Shop Owners Fight To Reduce Parking Fees; Early Heatwave Hits Switzerland; Basel Hosts Bartender Competition; Public Baths Capacity Tested

News For 30 May 2017

Owners of Basel's Allstadt based enterprises have banded together to fight what they deem to be the exorbitant parking fees in their neighborhoods.  The white parking zones that guests favor now typically cost 3 CHF per hour, even during popular dining and entertainment hours on weekends and evenings.  According to Maurus Ebneter, spokesperson for the association, local business suffers when prospective clients find parking prohibitively priced relative to alternatives in nearby border towns.  In an effort to address this issue, a referendum has now been suggested which would make the parking spaces in question free between 8pm and 8am.

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MeteoNews, Switzerland's meteorological service, temperatures rose above 30 degrees centigrade for the first time this year last weekend.  Although unusual for this time of year, the heat was far from a record having been set in 2009 when 35.5 degrees was recorded on May 25th in Sion.  Having coincided with the holiday weekend, many people were glad to have the warm weather, especially at higher elevations and in resort areas.  The downside, however was the trip home, when traffic jams of up to 11km long were reported at the Gotthard tunnel on Sunday evening.  Storms are expected later this week bringing the temperatures closer to the averages for this time of the year.

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Basel hotel the Trois Rois played host to this year's Swiss Bartenders competition on Monday.  Representing Basel was Günther Strobl from the Campari Bar who finished second in the overall contest.  Coming in first was Gabriel de Lima Santana from the bar Tartares & Co in Geneva.  His win earned him an invitation to the Diageo World Class Bartender Competition to be held in Mexico later this year.  The contest evaluated bartenders creativity and spontaneity where for example, they had to mix a drink for a randomly selected celebrity or prepare cocktails based on what the bartender believed cocktails would be like in the far future.

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The combined effects of a seasonally early heatwave and planned construction and redevelopment at the Eglisee and Reinach public baths left the remaining open pools overwhelmed with guests.  At the Bachgraben pool, Badmeister Peter Portmann reported having 6000 guests on Sunday where normal attendance would have been 4000.  Bathers reported 30 minute waits at the food and refreshment vendors at the pools that remained open, and in Arlesheim, locals complained it was no longer possible to swim because of the overflow of guests no longer able to swim at the closed Reinach pool.