Calalberche, a flooded mousetrap

 

 

Do you know what Calalberche is or where it is located?

 

Well, it is an urbanization that belongs to the City Council of Santa Cruz del Retamar, in Toledo, Spain, in the Autonomous Community (CA) of Castilla La Mancha (CLM). Go to our City Council website and check that there is nothing published about DANA, even though we have been declared a catastrophic area. The city council hides our reality and misery. It is 20 kilometers from us and they spend their taxes on what suits them (parties, paellas, bullfights, etc.) to avoid losing votes, while here they invest the minimum.

The CLM autonomous government also ignores us. Mr. García Page, president of the CA of CLM, has demonstrated his lack of humanity and his contempt for those in need. Here he has not appeared during or after DANA. He has not allocated a single cent to alleviate the misfortunes that occur here due to that storm. Our representative at the City Council, during the information meeting on October 1, stated that, when requesting help from the Provincial Council of Toledo, they responded that they were unaware of the existence of Calalberche. I think it is the strongest proof of how much we matter to the politicains of the goverment of CLM.

Calalberche is not an illegal or slum neighborhood. We have our infrastructures, but they are all obsolete. We pay our IBI, our garbage tax, our clean point, our town hall delegate office on time. We paid for our local police until they took that public service away from us. We pay for our consumption of non-potable water, extracted from the Alberche River, abandoned by the Confederation of the Tagus. Water distributed by a network with sections of asbestos, which constantly explodes when there is an increase in pressure so that the water reaches the top; We also pay for our drinking water tanks, which are constantly emptied in summer, due to the overgrowth of the population, which goes from 1,500 to about 7,000 inhabitants in summer. We pay for our sewage network that does not absorb water, but vomits it out; We pay for our water treatment plant, which does not allow the residents of Río Alberche Street to live, due to the bad smell it gives off. We pay our road tax on poorly paved streets, full of potholes and without decent sidewalks, when there are any. We pay our licenses to remodel or build our homes or fix them, etc. All of this adds up to more than 1,000,000 euros annually that the Santa Cruz del Rematar City Council pockets.

Calalberche has the misfortune of having been designed without a future projection. It is encapsulated within a territory without its own access to the outside. Where urbanization ends, we are in a strange land. One exit is the extension of Geneva Street, which belongs to the Aldea del Fresno City Council, which belongs to the AC of Madrid. Another is the Camino Villa del Prado, belonging to Méntrida of the AC of CLM. This means that any work on these accessories must be paid for, in part, by the town councils of Aldea or Méntrida. They have been refusing to sign agreements for decades so that we have roads or highways passable by all types of vehicles, while these two towns maintain their businesses, in part, thanks to the money that the residents of Calalberche leave buying in their stores, supermarkets, gasoline, veterinarians, doctors, dentists, post offices, banks, schools, municipal pavilions, etc.

After DANA (September 3 and 4), Calalberche was caught in a mousetrap. After the collapse of the base of the La Berciana bridge on Geneva Street, our public transport stopped providing service to Aldea and Madrid. All traffic, from September 4, including school traffic, must pass through Camino Villa del Prado: most of it is 3 meters wide; curves, poorly marked, where wild boars can cross at night; full of potholes, when they are not puddles of water with large potholes hidden by water, which destroy the wheels or the chassis of your vehicle. Now, all types of vehicles circulate through it, in addition to the school bus and the regular passenger bus, stopping traffic, because they cannot cross paths with another vehicle, due to the narrowness of the passage.

On October 18 they “reestablished” our bus service, but with only four daily departures/entries and two stops in the lower part, along almost 45 kilometers of streets. Which means that those who live on steep slopes have to climb 1.5 km because there is no stop at the top. Before, the 548 was a service of the Transport Consortium of the AC of Madrid, we paid €1.50 to get to Aldea. Now, despite being a catastrophic area, the CA CLM forces us to pay €1.30, although on the first day they charged €1.40, to get to Méntrida, in addition to having to make two transfers before arriving in Madrid.

With the latest rains, the streets near the Alberche River continue to be flooded, but there is no project to sensibly collect the rainwater. (To be continue)

Calalberche, una ratonera inundada

 

 

¿Sabes qué es o dónde se encuentra Calalberche?

