Situation of businesses encroaching on sidewalks in Vinh City - Part 1: Loss of aesthetics and urban traffic safety

(Baonghean) - Encroachment on urban traffic safety corridors in our country - we hear a lot, see a lot and the chaos and chaos seem to be "everyday things in the city", so we just let it go! In fact, this situation is a disregard for the guidelines of the authorities, causing loss of urban beauty and potentially threatening the safety of traffic participants on the streets. And, Vinh city, type 1, is not exempt from the consequences...

Common Violations

Walking around the streets in Vinh City, it is not difficult to see that most of the traffic safety corridors and sidewalks are encroached upon for personal purposes, mainly for different types of businesses. Through observation, they can be divided into two main types: on-site businesses and mobile businesses. For the first type, these are households living on the street, taking advantage of the traffic safety corridor space to display and sell furniture, construction materials, bicycles, motorbikes, etc., thereby forming "specialized" streets with a scale of about 10 households living nearby.

Encroachment on the sidewalk of Xo Viet Nghe Tinh street (Vinh city). (large photo)

However, most of the businesses operating in this form have business licenses, strictly comply with tax payment and the encroachment on traffic safety corridors is acceptable to a certain extent. That is, with stable business characteristics, businesses often do not requisition the entire corridor space but reserve a certain part so as not to affect traffic on the road.

Meanwhile, the new mobile business type is really a chronic problem, difficult to control. That is, food stalls, refreshment stalls or small sidewalk businesses, depending on the location, business items and time of year, day... there are fluctuations in the form and number of this type of business households.

In terms of location, places with a high concentration of sidewalk shops are usually major roads, places with high traffic such as train stations, bus stations, schools, markets, entertainment venues, etc. In terms of time, in the morning there are shops selling food to serve students or workers such as sticky rice, banh muot, porridge, pho, etc. In the afternoon and evening there are snack shops, refreshment shops, beer shops, etc.

For business items, depending on the area, businesses are “quick” to grasp the demand and accompanying services and products such as phone case stickers, sim card sales; selling bread at city gates where buses pass by;… These types of businesses usually only need a few tables, chairs and simple, flexible tools to serve the business, so there is almost no fixity. Business people can only sell for a few hours a day and change business locations easily.

During the summer season like now, the phenomenon of sidewalk eateries and refreshment stalls "springing up" everywhere in the afternoon and evening, occupying almost all the sidewalks on major streets, pushing pedestrians onto the road, even all kinds of vehicles of visitors stopping and obstructing traffic greatly. This is a favorite place for young people, for 3 reasons: convenient for traveling; meeting the needs of summer refreshments and meeting friends; affordable prices.

Among them, the largest gathering places include the area of ​​the Provincial Post Office; the yard in front of the North Central Bookstore; along Dinh Cong Trang Street, Truong Thi Street (the area opposite Ho Chi Minh Square); Quang Trung Street; the area around the football field of Hung Binh Ward;... Tran Thi Xuan Thu, born in 1991, currently an employee of the North Central Deposit Insurance Bank, was sitting drinking water with a group of friends on the sidewalk of Quang Trung Street, sharing: "Every night we make plans to go out; there are not many entertainment venues in the city, eating in restaurants and cafes is boring. Let's invite each other to sit here, it's both cool and convenient. Just a few glasses of water and a plate of sunflower seeds are enough to chat all evening."

Mr. Pham Kieu Hung, 33 years old, residing in Truong Thi ward, said: “Sometimes I still take my wife and children to parks, squares, to the cinema, but in fact, those entertainment venues have begun to show signs of being overloaded. Many days, tired of jostling and crowdedness, the whole family “stops” at sidewalk refreshment stalls, which are rustic but more airy and comfortable. If you choose a beautiful location such as opposite a square, flower garden, or park, it is very interesting”... There are also people who choose sidewalk refreshment stalls as a place to go to… support the businesses of their friends and relatives. QA, the owner of a lemon tea shop on Quang Trung street, said: “I have a lot of time in the evening, so I came up with the idea of ​​opening a lemon tea shop. The profit is not much, but the main thing is that friends have a place to gather and meet. It is fun, healthy, and economical. And the capital to open a shop is not much either”.

