about 150 people participated in the concentration this Tuesday June 28 in Family Betancourt Avenue and Molina to demand for the first time on the street an immediate and definitive solution to the problems it causes the Iders building to the residents and businesses of this area of Cross port. Residents, workers and businessmen around this property, declared in “imminent ruin” since last June 7, intoned a “enough is enough” to demand the eviction, cleaning, disinfection, rat extermination, disinsection and walling up of this building. Currently, and for years, it is full of rubbish; affected by rodent and insect pests, and It has a number of illegal occupants that ranges between 2 and 9 people who live in unsanitary conditions and in serious risk to their physical integrity.
In the protest, those affected by the environment coincided with some owners, whom agents of theto National Police They requested that a banner be removed that read “The Iders don’t throw away!”. Despite the fact that the owners of the property and the residents of the area could collide in defense of certain interests, the coexistence of both groups was peaceful and no incident occurred beyond the withdrawal of the aforementioned banner.
Half an hour earlier than expected, people began to arrive at the concentration, which at the time of maximum influx came to gather about 150 participants. Right in front of the Iders, where the occupants did not make an appearance, a large banner was placed on which phrases such as «The Iders building, the shame of Puerto de la Cruz», «The residents of the area ask for solutions», «Political gentlemen, act now» and a repeated “Enough already!”, which also appeared in many small posters. There were other slogans like “Stop garbage”, “31 years of suffering” and an appeal to all public administrations: «Mayor, act», «Cabildo, act», «Deputy of the Common, act», «Government of the Canary Islands, act». The whistles and the song that denounced the situation of the Iders were the soundtrack of the protest, animated by the words of the spokesman for the organizers, Edward Louis.
In the final part of the act, Luis himself read a brief manifesto in which he pointed out that “the Iders situation is harming, in the first person, the owners and the rest of the neighboring neighbors: communities of owners, hoteliers and businesses. In short, to the entire municipality of the Cross port».
“We want to raise awareness with these families who 31 years ago had to leave their homes because they ruled that the building had aluminosis and then it has been shown that it did not,” he recalled. Edward Louis, who also sent a message to politicians: «Being a politician is being a servant of your people. It is managing the general interests of the city well. It is to watch over each and every one of the citizens, making decisions that benefit them.” And he concluded: “Politicians, we can tell you by shouting, dancing or with music, but there is one very important thing: a picture is worth a thousand words and there you have it, for everyone to see. We desperately ask you to act. We can’t take any more. Rats, garbage, fights, fires and drug addiction. Enough already! We don’t deserve this.”
“We desperately ask you to act. We can’t take any more”
The mayor of Puerto de la Cruz, Marco Gonzalez (PSOE)appeared at the end of the protest and faced the neighbors and owners present. For about 20 minutes he was answering doubts and complaints from the attendees. An informal conversation, without incident, in which the mayor made it clear that the declaration of imminent ruin «there is no turning back» and that the only future of the Iders lies in its demolition and reconstruction «with the same current dimensions».
Judicial authorization
Gonzalez confirmed that the Porto City Hall received around two in the afternoon on Monday, June 27, the judicial authorization to evict the illegal residents of Iders. An eviction order that this Tuesday local police was in charge of starting to notify the last squatters left in the building, where some 70 people came to live in the worst moments of the coronavirus pandemic. Covid-19. He stressed that the people who still reside in the Iders deserve social attention, since they present different problems. He said that the Consistory has been working for months to relocate them to other resources in accordance with their personal situations. Faced with criticism for the registration of some of these people in the Iders ruins, González replied that “Current legislation allows registration even at a street bank, but that does not grant any additional right”.
The mayor, Marco González (PSOE), attended the protest and answered the doubts of the attendees
According to the mayor, the eviction will take place in the coming days. At the same time, the owners are urged to clean, root and disinfect the building and wall it up properly to prevent access to new squatters. “If the property does not do it, then the City Council will”he warned. He did not want to specify deadlines, but acknowledged that the goal is for the cleaning and the walling to be a reality throughout this summer. The next step is the presentation of a demolition project (valued at about 130,000 euros), which the owners must also prepare or, otherwise, the Porto City Council will execute it in a subsidiary manner. Then you can claim your cost to the current owners of the Iders building, who yesterday recalled that in 1991 they were victims of an unjustified eviction, ordered by the City Council and the Government of the Canary Islands. They feel like victims and do not consider it fair that they have to face the very high cost of cleaning, disinfecting, walling up, demolishing and removing debris from this nine-story, 8,354-square-meter building..
The owners are around 120 natural and legal persons, which includes an owner who, directly or through different companies, holds slightly more than a quarter. The necessary investment to carry out all the works demanded by the Porto City Council through the decree of declaration of ruin around 2.4 million euros. An estimated average of around 20,000 euros per owner to keep a plot of land and reconstruction rights that would require another large investment to be assumed later.
The meeting was also attended by the president of the PP of Puerto de la Cruz, Mountain Angelaccompanied by the popular councilor Victor Capeas well as the former mayor and councilor of CC, Sandra Rodriguezand his fellow party and corporation Dionisio Acevedo. The nationalist spokeswoman assured that “this is a problem that began more than 30 years ago and all the corporations, absolutely all of them, have worked to find a solution that does not violate the rights of the owners of the Iders.” However, she questioned the appropriateness of the last step taken by the Porto City Councilwith the declaration of imminent ruin, and wondered “why hasn’t it been propped up and taken other additional protection measures if that building really is at risk of collapsing?”.
“CC has filed five proposals since December 2020 to solve the growing problem generated by the occupation of Iders, but unfortunately, despite the fact that they have been approved unanimously, the Puerto Rican Government Group (PSOE-ACP) has not complied with them. If they had the technical report since April, why did they wait until June 7 to sign that decree? Sandra Rodriguez.
