To stimulate economic activity in Riga and reduce the number of empty shop windows in the city center, it is necessary to bring back people to the city center, Riga Mayor Vilnis Kirsis (New Unity) said in an interview with LETA.
The mayor said that a program is being developed that will provide grants to entrepreneurs who move into the empty premises. The grants will partly finance renovation costs and help the already working businesses to improve accessibility, for example.
The program might be launched already next year.
In Kirsis’ view, it takes a flow of people to fill the empty shop windows, and a flow of people can be ensured by attractive content.
“If there are a lot of interesting shop windows, cafes, people will come to that area, but if there is no content, there are no customers, and if there are no customers, there is no window. This process needs to be stimulated”, the mayor said.
Initially, artworks could be placed in the empty shop windows. But this could be a transitional phase, Kirsis said.
According to the Riga mayor, not only the Old Town, but also the historic city center needs not only tourists, but also inhabitants.
Currently, the population decline in the city center has stopped, and the population is even slightly increasing. However, in order to fill the abandoned and empty commercial spaces permanently, the number of permanent residents needs to increase not only in Riga as a whole, but also in the city center.
The Riga City Council’s City Development Department is working on a revitalization plan for the historic center, which consists of many sections, including solutions to lure inhabitants to the city center.
“I am quite sure that we will end up paying some kind of relocation allowance, for example by extinguishing part of the mortgage loan for a family that moves to the center,” the mayor said.
Source: BNS
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