The abstentions of the councilors of the PP, of Valents and of the non-attached councilor saved the government of Mayor Ada Colau from the last political setback of the mandate. In the end, the municipal right preferred to spare the common and socialist executive a displeasure instead of breathing a little air into the ERC mayors.
The Republican group raised in the last municipal commission of the mandate held this Wednesday, in truth in the last political debate before the electoral race -the last plenary session will deal with mainly administrative issues-, the very succulent issue around the tourist mass and the expulsion of the usual neighbors of the Carmel bunkers. And wasn't one of the great objectives of the commons once they won the mayor's office eight years ago supposed to be to put an end to the unwanted effects of the arrival of visitors to the city? The Republican proposal really came to question the City Council's policies against crowds in La Boqueria, the overcrowding of public space in the Gothic Quarter, the excesses in Barceloneta...
“Everything that is happening at the Turó de la Rovira viewpoint – lamented Jordi Coronas, spokesman for the Republican group – is the result of bad governance that comes from a long way off. The current situation is proof of the failures of municipal governments in recent years, in a bad way of conducting tourism policy and ignoring the demands of the residents, who end up having to stop the illegal parties themselves”. Coronas also proposed a series of measures to mitigate mobility problems, curb incivility and improve cleanliness.
But the Republicans only found the support of Junts and Ciudadanos. The municipal government's casting vote resolved the tie. The rest of the opposition preferred to blame their successive support for the municipal government in recent years. The words of Valents councilor Óscar Benítez serve as an example. “I have freaked out. For the first time they talk about control. But we will abstain because you, in a subtle way, criminalize tourism”.
The councilor responsible for the Horta Guinardò district, the socialist Rosa Alarcón, replied that the municipal government has been on top of this issue for years, and to prove it, she reeled off a few facts. Since January 2021, the Urban Police have evicted some 20,000 people from the area, and filed 507 complaints, the majority for alcohol consumption. “In the last few weeks, 6,890 people have been evicted,” she added.
The problem of the Carmel bunkers, however, goes far beyond those related to public order. It is the reflection of the management of tourist activity.
