One of the most symbolic (and controversial) initiatives of Vox in the Valencia City Council has already begun its processing. This week, the Autonomous Organization of Parks and Gardens – dependent on the Valencia City Council – has announced the award of the drafting of the project corresponding to the Bofill section of the Túria gardens, the one between Cabecera Park and the Puente de las Flores-Rita Park. Barberá (the new name in recognition of the deceased mayor) and the Custodian Angel Bridge (next to the Gulliver).
Precisely, in the latter the construction of a new pond is planned, which has sparked controversy among the opposition who consider it a strategy to scare away homeless people from these spaces who take advantage of the shelter of the bridges to camp or sleep. An action that delves into the problem of aporophobia, that phobia of poor or disadvantaged people
Although the mayor of València, the popular María José Catalá, has always separated this urban planning action from the controversy; once again Vox has fed her, although now she seems to try to avoid controversy and try to tone down the tone. “It is not an anti-settlement pond, or anything like that. It was a proposal that came from the previous municipal government, from PSOE and Compromís,” they point out from the Vox municipal group.
However, on February 7, after the murder of a homeless man in the river at the hands of another, the municipal spokesperson for Vox, Juanma Badenas, called for “reinforcing security by and for Valencians in the old riverbed”, with among other measures, “prevent illegal settlements under bridges: There are already two ponds in the pipeline.” Previously, Badenas had already defended the construction of ponds along this same line.
Since entering the City Council, the Vox leader has always seemed comfortable in controversy and eager to go off script with proposals such as eliminating subsidies to unions or active employment policies for women. Furthermore, he has always shown a very forceful position against the owner of València, Peter Lim, which has generated more than one uncomfortable situation for the mayor. His relationship with Catalá is not too good.
Some statements that they try to soften with the idea of ??not generating more tension between the government partners and that are camouflaged in the idea that with the changes in the river project what is sought is “to improve the quality of life of the citizens”.
The project
The winning company Auraval Ingenieros will be in charge of drafting the project and directing the work in section X and XI. According to municipal sources, with an investment of 348,625.44 euros, a comprehensive transformation is planned, maintaining the original project protected by the Eixample Special Protection Plan (PEP).
From there, the renovation of the cobblestones, the improvement of landscaping, the change of the fountains of the Palau de la Música, the pipe system and the controversial new pond under the Puente del Ángel Custodio are planned. The works are valued at around 8 million euros.
After learning of the start of the procedures, the opposition did not hesitate to attack the pond proposal. The spokesperson for Compromís in the City Council, Papi Robles, spoke of “cruelty.” Robles lamented that, while the previous local government opened shelters and sought the complicity of NGOs to reach where social services could not, the current executive “is completely cruel, it does not give alternatives to people who live on the street, nor from places where to sleep, or places to eat; what it does is try to eradicate all the spaces in which they live.
For his part, socialist councilor Borja Sanjuán described the decision as “unworthy and of minimal ethical sensitivity.” “The Councilor for Parks and Gardens has not invested a single euro in Parks and Gardens, but he is promoting the pond to throw out the people who sleep under the river bridge, persecuting the weakest in a very harsh way while, On the contrary, he is very docile with the powerful,” lamented Sanjuán.