Pues es una urbanización que pertenece al Ayuntamiento de Santa Cruz del Retamar, en Toledo, España. Entra en la web de nuestro Ayto.  y comprueba que no hay nada publicado sobre la DANA, a pesar de que hemos sido declarados zona catastrófica. El ayuntamiento oculta nuestra realidad y miseria. Ellos están a 20 kilómetros de nuestra urbanización y se gastan los impuestos en lo que a ellos les conviene, para no perder votantes. Aquí invierten lo mínimo.

El gobierno de Castilla La Mancha nos ignora, también. El Sr. García Page, presidente de CLM, ha demostrado su falta de humanidad y su desprecio por los necesitados. Aquí no se ha presentado durante, ni después de la DANA. Tampoco ha destinado un céntimo a paliar las desgracias acaecidas aquí por esa tormenta. Nuestro concejal, en la reunión informativa del 1 de octubre, declaró que, al solicitar ayuda a la Diputación de Toledo, le respondieron que no sabían de la existencia de Calalberche.  Creo que es la prueba más contundente de lo que le importamos a los políticos de CLM.

Calalberche no es una urbanización ilegal ni chabolista. Tenemos nuestras infraestructuras, pero todas obsoletas. Pagamos religiosamente nuestro IBI, nuestra tasa de basuras, nuestro punto limpio, nuestra oficina delegada de concejalía. Pagábamos nuestro cuerpo de policía local. Pagamos nuestro consumo de agua, no potable, extraída del río Alberche, abandonado por la Confederación del Tajo. Agua distribuida por una red con tramos de amianto, que revienta constantemente cuando hay aumento de presión para que el agua llegue a la parte alta; pagamos, también por nuestros depósitos de agua potable, que se vacían constantemente en verano, por el sobre-aumento de población, que pasa de 1.500 a unos 7.000 habitantes en época estival. Pagamos nuestra red de alcantarillado que no absorbe agua, sino que la vomita; pagamos por nuestra depuradora, que no deja vivir a los vecinos de la Calle Río Alberche, por el olor fétido que desprende. Pagamos nuestro impuesto de circulación por calles mal asfaltadas, llenas de baches y sin aceras decentes, donde las hay. Pagamos por nuestras licencias de remodelación o construcción de nuestras viviendas o arreglos en ellas, etc. Todo ello suma más de 1.000.000 de euros anualmente, que se embolsa el Ayuntamiento de Santa Cruz del Rematar.

Calalberche tiene la desgracia de haber sido diseñada sin proyección de futuro. Fue encapsulada dentro de un territorio sin accesos propios de cara al exterior. Donde se acaba la urbanización, estamos en tierra extraña. Una salida es la prolongación de la Calle Ginebra, que pertenece al Ayuntamiento de Aldea del Fresno, CA de Madrid. Otra es el Camino Villa del Prado, perteneciente a Méntrida de la CA de CLM. Eso significa que, cualquier obra en esos accesos debe ser costeada, en parte por Aldea o Méntrida. Llevan décadas negándose a firmar acuerdos para que tengamos caminos o carreteras transitables para todo tipo de vehículos, mientras que esas dos poblaciones mantienen sus negocios, en parte, gracias al dinero que los vecinos de Calalberche dejamos comprando en sus tiendas, supermercados, gasolineras, veterinarios, médicos, dentistas, correos, bancos, colegios, pabellones municipales, etc.

Después de la DANA, Calalberche está atrapada en una ratonera. Derrumbada la base del puente de La Berciana, en la Calle Ginebra, nuestro transporte público dejó de prestar su servicio hacia Aldea y Madrid. Todo el tráfico, desde el día 4 de septiembre, incluido el escolar, es de paso obligado por el Camino Villa del Prado: con 3 metros de ancho, en su mayor parte; curvo, mal señalizado, donde de noche pueden cruzar jabalíes; lleno de baches, cuando no son balsas de agua con grandes socavones ocultos, que te destrozan las ruedas o el chasis de tu vehículo, por donde ahora transitan todo tipo de vehículos, además del autobús escolar y el regular de pasajeros, deteniendo el tráfico, porque no se pueden cruzar con otro vehículo, por la estrechez del paso.

