“I want to come with the little one, but you can see for yourself, this is full of garbage; it’s gross”. Manuel is a neighbor in the area of Uncle Pino, in the Santacrucero district of Ofra-Costa Sur, which, fed up with the situation, denounces the terrible state in which the Tío Pino courts are located, a place where dirt is mixed with damage.
Paradoxically, according to the website of the Santa Cruz de Tenerife City Council, last October 2020, specifically on the 9th, Alicia Cebrián, Councilor for Sports, indicated, in a visit to the place, that they wanted to recover it so that “they can be used by the clubs in coexistence with the neighbors”, but, almost a year later, the reality is very different.
A dead pigeon in an advanced state of decomposition is good proof that the place has not been cleaned in weeks. Even months. “A child cannot come here with that, but neither with the remains of the bottle or the masks that are left abandoned. It is true that there is dirt from the trees, but compared to the rest it is even the least important ”, acknowledges Manuel who points to the front door:“ Do you see that hanging bag? The neighbors themselves put it in so they could throw the garbage in there ”.
A small square next to the courts is a common place for large bottles, but, according to this neighbor, the door that gives access to the courts is always open, so they can easily sneak in to consume alcohol in the area. As no one comes to clean, this dirt accumulates, further restricting the presence of young people who want to practice sports.
The state of the furniture is another of the most worrying aspects. Broken fences, completely worn goals and, what is more dangerous, one of them without anchoring to the ground effectively, which is a real danger when it comes to playing football: “It seems that until a misfortune occurs, that a boy comes over, nobody is going to do anything “.
Curiously, perhaps one of the things that can attract the most attention is that the Santa Cruz City Council itself has, in that same place, municipal offices, so it is still shocking that the facility is in the state of total current abandonment.
Cebrián herself, in October 2020, recognized that it was necessary for Tío Pino’s fields to be “safer”, something that has not yet been executed: “We are going to condition it to be safer and I am convinced that both neighbors and clubs, they will be able to enjoy more and better these urban outdoor courts ”.
Until that can happen, the few young people who go to play sports, yesterday afternoon a young man was playing basketball in one of the baskets, will have to continue sorting garbage to try to take advantage of what should be a place of recreation for the people in the area.
“The worst of all is that other courts in the area are the same or worse: what do I do? Where am I taking my son? ”He said.
