Yesterday, Mayor Jaume Collboni took advantage of the traditional conference organized every year by the College of Journalists of Catalonia to show off the project, roadmap and big horizons. The socialist assured that Barcelona is still undergoing a transformation process similar to those of the great universal exhibitions and the Olympic Games themselves, that the City Council and other public administrations will invest in the city and the metropolitan area for the next twelve years of 10,600 million euros, that the Municipal Investment Plan (PIM) of this term foresees an expenditure of up to 2,829 million in the improvement of public space, in the promotion of housing, in the equipment of neighborhoods…
And in this way Collboni more or less escaped the last maneuver of his former partner and ex-mayor. Ada Colau tried to take advantage of this to overshadow the traditional mayor’s conference and once again insisted on linking the support of the commons to the socialists’ municipal budget proposal to the signing of a governance agreement, to her entry into the municipal executive. And this time, in this redoubling of their pressure on the socialists, the commons did not speak so much of an ultimatum and last chance as of non-negotiable conditions.
But Mayor Collboni didn’t get complacent and didn’t let them spoil his afternoon. We’ll see who he makes an agreement with and when he does it. Faced with the insistent questions of journalists Enric Sierra, Eva Arderius, Jordi Corbalan, Neus Tomàs and Joan Morros, he had no problem underlining with great humor everything that currently separates him from his former partner. The answers were tremendously forceful. Yes, Barcelona needs a much bigger airport. The union of the two tram lines through Avinguda Diagonal is not so urgent. The Eixample is already a little overburdened with large works, the district needs to breathe… And on top of that, Mayor Collboni is completely determined to reform the rule that requires 30% of each promotion to be dedicated to public housing, because the rule in principle untouchable for the commons does not work, said the socialist once again, because we have to review it so that it is really effective and really improves the very poor conditions of access to housing for so many Barcelona residents.
And on top of that he made it clear again that his main objective is to approve the City Council’s budgets in an ordinary way at the municipal meeting on March 22, which we will see later what happens with the city government, which oppose- In the proposed accounts, it really means opposing the historical transformation that Barcelona is facing. We are talking about the reforms of Avinguda Meridiana and Carrer Balmes, the recovery of 32 interiors of the Eixample block, the new promenade and a lot of projects that have been underway for years that are now impossible stop. Collboni also had no problems recognizing that all this is the merit of many people. And in this way he left the ball on the roof of others.
Collboni already has 258 days as mayor. And since the investiture, he has not stopped hearing the song that a municipal government demands so much with only a dozen councilors, barely enough room for maneuver, that it cannot do anything other than tighten the urban guards and the cleaning workers so that the citizens notice the action of his government, which must agree as soon as possible. Now, actually on the counterattack, the socialist tries to turn the tables. Yesterday, at the Barcelona Design Museum, in the new setting of the traditional conference, he said that he is a very happy man. Because he has the best job there is. And on top of that, tea in the best city in the world. “We will continue to dialogue with everyone, without dogmatism”.
