“We are still awaiting confirmation from the Lisbon City Council (CML) following their statement on April 3 regarding whether they will reverse the transplantation and removal of 42 trees,” stated the petitioners in a communication sent on Thursday evening. This follows the municipal executive’s announcement of a temporary halt on the transplantation of 17 jacarandas and a reassessment of the planned removal of 25 trees.
The CML’s statement indicated that “a new effort for reassessment was requested from the technical services of the municipality and the project promoter [Fidelidade Property],” aiming to “determine if there is any further viable possibility that had not been adequately considered.”
In light of this, the signatories of the petition deduced “that there might now be a willingness from both the CML and Fidelidade Property to reconsider the transplantation and removal of a total of 42 trees.”
However, it remains uncertain if all the trees will be spared from any intervention: “We await confirmation that the reassessment seeks to find building alternatives that ensure the trees remain free from any transplantation or removal intervention.”
About 400 petitioners (out of more than 54,000 signatories) participated in the CML’s public information session regarding the Entrecampos Public Parking Lot held on Wednesday, which lasted six and a half hours.
During the session, they were dissatisfied with most of the responses they received from the executive and municipal technicians.
“We fail to understand the progression with tree removal works, disregarding public opposition materialized in the largest petition in Lisbon’s history, with a number of petitioners equivalent to one in every ten Lisbon residents,” they noted. They also mentioned that the Councilor for Urban Planning, Joana Almeida, stated during the session that intervention work on 5 de Outubro would resume shortly.
The petitioners further sought clarification on whether “the economic and financial costs inherent to the alteration of the underground car park project were studied and considered, in order to explore execution and building alternatives that might ensure tree preservation,” but the councilor did not respond.
“It also remained unanswered whether parking configuration alternatives were studied” to ensure the preservation of the tree axis, they added.
The petitioners emphasized that “transparency (…) is an obligation of public administration,” citing “many complaints from citizens,” particularly about the closing of registration for participation in the information session “when the Lisbon Forum had capacity for more participants,” and the fact that the meeting was not streamed online.
Additionally, they highlighted that the last public consultation was not publicized, and the project’s documentation is not fully available online, resulting in “serious transparency issues.”
The petitioners also lamented the absence of the Mayor of Lisbon, Carlos Moedas, from the public session.
“We find it puzzling that the President’s political discourse emphasizes ‘listening to people’ when, at critical moments, he does not attend,” they criticized.
The petitioners reiterated their request for clarifications to improve the project for the Entrecampos area, “which is necessary,” and committed to not giving up and “continuing to pressure the CML.”
The Free (Livre) party council members in the CML also issued a statement on Thursday night, promising to “remain vigilant regarding the licensing processes of these buildings, as well as all implicated urbanization works.”
They hope that the CML’s decision represents “an opportunity for the revision” of the urban project for the Entrecampos area. The Free party noted that the municipal executive had led them to believe that the agreement with Fidelidade Property “was irreversible and nothing could be done,” yet, it has already partially reversed.
