They propose to limit the price of commercial rents to protect local businesses

PalmaMÉS per Palma has proposed this Monday to limit the price of commercial rents in the city's stressed areas to protect local businesses and curb the replacement of traditional businesses by franchises and establishments exclusively oriented towards tourism. The proposal has been presented at the former Donya Àngela haberdashery, one of Palma's historic businesses, which the party has symbolically turned into a real estate agency to denounce how speculation is transforming the city and expelling both residents and traditional businesses. According to MÉS, the problem is not a lack of customers, but the continuous increase in commercial rents. "Many businesses don't close because the business isn't working. They close because, when the contract ends, the new rent is simply unaffordable," explained MÉS per Palma candidate David Pujol.The group warns that this process is causing an homogenization of Palma's commercial landscape. Neighborhood businesses are disappearing and are being replaced by franchises, large chains, or establishments geared towards tourist consumption, which impoverishes the identity of the neighborhoods and reduces the services intended for the resident population. For this reason, MÉS proposes to promote specific regulation of commercial rents in the most tense areas, with the aim of avoiding disproportionate price increases, facilitating the continuity of local businesses and preserving the commercial diversity of the city. "When speculation enters through the door, neighborhood commerce leaves through the window," summarized Pujol.The spokesperson for MÉS per Palma, Neus Truyol, recalled that the disappearance of traditional commerce is a direct consequence of the same model that expels residents from neighborhoods. MÉS also recalled that the General Plan promoted during the last term incorporated tools to preserve the commercial balance of the neighborhoods and limit the concentration of tourist uses, but that the Popular Party abandoned that model.For the ecosovereignist party, protecting local trade is a city policy comparable to housing regulation. "If we regulate residential rents so that people can continue living in their neighborhoods, we must also protect the businesses that make daily life possible. Without local trade, neighborhoods lose their identity and cease to be neighborhoods," concluded Pujol.