The ‘controversy’ of the Lisbon Popular Fair
Recently, some voices have been raised by the fact that Carlos Moedas did not go with the intention of creating a popular fair in Carnide. The only surprise was that the voices were precisely those who promised the Popular Fair but who did not fulfill the promise despite, years on end, announcing that ‘next year is what it is’.
As for the current position of the Mayor of Lisbon on Feira Popular, there is no reason for any surprise. Or rather, this assumption only fulfills the role of an opposition that presents itself to everything that Coins present. Feira Popular implements an urban park intended for leisure and organized activities.
The history of the new Feira Popular de Lisboa is a long one. After being closed at the location – Entrecampos –, in 2003, there were the possibilities of last implantation: Parque de Monsanto, Parque da Belavista, Parque das Nações, Zona Ribeirinha or, more recently, Carnide.
In 2015, the Lisbon City Council, chaired by Fernando Medina, announced the intention to rebuild the Feira Popular in an urban park to be created in Carnide. The wait was that it was up and running in 2020.
An ambitious plan for the new Feira Popular was presented with an economic feasibility study, an urban park was designed, and a monitoring committee was set up.
It so happens that nothing has come to fruition. The monitoring committee met only twice (in 2015 and 2017), the urban park was promised to open successively in 2018, 2019, 2020 and 2021 but the tender for the exploitation of the Popular Fair has not yet been launched. All that remained was no promises, unfinished works and millions of euros spent.
It is notable that the PS in the City Council intends to find a case in the face of the fulfillment of a promise made by Carlos Moedas in a campaign to abandon the construction of the Popular Fair in Carnide and build a large green park for leisure and marine practice. It is astonishing now to defend what deviated from what it accomplished but was clearly incapable of.
The Feira Popular occupied a memory of many Lisboners. The amusements like the roller coaster, the carousels, the bumper cars, the cursed house or the death pit, the end-of-year dinners at schools or with the family and the abundance or sweets are part of the memories.
Years to offer and the fun and enjoyment mode. The question is whether it makes sense to recreate the same model (with decades) or, even, if an amusement park still fits inside the city. And also, if it shouldn’t have a different model, for example, a theme park. What it does is consider the existence of an amusement park on a metropolitan scale, articulated within the Lisbon Metropolitan Area and not within the city. The prior decision is to decide whether it will be a priority.
In any case, what is notable is notable in relation to Carlos Moedas’ criticism of the construction of the Feira Popular in Carnieta or that limits the repetition of his clear intention to state in his electoral program that he was voted for by the Lisbon people. The promise is to implement a park for leisure and sport in Carnide. This is what it should be.