When Eva de Anta made the pedestrianization of the Avenida Marítima in Arrecife her main battle horse, a good friend very rightly argued that, leaving for general debate whether or not it was convenient to pedestrianize it in its entirety, there was no doubt that the area that includes Playa del Reducto undoubtedly had to be pedestrianized.
The arguments in its favor, as a possible leisure and recreation area, seem quite overwhelming. Could anyone imagine Las Canteras Beach with cars circulating on the avenue? In the capital of the province they decided to turn to their privileged beach with the Laureano Arroyo Plan back in 1900, providing the future promenade with an exceptional urban unit. In Arrecife, more than a century later, we continue to avoid the potential of a beach that enjoys great beauty but suffers from little use by residents and limited attraction for visitors.
Wouldn't it be preferable to dedicate that space through which vehicles currently circulate to walking areas, physical exercise, terraces? It could undoubtedly be the great lung and one of the main attractions that the capital of Lanzarote would have. Especially if it were conceptually connected to the Islote de la Fermina and, imagining things, to the entelechy of the Congress Palace.
The search for mobility alternatives is quite simple. By eliminating the parking lines on Manolo Millares street, a two-way street could be easily enabled, allowing entry to the maritime avenue from the highway, keeping said street as an exit route from the city.
Eduardo Spínola's proposal comes to mind when he ran for mayor in 2011, which aimed to turn the Arrecife Marina into the main attraction for tourism in the capital. In it, he proposed for Playa del Reducto "the cleaning and dredging of the pooled sand, as well as the removal of the rock layer necessary to increase the depth of the beach at low tide", an initiative that would require the collaboration of Costas and that could be accompanied by other actions for the reorganization of the beach as a place of leisure. Ten years later, it still seems to me that this ambitious proposal to enhance the value of the Arrecife beach was going in the right direction.
Has the time come for myopia or political skirmishes to give way to the planning of necessary projects that help us redefine the island's capital and, incidentally, contribute to economic revitalization after the pandemic atony? The promotion of El Reducto as a leisure area could well be one of them
