Historic florists on La Rambla oppose the Barcelona City Council installing a public toilet among their stalls. The number of florists on the promenade has been bleeding for years. Of the 15 stops in the heart of the Rambla, only eight work. In one of the remaining seven, the Consistory set up a radio station some time ago. The rest are a kind of palimpsest of daubing and graffiti.
The municipal government recently announced that one of the projects financed with the collection of the tourist tax and aimed at mitigating the inconvenience of the influx of visitors would be the installation of a public toilet in one of these stalls that have been left behind for so long. These florists, and also many residents and merchants of Barcelona’s most international showcase, believe that a service of these characteristics will be a source of inconvenience, that recycling one of the unused stalls in this way is another wasted opportunity to boost these businesses, that if the The City Council wants to preserve the floral tradition of the Rambla, it has to dedicate the abandoned stalls to set up workshops, organize shows and attractions around the petals and pistils that attract the people of Barcelona to their walk.
After all, add florists, residents and shopkeepers, despite the much-vaunted divorce between the public and the Rambla, the people of Barcelona, ??as soon as they give them a reason, let’s say the traditional celebration of the Roser festival, don’t he has qualms about coming down here and making a name for himself among all the tourists.
For years the Institut Municipal de Mercats has been arguing that the flower business is not bustling enough to have 15 florists in operation, that if it were, they would devour each other until they went bankrupt. And in these pre-electoral steps, the City Council does not seem willing to vary its discourse. “We plan to carry out a study that re-evaluates the possibility of maintaining the maximum number of stalls dedicated to flowers,” municipal sources point out. The Ciutat Vella district has also pointed out for a long time that these unused stops could become showcases for neighborhood associations. But the idea never materializes. And on the details of the sink in question, the municipal executive does not go into details either.
And the truth is that the laws of supply and demand added to the harsh restrictions included in the current use plan narrow the path of the Rambla a lot. Do you know which are the new businesses that have opened here most frequently since the outbreak of the pandemic? Well, the shops selling pipes, seeds, crushers and other paraphernalia related to marijuana. Up to six marijuana shops opened their doors on the promenade during this new era. The last one, in the lower part, in an old bank branch. And if you talk to the promoters of these establishments, you understand that, given the administrative constraints, the magnitude of the rents, and the competition from the surrounding businesses, there aren’t many other possibilities to set up something on the Rambla. Another t-shirt store? And, well, florists, neighbors and merchants add, a toilet always relieves, but the truth is that in the surroundings you already find a few. Perhaps it is enough to mark them.
“We don’t live off tourists,” says florist Carolina Payés, “but on people from the city, businesses and individuals. I never sold mischievously shaped plants! Not even pots with magnets. Unused stalls should host activities that attract people. If the City Council does nothing, remove them and put benches. Every day they make a worse impression. A toilet in the middle of the Rambla will be shabby. Recently, the church of Santa Anna asked the City Council for toilets for the needy who wait in the street. The answer was no. Why here?
“When you set up something worthwhile, people respond,” says José González, who has been here since the mid-nineties. But the balance is delicate. A sink will concentrate all the people with problems in front of our businesses”. “Here a toilet annoys you,” says Ana Benzal, another historical figure. These posts should serve as support. It’s not the first time we’ve raised it. But the City Council does not decide. Meanwhile they degrade. The graffiti artists love them, millions of people see their signatures here!”
Fermín Villar, from the Amics de la Rambla neighborhood and business association, stresses that the La Virreina cultural center has some very nice toilets, and that the ones in the Boqueria market are also very neat, even though you have to present a ticket shopping… “And then we have those of the monument to Pitarra, Arc del Teatre street, Duc de Medinacelli square… And, well, also those of the rest of the facilities in the area. But, since they are not marked, people do not know that they are there”. And with a frown, he adds that yes, the City Council ignores florists, that while it tries to modernize the newsstands it forgets one of the traditions of this city, that Amics de la Rambla has also spent years considering what to do with these idle places…
And then Payés remembers that time when Lorca invited his grandmother and all the florists on the Rambla and their relatives to a closed-door performance of Doña Rosita the spinster and the language of flowers. “Because someone sent bouquets to the theater after each performance… and Lorca found out that they were the florists, and he wanted to thank them like that. Then we had more than 30 stalls, and now eight, and then we’ll see… This is how traditions get lost, little by little… with details…”.
