If you have ever visited Valencia with children, you will know that Gulliver is an emblematic park, both for its originality, free of charge, and for hosting the Fallas spirit in its proposal, since the giant whose chutes are huge slides is the work of a renowned Fallas artist, a profession which is only exercised in Valencian territory. It has everything, therefore, to win over adults and adults, but these days it is being the focus of the electoral dispute due to the proposal of some and others to locate its continuation in different areas of the city.
The candidate of the Popular Party in Valencia, María José Catalá, has launched this week the idea of building the Gulliver Galleon park between the Serranos Towers and the Campanar bridge, she assures, so that "the residents of this area of the city I have a first-rate children's endowment closer ”. Sandra Gómez, the socialist candidate, has spoiled the idea, since the one designed by the City Council initially located it in the Desembocadura park.
For Compromís, this is "an insult to the Natzaret neighborhood, because Gulliver's ship is already included in the Parque de Desembocadura and requested by the neighborhood association." But, is it so important where one park or another is located? Institutions such as Unicef explain that, at the municipal level, the priority should be "guaranteeing equitable access to the services, resources and opportunities offered by the municipality for all boys and girls, regardless of the area in which they reside".
The Unicef Committee of the Valencian Community met in April with the 28M candidates to transfer electoral proposals, both at the regional and municipal levels, and these were reflected in a comprehensive document in which they bet on the creation of spaces for participation “significant, stable, sustainable and endowed with resources”.
Also at this local level, they demand that the systems of prevention and early detection of situations of risk of lack of protection of children and adolescents be strengthened; that child poverty be combated; that urban planning be promoted based on the rights of children and their needs for mobility, socialization, play and social participation; as well as developing local plans for childhood and adolescence "with a transversal approach, based on evidence and endowed with financial resources".
In Compromís they have assumed many of its premises, which they even reproduce directly in their argument. For example, they endorse the idea of urban planning based on the rights of children and their needs for mobility, socialization, play and social participation. And they go one step further by ensuring that they will formally make Valencia a 'Child Friendly City'. "We have already made the diagnosis and we hope to meet the requirements shortly," they point out from the coalition.
The PSPV also draws from these and wants to create the Consell Municipal d'Infància, structuring it by districts, with the involvement of schools, in addition to drawing up and approving the Municipal Plan for Children and Adolescents as an "effective tool that provides a Diagnosis of the situation of children in Valencia”.
From the regional committee of Unicef in the Community, its coordinator Marlene Perkins explains that the initiative is "quite demanding", since a city council needs a strong and long-term commitment to obtain recognition. She points out that "the more consensus among municipal groups, the better, and both political will and human and technical resources and a long-term vision are necessary."
It details that it requires a "permanent and real" municipal childhood policy, with a child participation body that is sustained and significant, and having an internal coordination mechanism in the City Council.
With these requirements, there are already 21 localities in the Valencian Community: Alzira, Quart de Poblet, Mislata, Torrent, Sagunt, Pobla de Farnals, Almussafes, Picassent, Bellreguard, Gandia, Rafelbunyol and Carcaixent; Alcoi, Teulada-Moraira, Xàbia, Dénia, Villena and Poble Nou de Benitatxell and Morella, Vall d’Uixó and Castelló.
The city of Valencia has, according to data from the municipal register as of January 1, 2022, 108,983 inhabitants under the age of 16, 13.66% of its population. And for them and them, who and what do they propose? They are a whole generation marked by the pandemic that, let us remember, was deprived of leaving the house during the confinement. Closed and sealed parks are an iconic image of that time and improving them is on the program of all the candidacies, with the exception of Vox, which does not specify measures although it speaks of "the family perspective in all municipal activity with budgetary capacity and in the drafting of all ordinances municipal".
The parties launch proposals framed in childhood whose addressee is also the adult. These are concrete proposals that seek to help families reconcile. All reviewed, Ciudadanos promises a free universal school check for 11 months a year (including the month of July) to parents with children from 0 to 3 years old; while the PSPV proposes to increase emergency financial aid to support vulnerable families or dining room scholarships for minors at risk.
For its part, the PP would create a Municipal Birth Support Plan that will include 300 euros per birth, bonuses for single-parent and large families; while Compromís intends to make available to families who select it a day of 20 hours (for normative families) or 40 hours (for single-parent or single-parent families) of home care work during the first six weeks after delivery. Meanwhile, Vox advocates for tax breaks for families and companies that facilitate conciliation for giving aid and, among others, proposes giving assistance "to pregnant women so that they can get ahead with their child."
