The pandemic and its effects have accentuated the growth of Vendrell (Baix Penedès) and its role as a host city for residents of the Barcelona metropolitan area who are fleeing apartments at prohibitive prices and looking for a better quality of life. Despite the desire not to be, the capital of Penedès, like other cities around it, face challenges typical of a sleepy city.
Among the most complex, adapting public services to a population that does not stop growing and that has great mobility because they go to work en masse in Barcelona and Tarragona. It is not easy to maintain the cohesion of a municipality spread between urban areas and maritime centers.
In this scenario, difficult to govern, the PSC has maintained hegemony. In 2019, the socialist Kenneth MartÃnez took over from a historic member of his party, Martà Carnicer, won the elections and has managed to govern with stability thanks to the fact that he agreed with Ciutadans, which is not even present now, and the AVP-FIC neighborhood association, and to specific agreements with Junts and Podemos.
“We have majority support from the citizens for the line started in 2019 for a Vendrell that must consolidate the commercial and tourist capital of this coastal metropolitan area. We want to manage all this growth, with a population expelled from the metropolitan area of ​​Barcelona, ​​and maintain quality services. The challenge is capital. We want to have a majority as broad as possible to overcome the possible alternative sums”, warns MartÃnez.
In front, an all against the PSC with ten different candidacies in a sovereignist left-wing coalition (Som Poble-ERC-AM), which also includes the CUP, its great rival. Different sensitivities with the same goal: to bring about a historical change and “transform” local politics. “It has grown out of control, with more than a thousand new residents per year. 70% of the population work abroad because we are not able to create economic activity. El Vendrell has great potential”, says Alfonso Sit o González, the new mayor of the coalition.
“We are not a sleepy city, a lot of the population comes just before or after they retire,” says MartÃnez (PSC). 20 years ago, Vendrell had 20,000 inhabitants, now there are 40,000 and in summer they reach 100,000.
