Liepāja Announces Privatization of Baltic Sea Coast: Seasonal Business Spots for a Promise and a Prayer
The municipality is organizing 13 auctions so that in summer one can rent chairs and sell ice on the beach. While Riga is still thinking about how to make money, Liepāja is already dividing up the beach by square meters.
Liepāja municipality has revealed that summer isn't free — now even in the sandbox, business needs to pay rent. Thirteen electronic auctions have been announced where merchants can fight for the right to sell chairs and water tubes on the beach during summer. While Riga is still figuring out how to earn at least coffee money from tourists, Liepāja residents are already dividing up the coastline by square meters.
The auctions are organized with ascending bids, which means — the more you want to earn from renting tubes to laughing children, the more you have to pay the municipality for this privilege. The only thing you're not allowed to rent out is electric scooters, because apparently even the municipality understands — somewhere you have to draw the line between business and city safety.
Interested parties can apply until mid-March, but the auctions will last a full three weeks. As long as it takes to prepare ornaments for major holidays at St. Joseph's Roman Catholic Cathedral — with care and hope that the result will be worth the wait. Maybe this year Liepāja's beach will have not only sand and wind, but also some chair that can be rented for a reasonable price.
If anyone thinks the beach business is easy — remember that here you have to work with Liepāja residents who are used to wind being free and sand too. But who knows, maybe this year someone will actually make money during the summer season, as long as the Baltic Sea isn't too cold even by Liepāja standards.
⚠️ Satirical article. Facts are preserved, but the presentation is humorous. For accurate information, please refer to the original source.