National Day 2013: the Goal is Freedom

Just as last year, 11 September 2013 will have again a special significance and value for all of us. Our nation is in the midst of a process to decide our own future, a process that reached a point of no return and needs to inch along every day. This year, the Catalan Way will release a new message to the world at large: Catalonia wants to be a new state in Europe. And we want to do it with a firm will of agreement, dialogue and civility that characterizes our national aspirations. I will reproduce the proclamation I made acting as Mayor for the National Day 2013:

"Sitges suffered its own September 11, though not with the cruelty suffered by the capital of Catalonia. A year earlier, during July 1713, the Bourbon troops entered our town, putting it under the control of King Philip V. Sitges, this small part of our country, just like the other towns of the county, lost all ancient self-government freedoms a fateful July 27, 1713.

July 27, in Sitges, September 11, in Barcelona, ​​are both landmarks in the history of the nation that we are, and that we are building. The dates, however, can be left aside, but not the people. Those who lost their lives, those who saw their personal and collective projects entirely smashed, entire towns wiped out. The eighteenth century is quite remote for us. But the twentieth century is far closer, the century in which we recovered our self-government institutions. And now, the twenty-first century will lead us to the national pride of living fully at the service of people.

This nation would have no meaning whatsoever without first highlighting the Catalans, without distinction of origin, language, status, or orientation. The Catalonia of the twenty-first century must build upon progress, equality, freedom and social justice.

Let's dress up balconies and windows with the Catalan flag. Let everyone see that the entire nation vibrates in each home, at every town or city. I invite all of you to participate in the official ceremony that will celebrate in Sitges on 11 September at 11 am in front of the statue of Doctor Robert, at the Plaça de l'Ajuntament.

The country is going through hard times, but not as tragic as 1713 and 1714. But right now we are in a period in which the future can be brighter, much brighter. We only need a positive attitude, perseverance, ideals of equal opportunity for all, capacity of resistance and listen to the will of the people.

In this National Day, our goal if freedom. Long live Sitges and long live Catalonia!".

Festival: Three thoughts

Enough days went by since the end of our Annual Festival, more than enough to make a balanced assessment of what the Festival brought us. For this reason, I wanted to use the blog to expound three main ideas.

National interest

Our Annual Festival was, alongside Vilafranca and Tarragona, the first Annual Festivals to be declared of National Interest by the Catalan Government. That was in 1991 and the distinction was awarded ​​based on the richness of our festive heritage, which still remains as the most identifying element of our Festival. Folk dances, short plays and processions or the March of Guilds justify by themselves such distinction. I had the opportunity to discuss it in detail with the Minister of Planning and Sustainability, Santi Vila, which we invited to the March of Guilds, and I'm pleased to say that he was amazed with what he saw and experienced. This is the essence of our Annual Festival, what sets it apart from the rest and what we must continue caring as it deserves.

The work of the Commission

Again, it has been shown that to make a good Annual Festival we should not make expenditures beyond what is necessary. As happened in 2012, the Commission of the Annual Festival and Santa Tecla performed a commendable, rigorous and effective work. The Commission cared for details, took into account the needs of dance parades, and achieved an attractive program with events for different audiences with high quality and plural proposals. The Annual Festival needs the help of our City Council budget. I am entirely convinced of such a fact, but as demonstrated with the Three Wise Men Parade or the Carnival, money does not correlate exactly with a good festivity.

Civics

The work done by the security forces and support services (health, cleaning ...) to achieve a perfect Annual Festival deserves public recognition. This task is neither easy nor grateful, but was carried out with proven effectiveness. The protocols worked and the results were evident. However, we must reflect on what was seen at the Entrance of the Flaviolet Players, when some dimwits lighted crackers. The event was totally ruined due to a nonsense like this, and it is clear we must try to avoid it. But the danger of such an action at a point where there's a high concentration of people is quite considerable, and for this reason it is necessary to act.

We just entered September and the local calendar takes a different pace. And, every September, Santa Tecla brings a shine to the eyes of the little ones and ignites the hopes of children. We have already started work, and this week we will initiate registrations so parents can register their children in the Big Kiddy Celebration.

