Belo Horizonte is the bar capital. Is that really true?
On one side, residents who don't want the noise at night and in the early morning. On the other, those who believe that the capital of Minas Gerais is too conservative in imposing exaggerated restrictions. One of the laws will force bars to close at 23 pm. It is also becoming increasingly difficult to hold parties and cultural activities in the streets. Is Belo Horizonte becoming too provincial?
Minas 247 - Without beaches and lacking the allure of Minas Gerais' historic cities, Belo Horizonte doesn't have many major tourist attractions. However, it has overcome this gap by earning the nickname "capital of bars" over time. Restrictive laws proposed in recent years, however, are causing outrage among the owners of the city's bars. In addition, cultural promoters are also criticizing a certain reluctance on the part of public authorities to issue permits for cultural and festive events in the streets. Is Belo Horizonte becoming too provincial?
The topic generates a lot of discussion on social media, in the streets, and, of course, at bar tables in Belo Horizonte. Residents of neighborhoods with a large number of bars tend to defend the restrictive laws, as they feel particularly bothered by the noise late at night. Bar patrons and owners, on the other hand, do not accept the laws and fear losses.
The latest controversy is in the Lourdes neighborhood, an upscale area of Belo Horizonte occupied by the city's most sophisticated bars and restaurants. A proposed law aims to transform it into a Special Guidelines Area (ADE). In practice, if approved, the project would severely limit the use of sidewalks by bars and restaurants in the area. Tables would have to be removed at midnight on Fridays and Saturdays and at 23 pm on other days of the week.
The Lourdes Neighborhood Residents Association fully supports the approval of the law. Bar owners fear problems. "We have no way of starting to close the books and not receiving anyone after 22 pm," Leonardo Marques, representative of the Brazilian Association of Bars and Restaurants (Abrasel), told the newspaper O Tempo, from Betim.
The controversy extends beyond bars and invades other areas. In Belo Horizonte, in recent years, there has been an increase in restrictions on the use of public spaces by the population. Last March, the residents' association of the Mangabeiras neighborhood even contacted the Minas Gerais Public Prosecutor's Office to try to prevent the Saint Patrick's Day celebration from taking place in the city.
In December 2009, Mayor Marcio Lacerda (PSB) signed a decree prohibiting any events in Praça da Estação, in the city center. He had to backtrack later, but has since faced protests from Belo Horizonte residents demanding greater use of the city's public spaces by the residents themselves. On Saturdays, many of them participate in Praia da Estação (Station Beach) with a question on the tip of their tongues: "Who benefits from public spaces being merely points of passage and consumption?" Participants go to the square in swimwear, with beach chairs and umbrellas. There, in addition to having fun, there are debates about issues related to the city.
Speaking to 247, cultural promoter Welbert Ramos, known in the field as Bart Ramos, also believes the restrictions are excessive. He is trying to obtain authorization for a music festival in the Santa Efigênia neighborhood (eastern part of the capital), but has not been successful so far. “Of course, nobody is in favor of the destruction of public property, quite the opposite,” says Ramos. “But there is also the preservation of the soul of the residents, of the city's culture.”
The recent renovation of the Savassi region, also famous for its bars, aims to meet this demand. The renovation is scheduled to be inaugurated on the 12th and establishes, in the quadrilateral surrounding Diogo de Vasconcelos square, streets closed to car traffic and open to bar tables.