“I ask everyone to be calm. Your child can safely ride a bike in the park. And yes, you can celebrate his birthday there. You can walk, play sports, gather with friends and enjoy the city.“ This was stated by the mayor of Sofia Vasil Terziev in response to the claims that have appeared in recent days that the Sofia Municipality is fining parents for children's birthday parties in parks and prohibiting children from riding bikes.
According to him, parks are everyone's common space and that is precisely why the freedom to use them comes with a simple responsibility – not to interfere with others.
The mayor emphasized that the rules are not new and the goal of the Municipality is not to introduce additional bans, but for people to know what the current requirements are and why they are necessary. In parallel, the Sofia Municipality is working on digitizing and simplifying processes so that compliance with the rules is easier for citizens.
As an example, Terziev pointed to the systematic work over the past two years to reduce incidents with electric scooters. In 2025, about 4 incidents with scooters per 100,000 people were registered in Sofia, which puts the capital well behind in the negative ranking in the country.
Behind this result are more control, sanctions, field work and a constant information campaign. Since the beginning of this year alone, over 1,600 violators of electric scooters have been sanctioned together with the SDVR.
In parallel with the control, the Municipal Police is conducting a face-to-face information campaign with people who use electric scooters. So far, it has reached thousands of citizens.
“We don't want people to learn the rules when they get a fine or when an accident happens. We want them to know them before they get on“, Terziev pointed out.
The information campaign starts as early as 2025, which is why the amount of the sanctions is still written in levs on some of the materials distributed. “We must have made a mistake not to throw away the old ones and not print the same ones in euros. We are left with the consolation that at least we have saved some public resources“, commented the mayor.
Celebrations in the parks - the same principle
The Sofia Municipality applies the same approach to celebrations in parks and other public spaces. Every summer, the Municipality receives hundreds of signals about grills in unregulated places, loud music, noisy celebrations, as well as unidentified substances in sandboxes and around places where children play.
Terziev is categorical that no one is sanctioned for a quiet and normal children's birthday party that does not interfere with others.
“In order for a celebration for one not to turn into a nightmare for everyone around, there are rules. And let's just respect them“, the mayor urged.
He made a distinction between a normal family gathering in the park and actions that affect other visitors: loud sound, lighting a grill in an unregulated place, leaving waste or other behavior that disrupts the peace and the way in which everyone else can use the common space.
The rules for holding events in public spaces have not been introduced by the current Sofia administration. The current regulation was adopted by the Sofia Municipal Council with Decision No. 320 of May 25, 2023. The reasons for it even then explicitly mentioned family celebrations on open municipal properties, as well as the need for a balance between the rights and freedoms of citizens and the preservation of public order.
The Municipality's approach to both topics remains the same – first informs and explains the rules, then expects them to be followed, and in case of systematic violations, carries out control and imposes sanctions.
„We don't want a city where an inspector or policeman is needed for everything. We want a city where we understand why there are rules and have enough respect for each other to follow them“, said Terziev.
The mayor called on anyone who believes they have been sanctioned unlawfully to send a detailed description of the case to [email protected] so that an inspection can be carried out.
„Ride your bikes and scooters. Celebrate your birthdays. Get together with friends. Use the parks. But do it in a way that the person next to you can also use this same city. And don't be afraid of the rules. They are not against our freedom. They protect the freedom of all of us“, concluded the mayor.