El día 18 de octubre nos “repusieron” el servicio de autobús, pero con tan sólo cuatro salidas/entradas diarias y dos paradas en la parte baja, para casi 45 kilómetros de calles. Lo que supone que, los que viven arriba de pronunciadas cuestas, tienen que subir 1,5 km porque no hay ninguna parada en la parte alta. Antes, el 548 era un servicio del Consorcio de Transportes de la CA de Madrid, pagábamos 1,50€ para llegar a Aldea. Ahora, a pesar de ser zona catastrófica, la CA de CLM nos obligan a pagar 1,30€, aunque el primer día cobraron 1,40€, para llegar a Méntrida, además de tener que transbordar dos veces antes de llegar a Madrid.

Con las lluvias recientes se siguen inundando las calles cercanas al río, pero no hay proyecto para arreglar el alcantarillado. (Continuará)

The art of not entering into debate

"Democracy is fragile" (Biden). Don't let it escape like water between your fingers.

Yesterday, in the debate of the 4M elections for the Madrid Assembly, organized by the radio station La Ser, the fragility of democracy in Spain at this time was revealed.

 

The VOX candidate, the ultra-conservative party of the right, Ms. Rocío Monasterio, arrived with a whip on her tongue, to lash out at the other participants. She first she dumped her bile on Mr. ex-vice president Iglesias. In the name of a nice anti-democratic gesture she yelled at him to leave the debate, when he asked attendees to make an explicit "no to violence" statement about the recent attacks against him and his family.

 

During the first part of the debate, Mrs. Monasterio was dedicated to interrupting on multiple occasions, in a rude way, the other participants, showing her great antidemocratic and authoritarian disposition.

 

The moderator tried to channel the debate towards one with proposals, but her radio station did not show the clock to tell the time. Which was a great democratic failure, since the times were not distributed equitably. Totally incorrect practice in any electoral debate in Spain.

 

The candidate of the center party, Edmundo Bal, focused on the presentation of his proposals, but was constantly interrupted by the outbursts of Mr. Monasterio, plus the opportune interruptions of the candidate of the Socialist party, who did not agree to No way, that Mr. Bal achieved his goal of getting to the point.

 

 

Gabilondo tried to turn the electoral debate into a chat between friends, first. Later, since he was unable to make proposals, he began to criticize those of Mr. Bal, reminding him that in Madrid the budgets for this year had not been approved. Although he knew perfectly well, from the press, that the same day that these budgets were to be approved at 5pm, the president of the Community of Madrid, Mrs. Ayuso, closed the Assembly alleging a fear of an alleged motion of censure that could, supposedly, present her government partner, Ciudadanos.

 

 

Mrs. Ayuso, a candidate for the right-wing conservative party, PP, had refused to attend this debate. She is reluctant to this democratic practice. She is foul-mouthed, lacking in empathy with an authoritarian and totalitarian character, and little given to presenting data or proposals, in addition to being used to do what she feels like.

 

Later, Mr. Gabilondo called Citizens' contribution to the Madrid government “failed government”, to what is internationally considered “the miracle of Madrid”, but since he did not know how to explain why, the presenter left in suspense the turn of word from Mr. Bal, to make a convenient pause. Probably, by orders of her channel, due to the fact that the interventions of the candidate to favor, Mr. Gabilondo, did not favor him but rather the candidate of Ciudadanos, a party victim of takeovers on the right and left.

 

Behind the cameras, Mr. Gabilondo and Dr. Mónica García, from Más Madrid, reached an agreement not to continue the debate. Surely, they had weighed that success was being taken by Mr. Bal, which was not convenient for the left-wing bloc, since neither the two of them, nor Ms. Monasterio had managed to take him out of his boxes.

 

So, without listening to Mr. Bal's pleas in favor of speech and debate as a democratic instrument, the candidates on the left announced their abandonment of the debate. They managed to get the presenter to suspend it, preventing Mr. Bal from taking up his turn to speak.

 

Complete debate here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RMai7UVSMgs&t=7629s