The Latvian real estate association LANĪDA has prepared and submitted proposals to the Riga City Council that will help stimulate the development of business activity in Old Riga and “revive” it.”For a long time, members of our association not only observed, but also discussed the need to stimulate the development of business activity on the central streets of Riga, thereby contributing not only to the growth of economic activity, but also to increasing the well-being of Riga residents and improving the image of the capital,” says Chairman of the Board of LANĪDA Aigar Šmits. In May, representatives of the organization met with representatives of the Duma. After the conversation, the entrepreneurs summarized and submitted proposals to the Riga City Council. For example, some of them provide even greater support for merchants who want to open terraces, expanding the work of cafes. “You can’t maintain all this beauty just for tourism… It’s a beautiful day now. Well, that’s two months of the year. And what will happen for the other ten?” – Aigars Šmits noted in a conversation with Rus.Lsm.lv. The association also proposes not to put up bureaucratic obstacles if entrepreneurs want to reconstruct buildings in the center of Riga or change the facade in order to divide large commercial areas into smaller ones or to change the status of real estate. “For example, there is an apartment of 250 square meters. Well, who needs this? Why can’t I convert them into three apartments of 70 square meters each? This permission is given by self-government. There must be movement towards them. So that it can be seen that they are interested in attracting this population here ", shared Aigars Šmits. “We understand that the “revitalization” of the center of Riga depends on many factors, including traffic intensity, number of residents and others, and yet we urge the Riga City Council not to be afraid to experiment with free parking permits on weekends. In turn, for families who want to move to the center, cancel the property tax for a certain period,” suggests Shmits. According to him, to develop entrepreneurship in the center of Riga, LANĪDA offers various programs of real estate tax benefits, and also encourages people to think more about the occupancy of premises on the first floors of buildings. The Riga City Council Rus.Lsm.lv noted that a large-scale project for the improvement of Old Riga will begin this year. “There will be a lot more benches, trees in pots, there will be a lot more landscaping, which is not the case now. There will be a reconstruction of Valnyu Street. It will turn into a pedestrian street from the Central Market to the Powder Tower. Funding from European funds will be attracted for this,” says the Chairman of the Committee urban development of the Riga City Council Inese Anderson. As for facilitating the reconstruction and refurbishment of historical buildings, we need to be more careful with this so as not to be left without historical heritage, the Riga City Council believes.
