Illegal flea markets are one of the biggest problems we have in Sitges.The wild proliferation of this practice creates a bad image for our city and is a grievance for legal traders. It is not a problem exclusive to Sitges. All towns and cities with economic activity and large affluence of visitors suffer from similar problems in proportional terms. And no definitive solution has been found capable of eradicating such activity from our streets.
But there can be no excuse. At the City Hall, we are fully aware that this issue requires a specific action. Illegal flea markets are a very a complex phenomenon that cannot be untangled with a single-sided approach, but requires the confluence of several elements: prevention, prosecution, and also, needless to say, the awareness of all potential buyers. And to solve it, it is also essential a full collaboration of everyone involved directly or indirectly: traders, different police forces, the City Hall...
Last week, I met with the new Director General of Police of Catalonia. I exposed the extent of the problem and the complex reality, and at the same time, I asked additional resources to address this situation. Due to our effort against crime prevention, we cannot devote all local police officers on patrol to fight illegal flea markets and illegal peddlers. We need the complementary collaboration of Mossos d'Esquadra.
Recently, we expanded police reinforcements to fight illegal flea markets, and such action will allow a stricter control and impose the necessary fines, not only to sellers, but also to buyers.
But make no mistake. The solution to Illegal Flea Market will not come by the hand of police action. Or, at least, not exclusively police action. We must make a real picture of the situation: sellers are people who have nothing to lose, they fled poverty, crossed deserts and narrows leaving many behind, and a police patrol will not curb their yearning for an amount of money that allows them to live (or just survive). In other towns that opted for police action, the problem has not been solved and indirectly generated parallel conflicts.
However, I repeat that we should not shy away from our responsibilities and we must keep on trying to solve the problem from every standpoint. We will strengthen patrols, we will enhance collaboration between different police forces, we will act at street level to block and encumber their activities, and we will use all the resources at our avail to reduce the negative impact of such issue.
In parallel, we will continue working on measures to boost trade and the local economy, such as the Shopping Night that we held ten days ago, or the socio-economic revitalization measures that stimulate local entrepreneurs and small businesses.
