During the afternoon of Wednesday, all the political groups took their places in the plenary hall of the City Council of Dénia to face what is supposed to be the maximum exercise of transparency of a local administration. At the request of PartyFor the second year, the debate on the state of the municipality was held. An appointment in which, once again, prepared speeches reigned.
There were more than two hours of interventions, where each of the formations had the same time to show off before the microphones. Because the truth is that yesterday's debate seemed to be about that, since the participants were fully aware that it was the last state of the municipality before going back to the polls. The atmosphere was absolutely electoral.
The day was opened by the mayor of Dénia, Vicent Grimalt, which used its turn to take advantage of the work that had been carried out during the first three years of the legislature, announced (or promised) others that could hardly be completed before the next elections and excused delays, rightly so, for the obstacles that the different crises with which it has dealt with these years had supposed (coronavirus, Gloria, Ukraine...).
The opposition again accuses the government of arrogance and "absolutist" attitude
Each opposition group was given equal time to voice their concerns. Many of them were shared. In fact, the four formations agreed to accuse the government team of turning a deaf ear to their proposals, of acting on their own, in a sectarian and arrogant manner, and carrying out an "absolutist" attitude supporting their absolute majority , as pointed out by the spokesman for Compromís, Rafa Carrió.
This is nothing new, since it has been denounced since the legislature began, although it is something that does not seem to concern the PSPV. In fact, the Socialists took refuge in the shield of how highly recognized the transparency of the City Council is. However, Carrió insisted that being transparent is not the same as actively listening and involving the rest of the groups. The Compromís spokesman, however, insisted on reaching out, defending that "21 councilors are more than 12", which provoked the most controversial comment of the afternoon by the socialist councilor Paco Roselló, who responded with "at school they taught us that pears should not be mixed with apples", outraging the majority of opposition councillors. Far from defending himself against the accusations, he thus succeeded in reinforcing them.
Controversy with salaries
The majority of opposition groups also agreed to denounce, for the thousandth time, the first measure of the legislature, Salary hike for councillors., making it ugly that, for example, €240 is charged per commission instead of the €140 of the last legislature.
The mayor of the Treasury, Paco Roselló, took the floor again to respond with some tedium to a controversy that has been haunting them since 2019. Roselló recalled that it was not only the salaries of the government team that had risen, but also those of the councilors of the rest of the formations. In addition, he heated up the atmosphere by pointing out that some member of the opposition, in fact, charged more than PSPV mayors, news that disconcerted representatives of other formations.
Pedestrianization and parking
La downtown pedestrianization again dominated much of the debate, although with clear signs of wear, showing the spokesman for Gent of Dénia, mario vidal, especially critical of a subject in which he feels comfortable, this time receiving the support of the other formations. Compromís even joined in stating that it had been wrong to close before achieving a suitable offer of nearby parking spaces.
However, Maria Josep Ripoll, the mayor of Territory and Urban Quality, returned to call the roll of the large number of open public car parks less than 10 minutes from the center, which served the spokesperson for Ciudadanos, Susana Mut, to remember that several of them were very neglected. Ripoll also announced that they were working to soon have new very central free parking areas (some on Paseo Saladar), with which he managed to settle the debate.
Port, buses, trains and others
There was time -in two hours it was better- to talk about the transport network, denouncing the opposition the image that the city gave to visitors who came by bus to Dénia, being the first thing they see a eternally temporary station that no longer has toilets. The project of autonomous port, promoted by Ciudadanos, served to exemplify the individualistic attitude of the government. A project that was unanimously supported in Dénia, for which meetings were held between the council and the ministry behind the backs of the opposition leaders, and that was finally blocked in Valencia. The orange formation, which brought up both issues, also wanted to take advantage of their time to make a statement in defense of the officials, praising their work and seeking to recognize their relevance. "We will leave, but they will continue here," Susana Mut stressed.
Returning to the subject of transport, I could not miss the question of tram-train, receiving at this point sticks both PSPV and PP by the other formations, accusing them of playing with citizens for electoral purposes.
urban errors
the state of the square Valgamediós and the works of Camí de Sant Joan were also discussed by the Popular leader, María Mut, which he showed as examples of municipal mismanagement. "We are trembling," she admitted when speaking of the futures work in Glorieta of the Valencian Country and Marquis of Campo. Likewise, like the other parties, he accused the executive of keeping the opposition groups uninformed, which find out about many projects, such as the hotel in the Factory Portland, by the media.
“We work 24 hours a day to transform this city”
To conclude the exhaustive debate, Grimalt took the floor again to thank them for their participation, although declaring that he would have preferred more proposals from the rest of the groups, and adjourned the session, after 21:00 p.m., stating: «we work 24 hours a day day to transform this city.
Vicent Grimalt….but what Government Plan is the one that allocates millions of euros in works and restructuring plans for the city of Denia….Universities, Trees, the appearance of the train….but we continue to see that Denia continues…with graffiti on the Church façade, dirty spaces and phantasmagorical or half-destroyed buildings from how old they are... a Castle whose illumination is more sad than proud to see it, just like the illumination of the city. Sidewalks with all their loose cobblestones, etc….Grimalt…..no matter how much University you do or new means of transport that are created, you still have Denia OBSOLETE AND OLD… We need a Mayor who knows how to LOOK at Denia to see how it is and what allocate part of all that money that we citizens give you and the Generalitat gives you to MODERNIZE Denia….a word that seems to be unknown or something that until now has not been done…..
A greeting!
I am a senior resident who pays more taxes than I need to access my bank Caixa la mairie …. Car she ne peut beaucoup marcher. J'ai demanded a carte de stationnement invalidité mais une honte attends depuis 4 mois sans nouvelles !!!!!!
J'ai 74 ans si il y avait une navette pour nous amener dans le center rien nada et nous sommes nombreux a ne plus pouvoir come Denia pas pour les seniors mais les jeunes. three decades
Curious, the same thing happens to me in France. It is very helpful for me to be able to express myself in French to communicate. Have you tried expressing yourself here in Spanish?