The Madrid City Council has announced, through the Department of Urban Planning, Environment, and Mobility, that it plans to build a large new green space in the capital, in the Montecarmelo neighborhood: a 6.3-hectare park featuring sports facilities, a bike path, recreational and picnic areas, fountains, and a dog park, for which it will invest more than 3.9 million euros.
The project, as detailed by José Antonio Martínez Páramo, the councilor in charge of Cleaning and Green Spaces and councilor for Fuencarral-El Pardo, José Antonio Martínez Páramo, involves the creation of a Mediterranean forest featuring various species: pines, carob trees, elderberries, hackberries, cypresses, ash trees, apple trees, olive trees, almond trees, plum trees, holm oaks, and weeping willows.
The work will also include the installation of street furniture, lighting, and the aforementioned bike path. The goal, in the words of the Madrid City Council, is “to turn this enclave into a gathering place for residents in a natural recreational setting.”
Montecarmelo, a neighborhood protesting the district
However, the neighborhood’s reaction to the news seems to echo the popular saying: don’t let the trees block your view of the forest (or, in this case, the sanitation station). And indeed, the headline used by the Madrid City Council to announce the project— —is precisely the reason the neighborhood has been protesting for the past three years: “This green space will surround the future sanitation station.”
Neighborhood opposition to its location is undeniable: as many as seven demonstrations have been held for this reason, attended by thousands of people, and according to the Montecarmelo Neighborhood Association and the “No to the Montecarmelo Waste Facility” Platform, “14,000 signatures have been submitted to the City Council of the capital to demand the relocation of the massive waste facility.”
Residents maintain—based on official and public documentation available at this link—that the announcement of this forest, which would serve as a “green screen” for facilities supposedly consisting only of locker rooms, a warehouse, and offices, is merely a distraction to hide the fact that they are moving forward with the original mega-complex.
