The Neighborhood Coordinator of Baix Besòs has denounced the “breach” of the roadmap agreed almost a year ago with the municipalities of Badalona, ??Santa Coloma de Gramanet (North Barcelona), Montcada and Reixac (Vallès Occidental) and Barcelona to develop projects for promote the development of one of the most vulnerable areas of the metropolitan area that has 16 of the 25 poorest neighborhoods in Catalonia.
The president of the Coordinator, Pepe Sánchez, criticized this Tuesday that the administrations have forgotten their commitments, which they signed in a document that they established as a “road map” and assured that the inactivity on the part of the five city councils is unacceptable, since a year later they still have not met to work on any of the 28 signed commitments.
The neighborhood spokesperson has warned municipal political leaders that they may provoke a social conflict if they do not agree to participate in an urgent meeting on November 23, which is why he has advanced that they will publicly point out the governments that do not attend. At the moment, only the municipalities of Badalona and Montcada i Reixac have confirmed attendance.
On the other hand, the president of the Federation of Veïns Associations of Barcelona (FAVB), Camilo Ramos, assured that he trusts that the municipal governments will not ignore the pact structured in the previous mandate and that gave rise to the consolidation of the Veïnal Coordinator of the Baix Besòs, which in addition to the Town Councils, includes the neighborhood entities of the territory and environmental groups. “We have the feeling that everyone accepts the document,” he declared. The list of commitments was agreed upon and signed by the mayors of the five municipalities on December 1, 2022.
Ramos regretted that the problem is that the administrations “do not want to work together with neighborhood movements.” Hence, according to the president, the neighbors are “disenchanted” and feel “forgotten” by their political representatives. Furthermore, he recalled that these neighborhoods have been waiting for social investment for years. “Besòs does not need confrontation but rather the collaboration of the neighborhood movement and the town councils,” he stated.
Neighborhood activists have called a new meeting on November 23 to reactivate the commitments, but in no case will they accept amendments to the signed agreement. The roadmap consists of 28 points that have already been widely debated and agreed upon, but which are also key to the development of Baix Besòs. As an example, they detailed that some 200 proposals were prepared jointly with technicians from the five city councils, which should be a priority for the rulers.
From the Coordinator there was also criticism of the president of the Generalitat, Pere Aragonès, who was asked to support the neighborhood demand and promised to carry out a visit, as advanced last February 2022.
For Sánchez, Baix Besòs is one of the most vulnerable areas of Catalonia. A structural weakness that is reflected in the fact that “16 of the 25 poorest neighborhoods are in Baix Besòs.” On the other hand, neighborhood activists warn that they do not plan to give up and, if this situation of “forgetfulness” on the part of the administrations continues, they do not rule out starting mobilizations in some of the municipalities that fail to comply with the pact.