Called a shop, but in fact, these types of refreshment stalls usually only need a few plastic tables and chairs, some bottled soft drinks and ready-to-eat snacks, cups, plates, etc. to be able to do business. The lighting source is also utilized from the surrounding shops and houses, so the business owner almost does not have to pay for the initial installation cost. If due to weather reasons, they have to stop selling or change locations, cleaning and transporting are also very simple and quick. That is also the common "model" of most sidewalk food and beverage shops and small retail businesses today. However, how is such a business a violation?

Difficult to control and handle

Clearing the traffic safety corridor (area of ​​Provincial General Hospital).

Mr. Nguyen Tam Ky, Chairman of the People's Committee of Le Mao Ward, where there are "hot" streets with problems of sidewalk encroachment such as Dinh Cong Trang Street, Thai Phien Street, Hong Bang Street, etc., affirmed: "Any act of encroaching on traffic safety corridors for personal purposes violates the provisions of the law. However, in reality, thoroughly controlling the encroachment of traffic safety corridors is a difficult problem, which can only be restrained at a moderate level, limiting excessive impact on traffic vehicles."

According to Mr. Ky, there are two reasons why the handling of encroachment on traffic corridors is not thorough. The first reason is the mobile and non-fixed nature of business households, making it difficult to inspect and manage. Business households on the sidewalk do not have business licenses, sometimes coming from outside the ward, so regular reminders and management are impossible. The second reason is that the force of the Ward Rules Team - the team directly carrying out campaigns, chasing away, and controlling street order is too thin, and the means and operating budget are limited, so the efficiency of operations is not really high.

Under the direction of the city, Le Mao ward has joined the inter-ward group including Hong Son, Le Mao, Quang Trung, Hung Binh, Hung Phuc to coordinate and mobilize joint forces to carry out regular campaigns in the wards according to the monthly plan. In addition, the ward also coordinates with the City Police, ward police and the Urban Order Management Team to participate in campaigns to push back and clear traffic safety corridors.

However, this phenomenon can only be restrained to a certain extent or during peak times, when important events take place. In the first 4 months of 2015, Le Mao ward carried out a total of 53 campaigns (equivalent to 53 days), handling, confiscating business vehicles, and imposing fines according to regulations... on many households and individuals doing business on the sidewalk. However, Mr. Ky commented that the above measures and actions are just like "stirring up the duckweed pond"...

Mr. Do Dinh Thong, Deputy Head of the Vinh City Urban Order Management Team, also said: “Currently, there are 3 forces operating in parallel, independently, but regularly coordinating with each other to manage traffic safety corridor order. They are: the City Urban Order Management Team; the Urban Order Rules Team of the wards and communes; the Police (including the Order Police Team of the City Police and the ward police). However, the total manpower of these 3 forces is less than 200 people, so it is extremely difficult to strictly manage the streets of 25 wards and communes”. In addition, this force is not specialized in clearing traffic corridors but only has part-time duties, so each month it can only maintain 10-15 campaigns to push and clear order. “But after only a few days, everything is back to normal. Even when we leave, people immediately set up tables and chairs to sell as if nothing!..”.

Long-term solution?...

Vinh City Urban Order Management Team clears the corridor of Xo Viet Nghe Tinh Street.

Is there any radical solution to this problem? Looking back at and re-evaluating the current situation of small businesses and encroachment on traffic safety corridors, we can see that this is a phenomenon of “supply-demand” balance. Because as long as people still have the need to quench their thirst in convenient locations at affordable prices, it will be difficult to completely eliminate sidewalk stalls.

That is also part of the law of regulation and balance in society, creating jobs for a certain group of workers. Thus, the question is not necessarily how to completely eliminate sidewalk stalls - an almost "impossible" thing - but how to create conditions for a group of workers in society, meeting the needs of the people without affecting the landscape, urban order and traffic safety?

Should we come up with solutions that are beneficial to the people but not against planning, such as regulating streets that allow sidewalk sales and streets that are completely prohibited? Of course, to implement this solution, coordination between all levels, sectors and authorities is needed. Assigning tasks and zoning to clearly determine where and when to focus all efforts on thoroughly clearing the area and mobilizing which forces is most effective. If things continue as they are now, spontaneous sidewalk stalls without planning or control will be places with many potential risks such as urban security and disorder, environmental pollution or an issue that "heats up" every summer: food safety and hygiene!

Ngoc Anh - Thuc Anh