"It is not a matter of taking sides with anyone, but the administration has to guarantee security, first of all for the tenants." This is how the Councilor for Urban Planning of the Arrecife City Council, Nuria Cabrera, has stated, regarding the possible eviction of the merchants from the ground floor of the building on Calle Real, the old Hotel Oriental. The councilor has explained that the City Council is waiting to receive authorization for the capital's Police to carry out the eviction of said merchants, after they have not carried it out voluntarily. Meanwhile, she has announced precautionary measures, such as shoring up the floors and the facade, as well as fencing off the public road.
Meanwhile, uncertainty reigns among the workers. "Right now things are calm," explained Carmen Rosa González, manager of the Alemany shoe store. "We are waiting for the Heritage technicians of the Cabildo to carry out an inspection." The First Island Institution has launched, by resolution, measures to prevent the destruction or deterioration of the property, sealing off the upper floor of the building. For the moment, demolition seems unlikely, since it would require authorization from the Historical Heritage department of the Cabildo, and even from the Historical Heritage Council of the Canary Islands.
"If they evict us, I don't even want to think about it," said Carmen Rosa. "But let's hope that doesn't happen, that we've been working here for a long time, almost forty years; this place belonged to my husband's father, and now we work here."
Next door, in the Nancy jewelry store, Ángela Pérez explained that "this is perfect." Now they have left the case in the hands of the lawyers. "For the moment, we come to work every day, as if nothing were happening," adds the manager.
The first eviction order was transmitted to these merchants, tenants of the premises, on October 3. In it, they were urged to vacate the building in just four days. The private report, which provoked this decision by the Arrecife City Council, was prepared by two professors from the Construction department of the University of Las Palmas.
On the other hand, the PP of Arrecife has presented a motion in which they request the mayor to comply with the resolution of the Cabildo in relation to this building, which is within the Architectural Catalog of the capital, because they do not understand "this contradiction in which it has incurred since, knowing the degree of protection and the procedures that affect this type of property, it has lent itself to inciting the tenants to vacate their businesses, based solely on a report requested and paid for by a private individual."
Apparently, the owner of the building is also the owner of other properties on Calle Real, which at the time, were declared in ruins, and finally demolished.