Fasta Major's time: enjoy it, because it's only

Last night, writer Xavier Gimeno offered us a sensational Festa Major opening address, deeply moving us once again. Xavier’s words and his journey through the ins and outs of the Festa, added to the atmosphere of Sitgetanism and civic-mindedness experienced at Town Hall Square, all made it a magnificent welcome to Festa Major 2013.

For Sitgetans these are unique days. Our Festa Major, with a patrimonial wealth and a spirit of participation like none other anywhere else in our country, is possible. We live it, we feel it and we love it. That is why I invite you to live it to the fullest, intensely and responsibly, with joy and respect, pride and emotions.

Below is a reproduction of the Festa Major Proclamation:

“When the gralles head for Sant Francesc Street playing the Toc de Matinades or Morning Call song, following the entrance the musicians have always made every August 23^rd, there’s no stopping Festa Major, our main festival.

Whether it’s more or less muggy out, sunny or cloudy, there’s more or less joy, the midday vigil announces a new and, at the same time, old Saint Bartholomew’s Day. After that everything will be a frenetic race: the firing of mortars, ringing of the bells, traditional dances, verses, the civilian procession, the fireworks display, descending the parish church stairs, open-air dancing, the matinal early morning performances, solemn mass, the procession from mass, human towers, concerts, the religious procession, the final ball ... And we’ll do what we do every year: run from one place to another, to watch, to make things a reality, to feel, to enjoy everything that is so much a part of us, of all the men and women, boys and girls.

The history of the Festa Major is cyclic, just like our personal year is cyclic, from Saint Bartholomew’s Day to Saint Bartholomew’s Day. And that’s how we have to experience it. We will honor tradition, we will express our feeling of possession, and we will celebrate that we are Sitges yet another year.

My thanks to the Festa Major and Santa Tecla Commission for their zealous work. Thanks to all the collaborating institutions, companies and people. Thanks to the dancers, gralla players, bands, instrumental groups, orchestras, the flag bearer, the cordonistes (assistants) and the reader of the proclamation. A thousand thanks go out to all the Sitgetans for this, for being what they are and for feeling it. 

To celebrate it properly, with no detriment to the laws in force, the Sitges Town Council recommends all businesses and other establishments to remain closed throughout the entire day of August 24^th, and to not park any vehicles along the routes used by the traditional parades and processions. The Town Council is not responsible for any damage that might occur to vehicles, awnings and housings as a consequence of the progress of the festival events in public thoroughfares between August 20^th and the 25^th. The necessary prevention and safety measures should be taken.

Sitgetans, we are living out these special days with the family, friends and visitors. Let’s relive tradition and the legacy of our ancestors, a heritage that belongs to all of us, with our gaze placed on the difficult present, but also on a future that is looking better for Sitges and the country.

Let’s keep our five senses awake, as well as a sixth sense of hope, and allow ourselves to be transported by the charms of our Festa Major, because it is starting soon and in a just a blink of the eye it will have gone by.

Glorious Saint Bartholomew, patron saint of Sitges, long live Festa Major!”.

Social policies: immediate action

The Sitges-Garraf Third Sector Board is already a reality. In an act held at the Miramar building, we presented their lines of action and objectives in the short and medium term, and we had the pleasure and the necessary commitment to share with their promoters all the challenges that lie ahead. The Board is a great support tool in the daily work of public and private stakeholders, that try to help those most in need and suffering the crisis more than anyone.

The current situation is dramatic and difficult and affects the vast majority of our environment. Recession, unemployment, cuts and reorientation of many projects, plans and initiatives directly or indirectly affect the entire society. But no sector is more battered than the one comprised by the weakest from an economic and social perspective. Their social cushion is often so thin that it touches bone right away. So we must act without further delay.

For this reason, for the Municipal Government of Sitges supporting people is a top priority in its policy. We work shoulder to shoulder with the entities that make up the Third Sector to work on programs in the medium term, but also on immediate needs, such as the stoppage of an eviction process that we achieved a few days ago after tough negotiations with the bank involved.

And in this line, in recent months we launched projects that are already a reality and an invaluable support for a large numbers of residents in Sitges.The Blue Card and the Soup Kitchen are two good examples.

