Without a doubt, it is the reflection of an opulent Madrid that, before next year’s electoral meeting, seeks to undo the loop of the continuous reforms that, in addition to being annoying, are often unnecessary.
A clear case of a pharaonic work without much sense is to cover the M-30 as it passes through the sales bridge to connect two neighborhoods and avoid the border effect that the expressway represents. Not many years ago the bridge was renovated with good sidewalks for pedestrians and a new and original lighting system. Does it make sense to spend almost 80 million euros on this macro construction more typical of pharaohs? Madrid pays civil servants better than the Central Administration and has a renewed fleet of electric vehicles from high-end brands.
The Madrid City Council together with the Community are fighting for more and more renovations and show off a wealth that is lavish. The counterpart is very high taxes such as the IBI or the municipal capital gain on housing. A apartment within the M-30 of about 100 square meters pays an IBI of close to 1,000 euros each yearto which we add the circulation tax and more recently the garbage tax.
I believe that greater austerity and a distribution of works to benefit the most deteriorated neighborhoods would undoubtedly be a more necessary and fair bet, after the center of the capital and the streets of the golden mile have received heavy investments in recent years. Simply maintaining these areas would be enough.
In contrast to this opulence and redundancy in the works, The other side of the coin is offered by the public works of the State. Roads in poor condition, with numerous potholes and the latest alarm of the deterioration of the dams that could cause unthinkable catastrophes. And as a peak, the Adamuz accident with 46 fatalities due – from what is known so far – to the poor maintenance of the high-speed line. A situation of state public works almost of survival, according to experts, although here too taxes have been increasing and collections have been maximum in recent years.
In other events, the blame is laziness and mismanagementas happened recently with the death of six young people on a walkway along the cliffs of Santander. Some deaths were easily avoidable since not even the neighbors’ notice served to make the municipal authorities take note. We live in a country of contrasts between trumpeted wealth and silent passivity and in the middle a citizen/taxpayer who can no longer trust almost anything.