed to move to the side and all our requests are rejected?”, asked Alexandru Horobet.

In the case of both speakers, Marian Popa, head of the service that includes the Public Domain, explained that local regulations are the basis of the rejections invoked before the local councilors. And that, anyway, a series of legal actions have been started by those who consider themselves discriminated against. “Each request is analyzed punctually. Both companies made prior complaints, to which we have already responded,” Marian Popa pointed out.

Following the repeated questions from the “up until now it was possible, now why can’t it be” category, mayor Astrid Fodor also intervened. She brought up the reorganization of the City Hall, as a result of which – through the integration of the Public Domain within a new service – others are responsible for this domain: Marian Popa is now in place of the former director Lucian Vizantie. And this change led to a more careful analysis of the local legal framework. “We are talking about 2024, the leadership has changed and they are looking at documents that have not been carefully studied in the last two, three or four years. Mr. Director Popa proposed to reanalyze all the situations, when the service was reorganized he wanted things to go better”, Fodor pointed out. Who also promised that specific notifications – such as the situation at no. 39, on Nicolae Bălcescu Street – will be analyzed.

And the PUG comes into the discussion

And the future general urban plan (PUG) of Sibiu is going to have a direct impact on the businesses in the historic center. The urban planning documentation now under public debate imposes a minimum area of ​​50 square meters for the authorization of public food spaces, based on which – later – the traders request the rental of some spaces in the public domain for the placement of seasonal terraces.

The limit was disputed by some traders in the central area, who however made an express reference to the ice cream sellers. “Our proposal is to impose a minimum of 50 meters for spaces that do not have street frontage. Let’s get rid of these ice cream businesses that have filled the center. But this limit should not be imposed also for spaces with a street front, which can be niche businesses, such as coffee roasters or restaurants with traditional cuisine”, said, for example, Horațiu Bujac, from the Employers’ Organization of HoReCa Operators from Sibiu.

Mayor Astrid Fodor announced that there will also be a debate with HoReCa representatives on the subject of the provisions of the future PUG, but the intention of the local administration is to impose higher standards in the case of public catering, especially in the tourist areas of Sibiu. “We have requested that other permitted sizes be established, but each must have its own kitchen, toilet, male and female toilets, which is exactly what the legislation provides. So you don’t stay 50 meters away. But a certain way of doing business, public food, can no longer be tolerated in a cultural city”, said Astrid Fodor at that debate.

Also read Ice cream war: The system by which the spaces in the central area are rented is accused of favoring the company of the family of the vice mayor Bokor. City Hall: “This application eliminates any suspicion”

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