Like its decision not to revoke the redevelopment project of the Sant Antoni ring road that had been approved by the commons, the announcement made yesterday by Barcelona’s socialist government not to carry out the intervention in four chamfers of the Eixample to turn them into “ecochamfers” and gain space for pedestrians has already provoked complaints from a citizen group.
In this case it was the platform Eixample Respira, promoter of the now-frustrated initiative, which lamented the “unilateral decision” of the Collboni government to cancel the tactical urbanism project in the chamfers of Calle Aragó with Viladomat, Urgell, Nàpols and Entença.
The only chamfered redevelopment of Calle Aragó that the local government will maintain is the one at the corner with Bruc.
The government considered it convenient not to go ahead with this project, arguing that the chamfers on Aragó street cannot be assimilated to school environments and that their execution would negatively affect loading and unloading.
The City Council’s reasons do not convince Eixample Respira, which regretted that the decision came when the project was awarded and had a start date for works. The entity points out in a statement that “it represents a very negative precedent and a declaration of intent of the public space policy of the new government.”
In his opinion, “the effort made by many people and neighborhood organizations for more than three years” is being underestimated. “A very negative message is being sent – ??adds Eixample Respira – towards citizens and that can contribute to discouraging citizen participation”.
Not all the criticism of Eixample breathes is directed at the PSC. BComú also receives because “it was not able to execute the projects on time.”
It so happens that number 4 on the Colau list in the municipal elections, Guille López Ginés, was one of the promoters and spokesperson for Eixample Respira.
