María Concepción Brito Núñez, whom everyone knows as Mari Brito, has been in the Candelaria City Council for twelve years, eight of them as mayoress, under the initials of the PSOE. In this last term, in addition, she has been the president of the Canary Islands Federation of Municipalities (Fecam) and she aspires to renew her mandate as municipal councilor for another four more years and with an absolute majority.
-It is presented for the third time to the Mayor of Candelaria. He governed in 2015 with eight councilors, agreeing with CC and in 2019 he reached an absolute majority. Are you willing to renew it?
“It is what we hope and want, our team works to renew the confidence of the municipality of Candelaria in the socialist project, a project with a vocation for continuity, close and honest with the neighbors.”
-Candelaria, despite the pandemic, or even thanks to it, has been able to withdraw money from her savings for investments and to write projects. What would you highlight from these last four years of management?
“Our commitment to the progress of Candelaria has been unwavering these past four years. The management of the pandemic and the economic consequences of the war slowed down many advances, having to reassign priorities, focusing our efforts on caring for all families and covering, within our possibilities, the needs of the municipality derived from the health emergency. Even so, we have never stopped working to materialize the planned projects, many of which are currently in the bidding process, and thanks to the possibility of using municipal savings, 25 million euros, of which 16 have already been committed; in addition to all the financing that we have obtained from other administrations. I am very sorry to hear malicious comments that ensure that work has only been done in recent months, and because of the elections, when this has not been the case. Our work is firm, constant and with a vocation for the future. And there are the sanitation projects, the improvement of the Las Caletillas promenade and the almost five million to build the Barranco Hondo socio-sanitary center, for example”.
-It is understood that the next mandate will be that of large investments: remodeling of the Plaza de la Patrona, connecting the sanitation network to the regional treatment plant, the auditorium, the indoor pool, the new health center, or am I wrong?
“You are not mistaken, so it will be! We need the trust of our neighbors to continue forging the future of Candelaria, a municipality that accompanies the population in their personal and community development, creating opportunities, making life easier. We need you to finally be able to materialize these key infrastructures: the auditorium and the indoor pool, whose projects are being drawn up right now and which we will finally make a reality; without forgetting our culture and heritage with the reform of the Plaza de la Patrona de Canarias. And another of our struggles: the construction of the new Health and Regional Emergency Center, which already has a draft and is included in the functional plan of the Canary Islands Health Service”.
-Candelaria has tripled the population in the last 25 years, however, the construction of public and private housing has been stagnant. What do we do so that the action units are executed or so that the city council, with a public housing company, can rebuild them?
“Currently, 16 planning initiatives are under development that will allow the construction of housing, with percentages of both public and private protection housing; We will also be able to obtain public land for necessary infrastructures, among others, a parking building in the Punta Larga area, as well as create green areas and urban parks. We appreciate and value the commitment to both public and private investment in our municipality and we do not rule out the aspiration to promote housing again from the Municipal Public Company”.
-Costas is now in the hands of his party in the Canary Islands, but seeing what is happening with Candelaria, no one would say so.
“In particular, I have to thank the Provincial Directorate of Coasts of Tenerife and the Government of the Canary Islands for always supporting the two concession projects that are so important and necessary for Candelaria, such as the rotating parking lot in the town center and the municipal swimming pool. It is in Madrid where they have not understood such needs and we have met with both unfavorable resolutions, after so much effort and so many years of work. In the case of the pool, a concession that was not renewed in 1985, the year it expired; I don’t know why the renewal was not requested, we would have to ask those responsible at that time. A file to try to regularize the situation started in 2011 culminated in the no of Madrid. Right now, we do not give up in our efforts to return those spaces to Candelaria. Since January, with the transfer of powers in matters of Coasts, we are working with the Government of the Canary Islands for the sake of a new concession request, with a new project that overcomes the objections that Madrid has considered, which we neither share nor understand; while we defend the initial proposal with appeal in the National Court”.
-Does your political aspirations begin and end in Candelaria or do you contemplate reaching a supra-municipal administration?
“My passion is Candelaria and I hope that our neighbors give us the necessary confidence to continue leading the City Council. Our objective is to consolidate this government project, good government, necessary and that everyone has the certainty that they have chosen the best place to live”.
