The sidewalks of Santo Domingo continue to be invaded by grocery stores, hardware stores, cafes, stores and improperly parked vehicles, reducing and even eliminating the space intended for pedestrians. This situation, which violates municipal and national regulations, persists despite the efforts of the authorities.
It is common to see in neighborhoods of Greater Santo Domingo how commercial establishments reduce thewaxes for pedestrians placing tables, chairs, shelves for water bottlesrefrigerators for the sale of ice, boxes with bananas, cassava, vegetables, bags of rice, beans, bales of soft drinks, vehicle parking, mannequins, beds, furniturestoves and even hair salons.
In some cases people have to walk the streets due to the narrowness of the sidewalks due to the amount of items and objects that merchants place in front of them.
The Law 176-07 on the Districts and Municipalities of the Dominican Republic establishes that it corresponds to the mayorships the construction, conservation, maintenance and regulation of sidewalks as part of urban infrastructure.
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Article 19, literal g), grants exclusive jurisdiction to municipalities over the construction and conservation of urban infrastructure, including sidewalks, curbs and local roads. However, some mayors limit themselves to occasional cleaning operations and others are overcome by fatigue because if there is no surveillance, merchants return to occupy the spaces.
He article 237 of Law 63-17 on mobility and traffic specifically establishes that you cannot park on a sidewalk, inside an intersection, at a crossing. pedestrians or near hydrants, among other places. The sanctions include fines from a minimum wage up to 10 minimum wages, depending on the severity of the infraction.
Actions against violators of the law
In the case of the Mayor’s Office of the National District, through the Directorate of Defense and Use of Public Spaces (DUEP), daily operations are carried out in three shifts to attend to these responsibilities, according to its director, Lieutenant Colonel José Aníbal Sanz Melo.
“The inspectors first notify and guide the violators, appealing to the citizen awareness on the proper use of sidewalks. It is not the intention of the Mayor’s Office to withdraw for the sake of removing, but rather to promote the correct use of these spaces,” he explains.
When the obstacles persist, the elements placed on the sidewalks are removed, in compliance with the current regulations. In cases that involve vehicles parked in prohibited places, it is coordinated with the General Directorate of Traffic and Land Transportation Security (Digestett) for the imposition of fines and the removal of vehicles.
Similar measures are applied in Santo Domingo Este where the authorities first notify the occupants of the sidewalks so that they regularize the spaces and free the sidewalks within a period of 48 hours and if they do not comply with the warning, the merchandise will be seized.
As a penalty, a fine is applied based on the minimum wage whose amount can be up to 10 salaries minimums, which currently the highest is 29,988 pesos and the minimum is 16,993.20 pesos.
