Progreso, Yucatan — Vendors can no longer leave rental furniture on the beach or walkway overnight.
After warning concessionaires starting in March, municipal authorities on Wednesday began removing plastic seats, umbrellas and the like from the port city’s central beach and malecon.
The vendors weren’t explicitly evicted from the malecon, but they were told they can’t store their goods there overnight.
The municipal director of tourism and commerce, Manuel Rosado Heredia, had warned Progreso businesses in March that the spaces would be cleared to allow public access.
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The notification process, explained the official, began with a meeting held between the mayor with business owners on March 6. The second meeting, on April 2, included authorities from the Federal Attorney’s Office for Environmental Protection (Profepa) and municipal tax and tourism staff.
During that meeting, “various agreements were reached; on the issue of federal area, there was talk about some problems that involve leaving the furniture on the malecon, and a written notification was made endorsed by the Mayor and federal authorities,” explained the municipal official.
Vendors who had rented out lounge chairs, awnings and the like had been given more than a month to remove their objects before the city confiscated them.
