The relationship between the mayors of the two Canarian capitals is more than cordial. At least that is how they show it every time they coincide. The last time was this Tuesday in Santa Cruz de Tenerife, where its mayor, José Manuel Bermúdez (CC), accompanied his counterpart from Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, Augusto Hidalgo (PSOE), who returned the visit that the former made to the capital of Gran Canaria in June. One of the points they visited was the Palmetum, a scene in which both councilors attended DIARIO DE AVISOS to present their vision of what is to come after the pandemic. They assure that economic recovery is already here, that European funds will transform cities, and that island mobility must go through instruments such as trains.
-It seems that the data of the pandemic are beginning to stabilize, but the two capitals have had a different behavior in the contagions. What do you think the behavior of both cities is due to?
Augusto Hidalgo (AH): “It is true that they have had different cycles, but I think that talking only about the capitals is unfair, it is a virus that knows no borders. It would be unfair to say that better or worse decisions have been made depending on one island or another. Everything has been improved, but the citizens did not behave worse in one place than in another, and I want to emphasize that the citizens of the Canary Islands in general have behaved very well, the discipline with which they have accepted measures that restricted their rights has been incredible. fundamental ”.
José Manuel Bermúdez (JMB): “I am also very satisfied with the behavior of the residents of Santa Cruz, and in general of all the islands, because they have very willingly accepted the measures at different levels. Santa Cruz, despite what some media said, has never been the city with the most infections in all of Spain, and that can be demonstrated with the epidemiological reports of the SCS. The data only respond to a cyclical evolution most of the time. I do not believe that the life habits of Las Palmas are very different from those of Santa Cruz ”.
-They spoke in their last meeting that the light was seen at the end of the tunnel for economic recovery. Will we really see her before the year is out?
AH: “I think it is beginning to be seen and the data shows it, with the addition that the big cities have withstood the pandemic better, from an economic point of view, than in other places. This has been possible thanks to the fact that we have a more diversified economy. We have ports, which are an economic and industrial instrument that has not stopped. The Puerto de la Luz grew in activity during the confinement, without cruise ships and almost without passengers. With the growth of employment, which is important and striking, we begin to breathe better, and it offers us a scenario closer to the pre-ndemic ”.
JMB: “We have weathered the crisis in a better way than the tourist territories. The reactivation has been taking place since the beginning of the year. The unemployment data or companies that are created are getting better and better. We are optimistic, and we are excited that the recovery is complete, and the activity returns to the streets, without restrictions. I hope that in a short term the activity that we had can be recovered ”.
-In this recovery, carnivals are a fundamental pillar. Is there going to be Carnival in the two Canarian capitals?
AH: “Our intention is to have carnivals as we knew them before the pandemic, and we are working on that. Now, with the regulations of the Canary Islands Government in force, although the carnivals are not named, the street festival is clearly affected. This is something that we have to discuss with the Government of the Canary Islands. It is necessary to have a direct dialogue to redefine this, to see the framework in which we are going to move, and if it has to be modified, that it be modified ”.
JMB: “We are working as if there were going to be a Carnival. All the administrative part that has to be done months in advance we are already doing it with the hope that it will be held. Galas and contests are almost guaranteed to take place. We have doubts with the street Carnival, the essence of the party. That is why we have asked for a meeting to unify criteria, and that they are the same in one place and in another. They are the most important holidays and we need a criterion for Carnival and one for Christmas, which is also important ”.
-Both capitals have opted for the tax cut. Is it the best way to revive the economy now?
AH: “The best way is to attract activity, investment to return to the growth situation before the pandemic. We have taken palliative measures due to an extraordinary situation, unloading an economic burden on SMEs, either with a reduction in taxes, exemptions, fees or rents, and two years in a row in our case, retroactively even before the pandemic. The important thing is that tourists return, and place ourselves in the previous economic scenario. Now we have an opportunity with the first shipment of Next Generation funds for mobility, but, at the same time, private resources are also needed to invest, and to set the most placid scenario for them to come ”.
JMB: “The tax reduction is one way, but there are also others, such as generating activity with other administrations, such as the Government, the Cabildo or the Port Authority. They are essential to attract investors who create in cities. We have also launched other initiatives, such as consumer bonds, which is a great success, and which generates more spending in the city. So I think public-private collaboration is very important, all hand in hand, with a lot of dialogue and concrete actions. We have a calendar of activities in Santa Cruz as has never been seen before, with the idea of re-animating the city so that people go out, consume and generate an economy ”.
-They were talking about European projects, do you know what the money that may come in is going to be spent on?
