The Santa Cruz Carnival 2022 It is not only atypical because it is celebrated in June, but also because of all the setbacks that the party has had to overcome with the pandemic setting the pace. The last of those headaches is the letter that the residents of a building located in the surroundings of Plaza Weyler have presented to the Santa Cruz City Council demanding that the Carnival be silenced, prohibiting music, concerts and kiosks and bars. , and that, if this is not possible, that they be transferred to a non-residential area in a way that respects their fundamental rights.
The aforementioned letter, in which it is indicated that it is a reiteration of previous requests, concludes by noting that “the celebration of the so-called Carnival is moved to a place where the living conditions of the neighbors are not altered given its incompatibility with the uses of the residential character of the environment, by violating the regulations on historical heritage and the environment, as well as the regulations on noise. This in view of the fact that it is not possible to adopt effective measures with respect to said event that prevent said breaches, as well as the consequences for the affected neighbors of the direct and indirect, cumulative and additive effects.
And it is that these neighbors remember that there is a sentence of the Superior Court of Justice of the Canary Islands of the year 2007 in which the neighbors of the center were already right about the excess of noise, and in which it was pointed out that if it could limit the sound, which would be transferred to non-residential areas to beach bars, kiosks and other sources of noise. Then an agreement was reached with the neighbors and since then the sound limiters and the schedules prevail so that the nightly Carnival ends.
These neighbors demand that this sentence be fulfilled in its entirety because they understand that it has not been possible to limit the scope of the Carnival in relation to their right to rest.
Specifically, they request that if the City Council is not capable of limiting these damages, the occupation of public land is not authorized; that bars or loudspeakers are not placed in the street, nor are concerts authorized; that premises and activities be inspected and controlled in order to prove if they have authorization; that the premises be inspected and controlled in order to verify that they comply with the capacity, schedule, licenses and authorizations; that venues that do not have authorization to broadcast music be prohibited from doing so by carrying out the corresponding controls and inspections; that crowds in the street are controlled and avoided; and verification is carried out through technical reports and measurements of compliance with legal limits. They also ask that they be compensated for what has been suffered so far and for the damage that continues to be caused.
Sadness
From the City hall, the Councilor for Fiestas, Alfonso Cabello, acknowledges that he is concerned and occupies this document presented by entry registration on June 8. “A writing that what it asks is to de facto silence the Carnival”, he points out. He assures that it “saddens” him that “that a group of chicharreros see the Carnival in this way and not as others see it, which is that of a brutal economic movement, and the identity of our city”, to add that, “in the City Hall we have been implementing measures since 2007 to reduce the inconvenience caused by the Carnival”.
Cabello details that since that 2007, in which he was precisely the manager of Fiestas, much progress has been made. “From the City Council of Santa Cruz through the Parliament of the Canary Islands, some legislative change was promoted such as that of Law 7/2011 of April 5, in which, in its article 50, an entire festival of International Tourist Interest is protected. such as the Carnival, and that it can be carried out whenever a series of circumstances occur”.
These conditions are the preparation of a series of documents such as the self-protection plan, an acoustic impact study, and the implementation of corrective measures. “We have that underway in recent years and it has evolved a lot. Before there was no music schedule, now there is, and all the stages and noise sources are limited to 85 to 96 or 105 decibels”, defends the mayor of Fiestas. “The 105 decibels -he continues- correspond to the City Hall stages because they have live music, while the other two limits are those of kiosks, being 96 only for kiosks that comply with what the impact study indicates acoustic”.
Cabello reminds us that noise control is done through sound limiters. “This means that if you try to raise the volume, it corrects itself, and they are also recording devices because they are sealed, so that at the end of the day they issue a certificate that must be delivered at the end of the Carnival, and if it is altered, it is sanctioned. the engineer and the person responsible for the breach”.
“An effort has been made over the last 15 years to control the volume of disturbances, but it is clear that a Carnival with 250,000 people in the street generates disturbances,” says the mayor, adding that, “from my perspective Personally and as a councilor for Fiestas, the one that gives the city is much more beneficial than the inconveniences”.
“I don’t understand, nor would I ever understand, Carnival outside the historical environment where it occurs, we haven’t allowed it to grow either, Carnival goes up and down. It began very close to the sea with the university kiosks, it began to rise, but never above the Orche, and now it is going down again, like a wave that is receding, ”he adds.
The mayor concludes by pointing out that “I do not understand a carnival without music in the street, I think that for the good of the party we should not make more concessions in terms that mean less music.”
