It was almost a premonition. Juanma Moreno blessed the candidacy of José Luis Sanz for Mayor of Seville with 600 days to go before May 28, 2023. The now councilor, who clearly won the elections, wanted “two complete cycles” of the pendular operation of the Andalusian capital: two Christmases, two Easter weeks and two fairs. He succeeded, despite the fact that Moreno and Sanz were old organic rivals for power in the Andalusian PP. And that blessing was washed down with a beer at one of the high tables in Plaza del Salvador, the usual meeting place for Sevillians to toast with the national blonde, that Cruzcampo that has such a bad reputation outside the city limits..
Almost two years after that toast, Sanz has the baton of command of the main city of Andalusia and one of the first pronouncements of the popular mayor consisted of guaranteeing that in the city's traditional bars it will be possible to continue drinking beer at the door, no need to have a table. He had promised it in the campaign and confirmed it in an interview on ABC in Seville. And he did the same with another commitment: there will be no limitations on vehicles to enter the historic center of the city and the Triana neighborhood, as the socialist government of Antonio Muñoz had projected..
It will be the second time that a PP mayor -Zoido did it before in 2011- knocks down a traffic reduction plan in the center of the city, which has one of the largest historical complexes in Europe, full of narrow streets that make difficult coexistence between the car and the pedestrian. Sanz argues that right now there are not enough public transport alternatives to enter the Seville area and that there is a lack of underground car parks around the center to cushion the arrival of vehicles.
The councilor is right on this point, since the only metro line in the city does not go into the center and the one that is under construction surrounds it. And also it will not be ready before 2030. Yes, there is a project for a tram that will reach the city center in 2024 and an expansion of the tram, but Sanz's decision will not be turned back in the near future. In fact, the more than a hundred cameras that the PSOE installed at the entrances to the historic center and Triana will probably serve to “increase security” in the Seville capital. It must be taken into account that this revocation does not imply a direct breach of the national Climate Change law, which obliges cities with more than 50,000 inhabitants to have a low emission zone (ZBE)..
President Juanma Moreno and José Luis Sanz, mayor of Tomares, have met to have a beer in El Salvador. Organic readings in the Andalusian PP right now in the center of Seville. pic.twitter.com/lbxCFftNyT
— Carlos Rocha (@Carlosrch) September 27, 2021
Seville already has one of these limitations on the island of La Cartuja, on the land where Expo 92 was held and which today houses a powerful technology park to which tens of thousands of workers travel every day. There, it is necessary for the car to meet emissions requirements, while the Respira Plan for the center and Triana (that was the name of the project) only limited the entry of cars if they were not residents of restricted areas or did not have a parking lot. It must be taken into account that there were exceptions for loading and unloading, for access to hotels and for parking the car in one of the few underground car parks in the area..
The beer controversy
History repeats itself more than a decade later. In 2011, Zoido put an end to Alfredo Sánchez Monteseirín's Plan Centro when the idea of restricting the entry of vehicles into city centers was a rarity in Spain.. And despite the fact that José Luis Sanz has rejected the fact that his mandate is going to be revisionist, there are several striking decisions in addition to the Plan Respira and the green light for beers from landmark venues such as Casa Vizcaíno, El Tremendo, or Casa Coronado. In these bars it is common to see customers crowding the door with a Cruzcampo and just a plate of olives.. And although this is not clearly legal, it cannot be said that there is a “persecution”, as has come to be heard..
It must be taken into account that there is an ordinance of the mandate of Juan Ignacio Zoido that links the capacity of the terraces to the number of tables and chairs authorized by the City Council. With this rule in hand, the Local Police could act against the crowd of people, but that only happened, they explained from the previous government team, when a neighbor called due to excessive noise or because the passage was blocked.. “No one has been persecuted,” point out socialist sources, who do admit that greater surveillance is carried out at Easter and there was one of those flagship bars that had to take measures. And that is where they locate this “false controversy” aired by the new mayor shortly after taking the baton.
Sanz's first steps in the Renaissance building in Plaza Nueva have opened other debates, some anticipated in the campaign and others new. The City Council will convene a consultation to decide what happens with the duration of the April Fair, extended by Juan Espadas in 2017 after a similar consultation. The question is between maintaining the current format, from Saturday to Saturday; return to the previous one, from Monday to Sunday; or a new model, with the local festival opening on Sunday and ending on Saturday. According to Sanz, hoteliers defend a shorter model than the current one and that is the reason that leads him to reopen the melon.
And the latest debate that Sanz has resurrected is about the urbanization of Tablada, a huge esplanade that is part of the floodplain in case of flooding of the Guadalquivir and that many saw as a natural expansion of a city with an almost filled municipal area.. Justice knocked down any possibility by considering it a protected area, but, like a pendulum, the matter has returned to the present day at the hands of the popular councilor, who proposes to combine the already established use (a peri-urban park) with the construction of 200 hectares.