At last week’s City Council session, Dubrovnik Mayor Mato Franković reminded that filming of foreign productions would soon begin and that film crews have nowhere to go for food & drink because almost all restaurants are closed in winter, reports Dubrovacki Vjesnik.
Recall, the new season of the Jack Ryan series will film in Dubrovnik this month, with about 300 people participating in this project. The Amazon Prime series is based on Tom Clancy novels and features John Krasinski as Jack Ryan.
The mayor told the councilors:
“If we observe the winter period, the city is empty when guests come. And that isn’t good. Restaurants don’t work for us. We have a big film production coming up in early February, and they have nowhere to eat. The first cruiser is coming to us on February 2, and almost everything in the historic core is closed. We must set clear rules that a certain number of tenants in urban areas cannot be closed; that is, not all can be closed simultaneously. Let them agree together. Or we will arrange an even-odd system,” Franković threatened.
“I think that some people confused the situation a bit because with the end of socialism and communism and social ownership, the time of planned economy ended in the 1990s and we entered the period of free trade and free business, i.e., the market,” said the president of the Dubrovnik Caterers Association Ante Vlašić commenting on Franković’s statement during the recent session.
In a further review of Franković’s statements, the president of the Dubrovnik Caterers Association added:
“I am sorry that some people still do not understand that if they dictate business conditions, they must take full responsibility for the conditions and manner of business and the overall consequences, or all profits and losses resulting from these decisions. If the City needed something like that, it should not have rented the premises it owned, but set up a company and work 24 hours a day and be open 365 days a year. By the way, he bought UTD Ragusa anyway to continue with catering. But it is not possible to take a huge rent for the premises owned by the city company UTD Ragusa and run the business yourself! The city has enough of its own space in which it can open as many restaurants and cafes as it wants if it considers its role in society. But, then the question arises whether the City is the infrastructure and service of citizens or the City is the owner of all events and activities and everything that happens in this area? Do you think that none of the fellow caterers would work if they had financial justifications and opportunities to work?” Vlašić asked:
“Many times so far, when those who worked in the winter were not paid the rent for public areas, people worked. But that was at a time when we could work in the summer and “set aside” some of the money so we could take the risk during the winter. But now, after two years of restructuring, with huge debts from HBOR and HAMAG, we are not able to gamble with our own lives and businesses. If this great film crew needs a restaurant, believe me, they have already contacted some of the restaurants that will be 100 percent adapted to them, and therefore it is completely unnecessary to involve the city, especially those who do not understand how the market and business work,” added Vlašić.
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