The Blue Card emerged in late 2012 as a project to award bonuses or reduced rates on public services to people with lower incomes or with a certain degree of mobility problems. The plan was expanded a short while after implementation, to include discounts granted by growing number of shops and companies to the same groups.

The Soup Kitchen, meanwhile, was a specific support for many residents with serious economic and social problems, allowing them to obtain specific answers to crucial needs such as daily food.

These two initiatives, together with the actions undertaken by Social Services, are a priority for the City Council. Daydreaming is not enough because there is too much at stake: there is poverty in Sitges, there are also people who suffer the crisis with extreme severity and our duty is to be at their side and at the same time, look for all the solutions at the reach of the City Council. 

Cultural offer: an essential tool in our tourism

Last week we premiered the campaign this summer, bathe yourself in culture. For the second consecutive year, the City Council launched an initiative that aims to bring together under one brand the intense cultural program that takes place in Sitges during the summer months. It is a support for festivals, concerts and other summer festivals and at the same time, a useful tool for the recipients of such activities, which are mainly tourists and visitors, but also the citizens of Sitges.

This summer, bathe yourself in culture is the umbrella that groups well established festivals contained in our cultural program, we are dealing here with the Summer Concert Series, the Tango Festival and the Sitgestiu Cultural, along with other interesting proposals that have emerged recently and that are in process of becoming permanent events on our agenda, such as Concerts de Mitjanit or Sitges Green Sound (with the addition of Sitges Red Sound).These three proposals bear the stamp of Port de Aiguadolç or Port de Sitges, that shows their strong commitment to become a space for leisure and quality culture.

The campaign sums up other specific events, such as Any Espriu, the brand new Cine Club Sitges or the ballet show offered by the Moscow Ballet, and as it cannot be in any other way, the events of our Annual Festival, both traditional and artistic performances. The whole program is a long list of more than 200 cultural events scheduled during the summer months in Sitges.

Cultural TourismThe promotion and development of tourism is one of the main commitments of the Municipal Government. Our economy is based on tourism. It is the main occupation of the inhabitants of Sitges, the main economic activity of our companies, the main weapon we have so a Sitges that has grown in recent years over what was recommended and advisable, is capable of preserving the essence of a living town with permanent activities. Sitges without tourism today is doomed to become a bedroom community.

And in the design of a Sitges with high quality tourism, culture is a priority. Our tourism is based on sun and sand, on our gastronomy and business conventions, (a very important and relevant fact, since it allows to break seasonality) sporting events and it is also cultural.

For this reason, it is essential to have a program such as the one represented by the different initiatives covered by this summer, bathe yourself in culture. Any tourist who arrives in Sitges with a minimum of cultural sensitivity, this is the tourism that we want most, has at its disposal a remarkable cultural program. Regardless of their cultural interests, the offer of classical, opera, jazz, pop, rock, dance or tango is strong enough to meet the varied needs and at the same time, is capable of fulfilling the most demanding agendas.

Almost every summer day is cultural, and the duty of the City Council is not to organize those activities, but to give them active support. We will deliver support though logistics and broadcasting, facilitating the access of tourists and visitors to exciting proposals that strengthen our label of quality tourism.

This summer, bathe culture

Urgent action to nourish our beaches

This night, we just began works to take sand to beaches named Sebastià, Bassa Rodona, Estanyol and Riera Xica. We are dealing here with an urgent action carried out by the City Council, to offset the reduction of sand surface experienced by the four beaches due to coastline dynamics, badly affected by spring storms that were especially virulent on the beaches near the center of Sitges.

This urgent sand nourishment started today and will cover the entire week. During five nights, trucks and caterpillars will work from 10 PM to 7 AM to improve the condition of beaches with 2.000 cubic meters of sand. The new sand received by the four more affected beaches came from a sand surplus existing at the beach named Les Botigues, and complies with all natural conservation and green standards.

Faced with the negative results provoked by the loss of an important sand surface just at the beginning of the tourist season, they City Hall of Sitges had two possible options. The first was to wait for the sea to return the sand carried away, and the second was to anticipate events and act with celerity and decision, to insure that the four most affected beaches could receive sand from other beaches in the municipality.

