Pellicer: “The PSOE lives in a state of toxicity and now it also allows to criticize the proposals of the residents”

The Councillor for Citizen Participation, Ana Pellicer, has accused the socialist municipal group of “living in toxicity and negativism” instead of making a constructive opposition with proposals. The councillor has harshly criticised that the socialist spokesperson, Cristina Escoda, has “attacked the proposals made by the residents in the participatory budgets”.

Pellicer has thus responded to a press release from the opposition group in which its spokesperson interprets that the proposals made by the residents to be included in the participatory budgets constitute a criticism of the local government.

“They are very disrespectful towards the citizens by criticising the proposals of the citizens in a democratic process in which they can decide how to invest more than 5% of the municipal investment chapter” said the councillor.

Pellicer has compared the work carried out in this regard by the current PP government with the years of the PSOE mandate and has assured that “it is impossible to compare given that they never carried out any proposal for participatory budgets. The route would be historic.” The councillor has urged the socialist spokesperson “to say which proposals she put forward in 2011, 12, 13, 14 or 15.” “She cannot, because they are more interested in doing nothing, in making the city languish and in spending the money without any result as we were able to see and confirm” she continued. For this reason, Pellicer has pointed out that “citizens have put them where they deserve and instead of working to change their position, what they do is laugh at the proposals of some neighbours who work harder than them.”

Ana Pellicer also stated that the local government “could now make a list of all the actions carried out that have arisen from the participatory budgets”, among which she has mentioned some such as the walkway that links the Palau d’Esports with Calle Italia, the plaza de las tiendas, the beach walkway, improvements in accessibility, the Ricardo Bayona roundabout that improves traffic and access to schools and health centres, parks for children, etc.

“What can they offer?” she concluded.

“But the last thing that can be done is to criticise proposals from residents who use this democratic tool to have the model of a city they want” added Pellicer, who has valued the work carried out by the Neighbourhood Council and the associations that make it up “to which the PSOE never gave a voice and now criticises and which they constantly deceived by breaking all their promises”. At this point, the councillor recalled that “until we came to the government, they never introduced their requests into the municipal budget”.

The head of Citizen Participation has also highlighted the value of campaigns such as ‘A pie de calle’ which allow the demands and needs of residents to be known through visits to the different neighbourhoods of the city. “A campaign that has allowed improvements to be carried out without these being previously budgeted” she pointed out. Initiatives such as this, Pellicer stressed, “are those that have greatly improved the quality of life in the city, so the PSOE should respect the opinion of the residents, the same ones to whom they did not allow participating”.
Finally, the councillor has emphasised that the residents of the associations and the Neighbourhood Council “work voluntarily for their city and deserve respect”.