Petrópolis Mayor recommends that inns refuse guests during Carnival

The mayor of Petrópolis, Rubens Bontempo (PSB), recommended this Thursday (24) that the inns located in the historic center of the city, which he called the “heart of Petrópolis”, do not receive tourists during Carnival.

The measure aims to improve the mobility of the municipality, still greatly affected by the traffic of heavy machinery, fire engines, army and police and by the mud and rubble accumulated on the streets and sidewalks.

“I think everyone here noticed how we lost mobility, right? I advise, I recommend in fact, that the inns do not make their beds available in the historic center. Now, banning, I’m not banning, I’m recommending. They would be doing a great service to the population”, said Bontempo.

The mayor of the municipality pointed out that in places where the rain did not affect commerce, such as the districts of Itaipava, Secretaria and Pedro do Rio, he does not see any problems in the continuation of tourist activities. According to him, the city had about 100 km^two of areas affected by the rains.

The city’s merchants complain about the impossibility of calling insurance companies to recover what was lost by the floods. In practice, they did not receive direct transfers of funds from the municipal, state and federal governments.

Governor Cláudio Castro (PL) made a line of credit available to affected entrepreneurs. They will also receive tax exemptions such as ICMS. But some lost goods, equipment and stock to the mud.

In a conversation with journalists, the mayor acknowledged the financial problems, but said that the priority is to take care of the city.

“I know everyone is in need of resources but this is how we will be able to clean our city first and offer a better city in a short time. So sometimes we have to take a step back to be able to move forward a little”, said Bontempo.

About 12 thousand workers work in the cleaning of Petrópolis. The task force, which includes residents of neighboring towns, emergency workers and city officials, could spend up to two months in action, the mayor estimates.