Madrid, the city that dreamed of Eurovegas and an Olympic Games, already has a Formula 1 Grand Prix (although it will be in 2026, until then at least Montmeló will continue to host the Spanish Grand Prix). Good news if you take into account the promotion that the city will receive on an international scale, no doubt. Carlos Sainz senior felt "very proud" yesterday, he said, "as a man from Madrid and as a Spaniard". The problem is that recent experiences like that of Valencia do not invite optimism. The question circulating on social media is: is this really a priority for the city?
Let's go to Pams. Francisco Camps was the main promoter of the grand prize in the city of Túria. He promised that the event would have zero cost for Valencians. But something went wrong. The five races that took place around the port “ended up costing more than 230 million; the last bills have been paid in 2023, more than a decade after the last grand prix was held", recalled @ nenedenarie. Fifteen years after Camps' promise, Ayuso has repeated the "not a euro" cost for the people of Madrid. Time will tell if history repeats itself.
But the thing that squealed the most yesterday in the pure digital playground was, without a doubt, that Madrid is becoming a city with more contrasts and inequalities every day. One of the main challenges facing the capital, and which is not alien to other Spanish cities, is something that has already happened in large cities such as Paris, London and New York: the housing shortage is driving out middle and low incomes, who cannot compete in property auctions.
In Madrid, there are bloody cases like what @belenremacha related a few days ago: "We went to see an apartment, it was well priced per square meter. The same afternoon that it went out on [a well-known real estate portal], an investor had already called the owner offering him an immediate 20%, without seeing him, and raising the starting price by 50,000 euros. 'Understand me, what would you do in my place', was the salesman's comment."
The problem with turning Madrid into a kind of theme park is that it causes a diaspora of the most modest families, who cannot choose, unless they inherit, to continue residing in a city that has always been welcoming. More and more citizens want to continue living "in Madrid" but have to settle for living "in Toledo" or "in Alcarreña" because they have no other option.
