Why did you decide to close several streets in downtown Ponta Delgada to traffic?
We need to give the city of Ponta Delgada back to the people. We must be able to respond to the challenges of the next decade.
During this Christmas season, we took the opportunity to make an experiment: closing the streets to traffic. We found that our parking lots were far from being sold out. At most, they reached 40 percent of parking capacity. We found that there is no shortage of places for people to leave their cars. The minibuses themselves were far from full capacity.
Mercadores Street has direct access to other parts of the city. We believe that there is no lack of parking or accessibility to the historic center of Ponta Delgada.
Based on this scenario, we decided to anticipate this measure, which was in our electoral program and was supported by a large majority.
This work needs to be done simultaneously. We cannot plan to build trucking stations, acquire land, carry out projects and launch public tenders. If we plan all these actions, only 8 or 10 years from now would we close a street.
Ponta Delgada cannot move at this slow pace, and we need to develop this work. We are carrying out this project to give the city back to its people, as well as to protect traditional commerce.
We are also developing a mobility plan and looking to boost the historic center of Ponta Delgada.
The Architects' Association will launch a competition for ideas for the historic center of Ponta Delgada. This will be crucial to have a people-oriented city.
We already feel that there is a different quality in the city. There is no noise pollution.
We understand criticisms, but we also welcome the praise we receive.
We want to honor our commitment to the voters of Ponta Delgada. We were elected to make decisions and we know that we cannot please everyone. We are convinced that these decisions defend Ponta Delgada's best interests.
We work to make Ponta Delgada a city of reference at national and European level.

Is there any entertainment program to attract people to the center of Ponta Delgada?
We are finishing an animation program, but we are also waiting for the pandemic to allow people to get together on the street again. We are preparing a program in order to develop various activities and promote various events in the center of Ponta Delgada. We will have entertainment for children, performances by folklore groups and philharmonic groups, artists who will exhibit works in Ponta Delgada. We also want to promote the "Ponta Delgada à Prova" project, which involves several restaurants. We want to promote, for instance, a beer party and gastronomy events.
We will carry out several initiatives to boost the historic center of Ponta Delgada.

There are, however, entrepreneurs with a different vision from ours. Would you like to challenge these entrepreneurs?
Right now, Ponta Delgada has a free schedule policy. Entrepreneurs can open at 9 am and close at 11 pm. Whether establishments close at 6:00 pm or 6:30 pm is not an imposition by the City Council.
We challenge the Chamber of Commerce and entrepreneurs to get involved in this dynamization project. We need an attractive historic center. “It is necessary to have an attractive commerce adjusted to our new times”
We know that those who left work at 6:00 pm will hardly choose to shop in the historic center of Ponta Delgada, because many establishments are already closed. They will look for other commercial alternatives in the city of Ponta Delgada.
It is necessary to adapt commerce to new lifestyles.
We must be aware of the models that exist in cities the size of Ponta Delgada, such as Braga, Viseu, Guimarães and Faro. These cities' historic centers that have been closed to traffic for several years.

How will you support entrepreneurs and increase the interest of private investment in Ponta Delgada?
The first step is taken by reducing the Municipal Surtax, approved in the 2022 Budget. We exempt companies with profits of up to 150 thousand euros from the payment of this surtax.
The office in charge of investment projects is responding to the intentions of entrepreneurs. Sometimes there are more lengthy processes due to external opinions.
We are setting up a support office for entrepreneurs, aiming at informing them about the support available for the development of several activities.
We also want to set up an office at the Bom Pastor cooperative to support applications in the agricultural sector.

During the electoral campaign, you defended the creation of a highway from Ponta Delgada to Mosteiros, with the aim of promoting social cohesion in the parishes. What steps were taken to develop this project, which depends on funding from the Regional Government?
One of our priorities is the social cohesion of the parishes. Our first step was to lower the IRS of Ponta Delgada families. We reduced it from 4 to 3.5 percent. This implies the return of 600 thousand euros to the families of Ponta Delgada.
We want to be close to families and support them to overcome this pandemic together.
Now we will start working on a housing plan. We have already applied for certain programs, together with the Regional Government and the Government of the Republic.
We want to recover vacant properties to create new housing complexes.
So as to settle the population on the island, we will continue to defend the extension of SCUT to Mosteiros.
We have been drawing the Regional Government's attention to this matter, as we will continue to improve municipal roads. The extension of SCUT will be inevitable. It will always be necessary to reach Mosteiros and we will continue to let the Regional Government know that this is an essential work for the development of the municipality of Ponta Delgada and the island of São Miguel.

Since you were elected Mayor, two natural disasters have occurred, in Mosteiros and Feteiras. Are you concerned about land use planning and what measures are you taking to protect the population living in the vicinity of the Sete Cidades mountain?
Fortunately, those catastrophes did not cause physical damage. Regarding housing damage, we will express full solidarity with the families. We made a survey of the interventions necessary to help these families. It is our job to solve people's problems.
We need to be aware of these natural phenomena, which are to occur more frequently.
I have already requested a survey of risk areas in the municipality of Ponta Delgada, but I will go further. I will take this topic to the Association of Municipalities of the Island of São Miguel.
We need to be aware of the changes in morphology, often caused by human intervention, to promote greater surveillance and ensure effective intervention.

Regarding the waste collection policy in Ponta Delgada, do you plan to change it?
We are noticing a lack of people in the cleaning services of the City Council. There are more vacancies than applications. This implies a great effort from municipal employees. Therefore, we want to promote door-to-door garbage collection, making owners responsible for the improper disposal of garbage.
It is important to increase the civility of citizens. We cannot tolerate putting garbage at the door when it is not a garbage collection day. Also, people should not put out the garbage when the containers are full.

And at what stage are the processes related to Calheta and Azores Parque?
In what concerns Calheta, the deadline for the construction permit is underway. If the developer does not build within the license period, the license will expire.
The City Council is willing to enter a protocol with the Regional Government to manage that space, either as a parking area or a leisure area. We will make every effort to find a solution for those lands in Calheta.
Regarding Azores Parque, there is no change in the ongoing legal proceedings. We are waiting for the courts' decision.

What are the city's priorities for 2022?
We set three priorities. First with families, that is why we reduced IRS and kept the minimum real estate tax rate.
We also reduced the Municipal Surtax for companies. We will return more than half a million euros to companies.
This was the first sign we wanted to give to show that we are on the side of families and businesses of Ponta Delgada.
We also want to make it clear that we support parishes. Although we do not know the budget of the Government of the Republic, which should be approved in May, we decided to give our parishes a sign of stability and support.
We approved support of two million euros for the parishes, without any type of discrimination. This is our perspective of harmonious development.
We also have funds to invest in the county's school network. We will promote road construction works and a project to launch urban requalification in several areas of the city.
If there is a worsening of the pandemic situation, we will change our options to help families and companies, standing next to those who most need our support.