AH: “We already had the Green Horizon Plan underway, with seven lines of action, which fits like a glove into the EU strategy that involves sustainable development. We calculate investments for the low emissions zone for about 16 million euros, and another 11 per population, plus those that arrive by other means. Europe determines that we have to implement these funds on the fly, which is going to be the most complicated thing ”.
JMB “We have plenty of will and projects. We have presented more than a hundred worth more than 600 million euros, but obviously now we will have to go to the different calls that are being made. We also go to mobility with projects worth 10 million euros. I agree that administrative simplification is very important. If it does not happen, I am skeptical that the money will be spent in the time that Europe marks. Simplification is as important as funds. “
-With this difficulty of time, will there be real changes in cities to make them less noisy, less polluting?
AH: “There is no other way. It is where Europe has placed us and I share that philosophy. There has to be a change of mentality in citizenship, which is true that it is beginning to do so. I have lived it with Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, where an important public debate has been generated, and that has penetrated, but when it is applied in front of your house it is another story. The debate is accepted, but on a day-to-day basis if it affects you it is more difficult to accept. However, the main problem is that they can be executed in the times that they tell us, because I would like them to be those times, and execute now ”.
JMB “This path is unstoppable, it began before the pandemic with the Covenant of Mayors, which was fulfilled by taking measures that did not involve a great effort for the population. We have to reduce CO2 emissions to avoid climate change and that can only be achieved by taking decisions and actions. It is the present of the city and also the future. Santa Cruz 2030 starts from that base, which is to remove a refinery to build a sustainable city, which starts from the construction of the road. This is a precise project that has to be worked on in the coming years, doing things from scratch in a different way ”.
-The two capitals have the same problem with insular mobility, since they are the axis through which thousands of vehicles pass daily, with the complications that this entails. What can be done to improve it?
AH: “On an island like Gran Canaria, with 45% of the population residing in the capital and its surroundings, it is almost a truism to bet on a mobility policy that transcends the philosophy of the 80s, that of cities for cars. In Gran Canaria there is a very important development of motorways. Without going any further, the ring road is the largest work in the history of the Canary Islands, designed in the 70s, started in the 80s and ended a few weeks ago, but it has exponentially promoted the use of private vehicles. I think it is necessary to go further by promoting high occupancy vehicles, such as the tram, which has a supra-municipal vision and which I think is a success. Items such as trains have to be placed on the table. Another thing is to arrive with roads where we have not arrived, such as La Aldea or the closure of the insular ring, but we have to think about the future, and cities are a fundamental element in islands such as Tenerife and Gran Canaria ”.
JMB “The tram has meant a before and after in mobility, but the truth is that Tenerife is clearly delayed in the execution of certain infrastructures, and one of them is the closure of the island ring, which makes no sense if it is not does for the metropolitan area. As long as the traffic continues through Santa Cruz and La Laguna we are going to have a problem. Secondly, we have an infrastructure of high-speed train networks in Spain, which is the most important in Europe and the second in the world by investment, and of that, the Canary Islands have not seen a single euro. It is tried and tested in other territories, even insular ones, and here we continue to discuss the sex of angels. I believe that the North and South train projects for Santa Cruz are strategic. It is the moment to look for investment in those funds that are going to come ”.
-Are you happy with the economic allocation of the capital?
AH “We are never entirely happy with the economic attribution. Undoubtedly, it is true that there is a rule that guarantees some funds, but in other cities the access to mobility, the maintenance of public resources, all that extra cost is recognized with much more generous amounts. You have to keep walking in that sense. If you want to establish criteria of where you have to invest, it seems perfect to me, but in the future there will have to be a debate ”.
JMB “I don’t have much to say about the game, it is what it is. If the regional government and the Cabildo compensate it with sufficient investment in a capital, I would be satisfied, because in Santa Cruz de Tenerife it is not only those who live, but all those who work in it, who consume public services. An investment that we tackle alone ”.
-They have also addressed practically alone the wave of needs that the pandemic generated among the population …
AH “The municipalities have had to act urgently and in a real way in a crisis without being endowed with the financial resources to be able to do so. Extra resources were given to Education to hire teachers, to Health to hire toilets, but that possibility was not given to us to hire one more social worker. Thousands of people went from a normal life to not having to eat. As an administration, the response of the municipalities has been a success. If they gave us instruments like the emergency one for the day to day, another rooster would sing to us ”.
JMB “The response from the municipalities has been exceptional. The resources were launched, in Santa Cruz de Tenerife a social emergency was declared to expedite the aid, but it is also surprising that the State has not provided compensation for all this expense ”.
