The residents of houses 9, 11 and 13 of the Path of the Hermitage, in the neighborhood of La Salud, in Santa Cruz, they have assured DIARIO DE AVISOS that they are “calm” and that, for the moment, they are not going to leave their homes, despite the fact that last Thursday they received an eviction order , on the part of the City Council, before the imminent danger of landslides in the slope that is over their homes, an order of which the court was informed yesterday.
“It is an emergency situation and we would be the first to leave the houses if we saw that we were in danger, because we have children and elderly people in our care, but the truth is that we have not seen anything fall,” say the neighbors themselves.
The City Council points out that, from the same Thursday, when they were notified of the eviction order, a hotel and several flats that the Municipal Institute of Social Care (IMAS) had free were made available to them. Help that they rejected after claiming that these facilities did not meet the necessary conditions for them. In addition, they signed a document, voluntarily, in which they refused to leave their homes.
Municipal sources indicate to DIARIO DE AVISOS that it will be the Municipal Housing Society that will provide the housing solution to these families, that it will look for a flat with them, and that it will be the City Council itself that will take charge of the rent for the duration of the work to secure the area.
“We do not know the time we have to leave. First they told us that we had to leave immediately, but later they confirmed that, for the time being, and until the works begin and we find a flat, we could stay, “explain those affected, who are now at the expense of the court executing the eviction .
From the PSOE, which visited the area last Monday, the attitude of the City Council with some neighbors is harshly criticized who, “according to what they told us, have not given the technical report in which the real risk is reflected,” he denounced the former mayor Patricia Hernández, who went further, ensuring that “not only do they not speak clearly, but they bring them a paper to remove criminal responsibility.”
CITY COUNCIL ACTIONS
On Monday, the Governing Board approved the emergency situation and yesterday notified the court of the eviction order to make it effective as soon as possible. And it is that, according to the report of the municipal technicians, the danger is imminent, since in the slope there are some blocks of medium size that are detached and held only by the existing mesh; some sections of basalt are fissured and at risk of landslides, and there are sections of mesh and screens that are in poor condition and with remains from the slope itself.
Rehabilitation tasks are scheduled to begin this week or the next. These have a value of just over 800,000 euros, and could last between four and six months.
