What the merchants say here on La Rambla is that in reality it is the latest example of the usual disregard for Barcelona City Council. A few construction sheds and containers are erected precisely these days at the top of the promenade, on the sidewalk on the Besòs side, at the height of Carrer Santa Anna, one of the busiest points; and very close by, next to these facilities, a concrete mixer of all life, doing laps, and also an electricity generator, roaring at all hours and reeking of fuel.
“For Sant Jordi? – the workers answer when they are asked -. We will still be here for Sant Jordi, of course. I’m sure; if we have at least two months of work ahead of us!”. “So here, in these huts, we have changing rooms, showers, a quartet for lunch and these things – continue the workers – and also space to store materials. It is the minimum essential for this type of work”.
“We were installed in Plaça Vila de Madrid, but they told us that they had to do I don’t know what loading and unloading and that we had to put ourselves on the Rambla”. The day before yesterday, an old railway worker placed his overcrowded supermarket cart between the fences that flank the houses in question. “We are keeping the scrap for him, because we are sorry not to do it, but let’s see if he comes back. The point is that he didn’t come back today.” “But, well, the other day a guy tried to set fire to one of the houses. Every single person passes by here, God forbid…” “Until the Portal of the Angel. The work will progress along Santa Anna Street to Portal de l’Àngel. That’s why we’re going back and forth with the bull all day.” Apparently, the arsonist in question, who also burned a parasol on the lower part of the promenade, has already been caught.
The workers are talking about works to improve the sewer on Carrer Santa Anna. Municipal sources point out that they are very necessary, that they are part of the construction of the new collector on this street in the Gothic Quarter, that the Council is doing everything possible to reduce incidents and possible inconveniences.
“It’s just that they don’t consult us, they don’t warn us and they don’t tell us anything – says FermÃn Villar, from the association of residents and traders Amics de la Rambla – very angrily. We suddenly found them at the beginning of the month, the construction sheds… We asked the Ciutat Vella district and they told us they don’t know anything about it. Apparently it was a decision of the Urbanism area. Well, they could have put them a little higher, at the same taxi stand, which is not difficult to move, and not in front of the shops, which are suffering losses. And, already put, why not put them in Portal de l’Ãngel? They have much more space there. What happens is that on the Rambla anything goes. You can do everything here, since it’s the Rambla… Because the Rambla is touristy and all that, isn’t it? And, well, for Sant Jordi everything will be very beautiful. This is how the walk is reconciled with the people of Barcelona. In reality, all this shows the consideration they have for the Rambla”.
Maybe the change of season and spring have clouded them and in reality all of this is exaggerated and there is not much to it, but it is raining on wet, on puddles that are up to the ankles. The exasperating delays, the eternal deadlines and the lack of speed of the expected remodeling of this promenade have opened a deep rift between the executive of the mayoress Ada Colau and the association of residents and merchants Amics de la Rambla. And such gut-wrenching dislikes make everything else taste so much worse afterwards.
