I have always believed that acknowledging mistakes is the only way to start correcting them, and beyond a reflection, I have ended up turning this idea into a work philosophy that I believe always gives good results. I would like to use these lines to, as a public official of the Arrecife City Council, apologize to the residents of the capital, in general, and to those of Titerroy, in particular, with special mention to the seven families evicted from their homes for too long now.
I would like to apologize to all of them not so much for my own actions but for the sad and lamentable spectacle that we were able to witness last Wednesday in the municipal plenary session in which, at the proposal of the opposition, it was intended to debate once again on the situation of these families.
There have been many mistakes since that sad day in July 2009. On the way to fourteen years of mistakes, unfortunate intentions and a lot of political and administrative neglect.
It is true, it must be admitted, that the mismanagement of this issue does not involve political colors or grandiloquent allegations, but rather unfortunate decisions and very little empathy with those who suffer the problem.
My intervention in the aforementioned plenary session I wanted to do it with responsibility and offering those neighbors and citizens the best that we who have public responsibilities in these cases must offer: sincerity, humility and purpose of amendment.
Unfortunately, neither holding previous leaders responsible, nor going on hunger strikes, nor delegating powers, but neither asking for extraordinary plenary sessions or painting items in budgets lacking legal content, will solve the problem of these seven families who have been out of their homes for almost fourteen years.
We are finishing a term and all of us –government and opposition, good and bad, some and others– must recognize what we have done: FAIL THE EVICTED RESIDENTS OF TITERROY. Yes, in capital letters. But, as I explained at the beginning, beyond learning from mistakes and showing the humility that, as servants of the public, we owe to the citizens, talking about the problem does not imply the ability to solve it.
Those who bet on the urban rehabilitation and renovation areas (ARUS) as the ideal formula were wrong, as it is a figure that is not adequate when there are neighbors in the area who have their houses in perfect condition; those who made a procedure without the signature of all the neighbors were wrong; those who in 2017 stopped paying the eviction subsidies were wrong and those who, during the last four years, have had three councilors in charge who have not bothered to respond to the problem were wrong.
The Arrecife City Council has already shown that it is not prepared to provide a solution and neither an ARU nor a subsidy without a specific destination will change this situation. So let's look at the problem with perspective and consult the recent history of similar situations and the response generated by those who have been able to provide a solution to families in the same conditions as those of Titerroy.
Let's look at Jinámar, Añana, Alisios or Las Chumberas and think of the Canarian Housing Institute (ICAVI) as the tool through which the government, owners and city council entrust the execution of the reforms in the homes of our neighbors.
And let's do this with transparency, counting from the first day with each of the seven affected families and, without deceptions or empty promises, from the first day of the term let's stop talking about the past and roll up our sleeves to provide solutions so that, in the middle of it, the families can return to their homes.
In addition, we will do it from the first moment and we will entrust this task to a neighbor of the neighborhood who, due to his dual condition, will knock on the door of the ICAVI and the government every day, waiting in the corridor every time he has to bring or take a paper or folder of that project.
Dear neighbors, I assume, or rather, we assume the commitment to stop talking about the evicted from Titerroy to start, from the first moment, to WORK ON GIVING A SOLUTION TO THE PROBLEM OF THE EVICTED FROM TITERROY. Yes, in capital letters.
