In the very center of Zaragoza, between Plaça del Pilar, the seat of the Government of Aragon, and the banks of the Ebro, there is the Gancho-Pignatelli area (officially, the San Pablo neighborhood), one of the most degraded of the city. For decades, successive corporations have neglected what goes on in this handful of narrow streets separated into two areas by a main road (Conde de Aranda). The drag effect of the Expo Internacional (2008) or the subsequent opening of the cultural space Las Armas seems to have brought some improvements, a mirage that the puncture of the real estate bubble and subsequent crises has been responsible for burying.
Javier Magen, from the Gancho-Pignatelli affected platform, remembers that when he bought his flat in 2005, 130,000 euros for 45 m2, the neighborhood looked good. There were already problems with prostitution or drugs, but new businesses were also opening and young people were coming to live there, attracted by their prices, location and cultural life. “The area was buzzing, there was interest”, he says. But since 2008, he assures that social and urban deterioration has been constant. His apartment has come to be valued at 40,000 euros (it is now at 55,000) and he finds it difficult to find reasons to stay in a stigmatized neighborhood. “They told me it would be the new Malasaña, but…”.
A similar story is told by Carlos Blanco, from the Calles Dignes collective, who arrived in the neighborhood 35 years ago after rehabilitating his home. He values ??above all his relationship with the neighbors, with whom he fights to regenerate this “hot potato that nobody fly in your hands” and make it more livable, with cleanliness and safety as the main battlehorses.
A morning walk with his company certifies the punishment caused by years of neglect. Entire buildings, some cataloged for their high historical value, are occupied or closed and barred in an obvious state of deterioration. Garbage can be seen lying on lots and streets, and the cleaning services pass by three times a day. There is hardly any commerce, and few people walk around, but there are patrol cars, common for the many martingales, fights and robberies with violence.
From these associations, they point to “criminal” employment – as opposed to that of vulnerable people – as the focus of the most important problems, although sometimes both live in the same building. “There are families with needs that they get into these places because they have nowhere to go. But then there are those who set up a drug cartel and create problems at all hours, we mobilize against them”, says Blanco. For this reason, they insist that the solution can only be to evict those who are problematic, build on municipal lots and rehabilitate damaged buildings to provide the neighborhood with housing at an affordable price.
Two years ago, the neighborhood movement participated in the drafting of a special municipal plan for the area. Among the most outstanding actions are the rehabilitation and expansion of the old Pontoneros barracks for the construction with public-private financing of a student residence (29 million euros); improvements to lighting and some streets; the installation of video surveillance systems; and the expropriation or purchase of some buildings and lots that are still pending use.
From Urbanisme they confirm that “between seven and eight million euros” have been spent in recent years, and also the existence of new items. They also recognize the slowness of procedures such as expropriations and security problems. Their plans envisage a new Local Police station for which different locations are already being studied, despite the fact that they emphasize that the bulk of the powers in this matter rest with the Government Delegation.
The residents see the initiative as positive, but not enough. They are asking for more communication with the administration, a joint commission to oversee the implementation of the municipal plan and to stop the abandonment of the area. “You need to invest many millions at once. That affordable housing is created and the streets are cleaned. That’s the only way we’ll be able to build a neighborhood,” Blanco emphasizes.
