When Eva de Anta took office as mayor in May 2016, with the support of CC and PIL, she quoted the mayor of Madrid, Manuela Carmena. "The important thing about us is what we do." It is true that the important thing about a public office is what it does, but so is what it fails to do. And in her career we have been able to verify that the latter has been more than the former. But we could all apply that quote to ourselves. Thus, not only is the consistory responsible for the current situation of the capital city that could almost be considered abandoned. Many of the uncivil acts that we who live and do not live in Arrecife have witnessed do not come from the mayor, but from a population lacking in values.
Several days ago the firefighters had to go to a series of fires (8 in total) near Doctor Gómez Ulla Street, between 10:20 p.m. and 11:30 p.m. According to available data, since 2013 the burning of more than 300 containers of different types has been recorded in the capital city. This could be considered something "normal" from a comparative perspective if we stick to the fact that all cities in the country suffer from similar vandalism. But it would be simplistic to justify an act that carries an intrinsic threat to people and their possessions, in addition to a loss in public goods. Any type of fire can spread to surrounding vehicles and homes, posing a danger to the lives of many people. In addition, Lanzarote is an island in which one depends a lot on their means of transportation. Therefore, the burning of vehicles, directly or indirectly, implies a lack of civic-mindedness towards those people who depend on that means to go to work and, therefore, to bring "bread home." Burning containers, cars and other properties, whether public or private, reflects the problem of values that Arrecife suffers from.
But that is not all. The lack of civic-mindedness will not only be reflected in premeditated fires or in the theft and burning of cars. We can find in our daily lives an innumerable amount of lack of "respect" towards the other inhabitants of the capital. Pet needs in the middle of the sidewalks, accelerations in the middle of the night by motorcycle or car, violent and dangerous overtaking on the ring roads, accidents and rollovers that one does not find understandable in narrow streets, garbage outside the containers which increases the attraction of diseases and inappropriate animals for the hygiene of the streets, etc., are some of the many uncivil expressions that one can find day in and day out during a normal walk through Arrecife. And these expressions are not the mayor's fault, who, no matter how badly I consider she does her job, has no responsibility for the lack of civic-mindedness and education of others.
It is true that certain campaigns have been launched to raise awareness among young people of the economic value of certain acts, but it is also true that education in this type of activity begins, as my father said, in one's home. Thus, a society that demonstrates such a lack of virtue when it comes to respecting the neighbor, taking care of its streets and the public goods it so badly needs (I would like to see more than one in some countries where garbage is thrown in the street, so they can see how well the containers do), or fulfilling its responsibilities, is a society that does not deserve the enormous economic expense (50 million euros in the city's budget) that it takes to maintain Arrecife. We can complain about malpractice from the mayor's office, but first we must set an example in order to complain. We cannot denounce and point out those who do not do their job well without first worrying about behaving as we should. With what morality can we judge what public representatives do when we are not capable of demonstrating a minimum of civic-mindedness towards what surrounds us? With none, obviously. And many people can call me whatever they want, but this attitude reflects that people do not value the luck we have when we live in a country like Spain, which allows cities like Arrecife to have what in many other places is considered a luxury.
Perhaps I make the mistake of generalizing with respect to the city, but we are all directly and indirectly responsible for what each of our neighbors does. Not reporting, not interfering when we see someone burning a container or leaving their pet's needs on the sidewalk, or not calling attention to those who endanger the lives of others at high speeds within the city, makes us accomplices in one way or another. For this reason, I encourage readers to change the "chip", to do everything possible to teach those who will replace us tomorrow that the little we have must be taken care of, and that respecting the neighbor benefits us all.
Arrecife is all of us, not just the City Council.
By Alejandro Pérez O'pray
Student of Political Science at the UNED
