Nueva Canarias-Bloque Canarista (NC-bc) in Arrecife wonders "why local businesses in the capital continue to suffer and, in many cases, close, if the government group of the Popular Party (PP) and Coalición Canaria (CC) maintains that the benefits of its concert policy are in the millions."
The organization led by Sheila Guillén views with "concern the state of local businesses in Arrecife, where more and more are closing their doors due to a lack of commercial revitalization of open areas, due to the gentrification suffered by the capital's center, which raises the prices of premises, and due to fierce competition from international commercial chains and closed and private commercial areas."
For Guillen, “when we talk about local commerce, we are talking about families from Lanzarote who have 1, 2 or 3 employees”. Many of these families, the Canarian points out, “have invested all their savings in their small business to create added value in Arrecife, and instead they find themselves alone and with an economic policy from the City Council that does little to benefit them.”
According to the spokesperson for NC-bc in the capital, “local businesses do not see that the economic direction that the PP and CC are carrying out in the capital has any impact on them, quite the opposite, they suffer from the constant street closures and the low demand beyond the hotel industry.”
“If the government group maintains that concerts and fairs have millionaire benefits in Arrecife, why are there more and more premises hanging the for sale or for rent sign?”, asks Sheila Guillén, who proposes a “true plan to recover local commerce aimed at developing capacities, facilitating the adaptation of digital technologies, modernizing open commercial infrastructures and providing direct aid for the management of their businesses through advertising on Social Networks, as is already done in other areas of the Canary Islands such as the Schamman neighborhood in Las Palmas de Gran Canaria.”
“Local commerce not only offers proximity to residents, but also revitalizes urban areas, provides security and generates social fabric”, maintains Guillén, who adds that “they are essential for the elderly and dependent people who have difficulties traveling to large commercial areas.”
