The Platform against noise in Arrecife, which was established on October 22, includes residents of El Reducto and the surrounding streets, the Parque Islas Canarias, the Parque Ramírez Cerdá, the streets Coronel Bens and José Betancort, the Charco de San Ginés, the Plazuela, Valterra, Los Alonso or the urbanization in front of the Castillo de San José.
This citizen platform was born from the "feeling of helplessness of neighbors" who, after individually addressing the capital's council to denounce the "constant breaches" in terms of noise pollution and "without the council having taken measures to date, quite the opposite."
The objective of the Platform is to "defend the fundamental rights enshrined in articles 15 and 18 of the Spanish Constitution: the right to life and physical and moral integrity, to personal and family privacy, to the inviolability of the home and to rest."
The group demands that article 7.2 of the Civil Code be taken into account: the law does not protect the abuse of rights or the antisocial exercise thereof. Therefore, they demand compliance with current regulations, both European, state and local, regarding noise pollution. Among them, the municipal ordinance on protection against noise and noise pollution in Arrecife of May 17, 2017; the Noise Law 37/2003 and the Directive on the Assessment and Management of Environmental Noise (Directive 2002/49/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of June 25, 2002, on the assessment and management of environmental noise) which establishes obligations relating to assessment and management of noise for authorities responsible for agglomerations.
Given the seriousness of the situation, the organization demands that the members of the Arrecife Government group, especially its mayor, Jonathan de León, the first deputy mayor, Echedey Eugenio, and the councilors Óscar López and Eli Merino, comply with the law. "These councilors are the main organizers of massive and noisy events and those responsible for converting and allowing the residential areas of Arrecife to become uninhabitable spaces, when they should be the defenders and guardians of the quality of life of citizens," they say in a statement.
Among the main points, the Platform against noise asks the City Council to:
- Compliance with current regulations regarding noise pollution.
- The transfer of performances and events to the outskirts of the city, in non-residential areas where it does not affect or harm the neighbors.
- That the local police have the necessary material for measuring and controlling noise and that they exercise sound level control whenever required.
- The prohibition of closing streets so that residents can access their homes and garages with their vehicles, except in emergency situations or in exceptional cases.
- Control by the City Council and its municipal police of people who consume alcohol on public roads and of businesses that sell alcoholic beverages after permitted hours.
- The modification of the schedules of cleaning machinery in order to minimize noise.
This Platform is born with "a conciliatory spirit and to that effect plans to request various meetings with public and private entities with the intention of proposing to the competent authorities compliance with current regulations, with the aim of achieving peaceful and quality coexistence." In the event that "compliance with the ordinance and current legislation is not achieved through these channels, the judicial instruction route will be taken."