The loss of sand in some beaches near the center of Sitges –Sant Sebastià and Bassa Rodona are the most notorious cases– is a common mishap during most of the winters. If we enjoy a placid spring, sand regeneration takes place naturally at the beginning of the tourist season, and the sea returns all the sand carried away. But is the spring comes laden with storms, winds and rough sea, just as the current season, the natural regeneration is rather unlikely.

For this reason, at the City Hall we took the initiative and we decided to nourish the sand ourselves. The project was budgeted at just over 50.000€ and is assumed entirely by the City Hall. Too many elements were at play: success of the tourist season; economic impacts provoked by the lack of sand on the entire population; and the image of our coastline during the highest point in the tourist season.

The City Hall allocated a special item to carry out this operation that needed an urgent implementation. The Beach Department is performing an exhaustive following and if conditions make it possible, next week the four beaches of Sant Sebastià, Bassa Rodona, Estanyol and Riera Xica will enjoy a far more stable condition.

A balance of the first two years in power

Tomorrow Tuesday will mark the second anniversary of the constitution of our New City Hall and the ensuing appointment of the Mayor. We minted a new name for the coalition of four political parties that wanted a change and assume new challenges; the name was the “Government of the New Majority”. Sitges voted for a new majority capable of putting an end to the period of deranged management practices, the end result was that Sitges became one of the municipalities with the highest debt burden in the entire country.

Those first two years in power were, as you all know, very tough and difficult. It was very difficult because managing a City Hall with a debt burden of 67 million Euros requires high doses of accurate financial engineering and a solid managerial capacity. Tough years, the “inheritance” we received forced us to take unpleasant measures in every economic area of the City Council: companies, organizations, workers and finally, taxpayers. 

During those two years of municipal government, we never fled from the spotlight or ever tried to hide from voters. We had to take drastic decisions to veer away from the disastrous management of the previous government that mortgaged the City Hall for many years to come.

And the decisions taken, even considering that were difficult and tough, also proved to be strictly necessary and convenient. Now, after two years of municipal management, we can show the first favorable results in many years: we extinguished the debt of 22 million that we found when we won, we achieved net savings of 4 million Euros, and payment terms for municipal suppliers went from 24 months two years ago to 4 months now. We are dealing here with positive figures, but in no way decisive, since we still have a bank debt amounting to 53 million Euros, so we are forced to implement policies of financial contention and accurate financial management. 

The first two years of this term – governed by the correction of deficiencies – served us to set the foundations of the recuperation project that we started to apply. We were dealing with the four core ideas of the term’s Governance Plan: A Sitges that belongs to the people, Tourism as the driving force of our rebirth, Respect for the environment and our heritage and the Implementation of new economic models.

In fact, such four core ideas were the guiding force behind City Hall politics during the last months, and appeared in different initiatives that in many cases will be quite important. We must mention here the impending opening of the new university of performing arts in Sitges (Institute of the Arts Barcelona), that came to town thanks to the efforts of the government of the New Majority; the implementation of the Soup Kitchen, that satisfies the urgent needs of an important group of people; the imminent start of the refurbishment and renovation works affecting Santiago Rusiñol Library; the creation of Carnet Blau or Blue Card, that offers social services to the needy and that counts with 800 users; or the renovation of Cau Ferrat and Museu Maricel, totally insuring the protection and conservation of our architectonic heritage, in contrast with the horrendous project promoted by the previous government.

At the same time, the year 2013 was ripe to alleviate tax pressure: we reduced the price of urban transportation and in 2014, as we announced, we will cut garbage fee in half and gain tax by 45%.

As I said, we are going through difficult times, but there’s also a ray of hope as ascertained in the first results of our policies for the promotion of economic development, social support and environmental protection. We inaugurated a new governmental culture in which participation is not an empty word, as illustrated in the Public Audiences, here everybody has the opportunity to participate, ask, suggest, criticize and even scream to the point of loosing composure. We have a lot of work to do, but the most important of all is that we are anxious to do it and that we are also hopeful. Let’s keep working!

Public audience 29 May 2013