Sandra Gómez (València, 1985) does not hide her desire to become Mayor of Valencia and lead another four years of progressive government. He recognizes the work of Joan Ribó, of whom he says that he has been a good partner, but he believes that the time has come for a change that will allow conflicts such as the relationship with the Port of Valencia to be pacified, to turn the capital into a metropolitan city or to consolidate commitment to housing. Gómez receives us at the PSPV headquarters.
Two legislatures of progressive governments are exhausted in the city of Valencia after decades of PP governments. Are you satisfied with the result?
Valencia is indisputably better than 8 years ago, there are 90,000 more people working; we have gone from having 1,000 million euros of debt to being classified by Airef as one of the most healthy accounts in Spain; we are green capital, capital of sustainable tourism... the city is indisputably better.
What subjects have been pending?
There is a reality and it is that in the next mandate the great challenge is that of housing. We aspire to lead the city and to have competence in this matter. I believe that it has not been given the weight that it should have had in these 8 years and we want to give it to them hand in hand with the new law of Pedro Sánchez. The PP has already said that it is not going to apply it in its town halls and in its autonomies, and that leads us to ask ourselves next 28M who is going to worry about you being able to live in your city and who prefers or prioritises, with the excuse of the free market, the benefits of a real estate fund.
Why has so little public housing been built in these eight years?
Nor do I want to burden anyone, but, for example, Podemos broke into politics with housing as one of its workhorses and did not know how to move from protest to management, there they failed. And the same has happened this legislature that the competition was assumed by my government colleagues. We at Aumsa (a public company of the City Council) have promoted more than 300 new homes and my idea is to continue deepening the construction of public housing.
How do you rate the coexistence of the PSPV and Compromís and their relationship with Joan Ribó?
It has been eight years of shared government and, in that sense, I want to thank the work we have done together. I am grateful for these years of government, but aware that a friendly relief is needed to make a new beginning in the city of Valencia. It is time for a new stage.
Do you think you are in a better position than Ribó to lead this left-wing project in Valencia?
Yes, I am in better condition and the time has come for a new beginning and, based on loyalty and respect, but also with the strength and desire that we can give from the Socialist Party, to start a new cycle led by our training.
You said a few days ago that it was not a question of age, but that you wanted to, that the city could not accommodate you. Has Ribó settled in?
Let's see, I think it's a reality, right now a leadership is needed that has the desire, the conviction to assume a responsibility like this city is. Things are going well and we also need a collective project in the City Council that right now has the same desire, the same strength and the same drive as the city itself.
How would the city change with a mayor like you? What differences would be perceived?
I would like to be as mayor as Ximo Puig is as president, an open person, dialogue, who seeks agreements, who is not sectarian and who does not govern for his own. Let there be a mayor who makes this city the home of all, of those who have voted for us and of those who have not. And achieve a town hall that is very local and that is proud of it; That means a council that cares about the things that really matter to the majority, like having a job, good public services and access to housing.
You have made very clear commitments to certain areas that are now in the hands of Compromís. What would you do with Cultura Festiva and the Fallas festival?
I believe that everyone can be given the opportunity to start in a new and different space and bring out the best in themselves. For this area, the Socialists think of Núria Llopis as a person who represents the party, who is born from the party, who has a very progressive outlook and who will be able to make the changes she needs.
What changes are we talking about?
There is a question that seems fundamental to me, which is the fallas artists. All the festivals have offerings, regional costumes, music, fireworks... but only ours has the fault and, paradoxically, they are the most precarious economic sector. We bet on refloating the city of the fallero artist recovering, by the Generalitat, the ships. We want to reach financing agreements to strengthen the union. The artists recognize that where they get the least economic benefit from their ordinary activity is, precisely, from the Fallas festival.
This year we have experienced some very crowded Fallas, do we have to rethink the model?
It is true that this year they have fallen on a weekend with a holiday in Madrid and we have made an absolute record of tourist occupancy. However, this is a cyclical debate and it is very centrally focused. When one goes to the failures of other sectors, this mass does not occur. I think there are certain important acts that can also be decentralized. But I tell you that the City Council has intervened in issues such as the lights of Ruzafa or the control of the festivals in certain places such as the Lonja that have not been peaceful. We have been brave.
Also on its municipal list is a mobility expert like María Pérez.
She is a recognized person, not only for her academic training as a doctor in Transport Economics, but also for her professional career. It seems to me that she is a person who can represent that necessary consensus on mobility issues.
What criticism do you make of the current mobility policy?
More than criticism we have a proposal. We want mobility to stop being seen as something unsympathetic, mobility is there to improve people's lives and it has to get out of the field of continuous conflict. The EMT does not have to be economically balanced, but it does have to be sustainable. It cannot be that every year it is in the reason for dissolution. In addition, the company has to have a metropolitan look. This city is losing opportunities for not having a real metropolitan transportation authority.
And how is that possible?
Because there has been no interest. It is time to say things clearly, but the only party that has a clearly metropolitan vocation and outlook is the PSPV. The PP dissolved the Consell Metropolità de l'Horta and Compromís has not been excessively interested in establishing common agreements and projects with our metropolitan environment. There have been arbitrary criteria when establishing EMT bus lines that have later had to be supplemented by the Generalitat. Valencia is the capital, it is the city where everything happens and it has to be connected to its metropolitan area. When it is denounced that the Government of Spain gives us less money to finance public transport, they forget to say that what the Ministry finances are metropolitan entities where the metro, bus and other types of transport are integrated.
One of the main complaints is the lack of parking spaces in the city. What can be done?
It is true that the consequence of gaining public space has a direct consequence, which is the reduction of outdoor parking. But this government, although more will surely have to be done, has generated new underground parking lots that did not exist before. It is trying to redirect so that instead of parking on the surface it is parked underground.
On the issue of the expansion of the port of Valencia, PSPV and Compromís have not been able to reach an agreement. Do you think that the appointment of Joan Calabuig as president of the Port Authority of Valencia can help to create a détente?
Completely. Joan is a person characterized by dialogue, agreement and the search for consensus. He has reached out to agree with the Valencia City Council on issues as important as the future of the Navy.
What about the expansion of the port of Valencia?
The first thing is to establish legal certainty; see who is competent to authorize the new DIA and once it is determined if the competent one is the Port Authority and if the one that was made is valid, for me, the debate would be settled. Another thing is that the courts rule otherwise. We will be what Justice says.
Shouldn't there be a political solution first and that the issue should not drag on forever in the courts as it happened with the ZAL?
The expansion of the Port cannot be a new ZAL. That is why we need that legal certainty. We want an enlargement that is sustainable and absolutely correct from the point of view of environmental legislation. Compromís and Podemos have played a bit of confusion. Without the expansion of the Port, would Volkswagen have come? I'm sorry, but no, and I want this community to be the new axis of the industrialization network of southern Europe.
How would you apply the tourist tax?
We are in favor of implementing it in our city. It is a source of income that can help us offset some externalities in the sector and that will allow us to continue establishing a quality sustainable tourism model, but above all agreed with the residents; without generating tension or tension. And it will be a higher rate for apartments and cruise ships that do not have as many economic impacts or create as many jobs.
Will new measures be undertaken to prevent gentrification?
I think I have been one of the people who has taken a more combative position against tourist apartments. Although they cannot be prohibited, they can be limited. It is also true that many ground floors are filling up with apartments and this is reducing the commercial fabric of our city; I am in favor of establishing more limits to this type of accommodation so that they do not end with our commercial fabric.
