Chronicle of a Sunday – of predicted stress – at Retiro. Famous garden, renowned for emerging from the urban sidewalk like a haven of peace. Yesterday, of course. Walking in the park didn’t cause any headaches. And going through it, cover to cover, doesn’t make you competent. There is no doubt, the wooded space it’s no longer Eden where you can breathe.
Declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site in July 2021, its romantics claim that it is experiencing inappropriate overpopulation of a landscape of this kind. “From a historic park to an amusement park,” laments the president of the Association of Friends of the Buen Retiro Gardens, Javier de la Puentetraveling through the region, filled with go-karts, bicycles, electric scooters, “segways”, “tuk tuk” tricycles and other “wheeled doozys”.
During the trip, careful not to get crushed by the huge vehicles, we came across all kinds of activities taking place in different green spaces: from meditation groups and dance classes to mass picnics and bachelor parties. Eleven similarly dressed women toast among colorful balloons. On the grass, various drinks and food. De la Puente takes one look and walks toward the partygoers. “It is forbidden to place decorations in the trees,” he told them. They look strange. As would the majority of passers-by who visit the park every day –around 130,000–.
In a survey carried out between November and December 2022 among more than 26,000 people – aged 35 to 55 – on the situation in Retiro, 82 percent of those questioned admitted that They didn’t know the rules of use who govern it. The survey revealed that one of the main concerns of citizens is the “intense” use made of the park.
Several people driving karts in the park
Additionally, 73 percent said more control over picnics and birthday parties that people throw unexpectedly. 71.1 percent were very critical of free-roaming dogs and more than 63 percent were against putting Christmas lights or other types of lights in trees.
“Is this same farewell party forbidden?” “There is nothing forbidden. There is no usage plan that regulates what can and cannot be done during retirement. This is Roque’s house», they express in the association. Six years ago, in October 2018, Manuela Carmena, then Mayor of Madrid, created a Civic and Social Council to promote the UNESCO candidacy of Paseo del Prado and Retiro, and which gave citizens the opportunity to participate in garden-related matters. palace. But the organization hasn’t met for a year: “We ask you to listen to us.”
Two people sleep near where Florida Park is located
The entity explains that the green space is undergoing new realities which are not envisaged in any management plan. Companies dedicated to organizing guided training sessions with thirty people and installing all kinds of equipment in the park, spontaneous concerts, photo shoots, family dinners that They hire catering companiesdelivery men wandering around on bikes or even people spending the night in tents, which the association claims to have seen: “In a world heritage park!”
To contrast this information, this newspaper asks the Municipal Police if it is aware of this phenomenon and if it would be possible to know the data of the complaints that were filed in the park last year and their typology: “Specific statistics from the park We do not have withdrawals, they would come from generic complaints from the neighborhood. As for camping inside the gardens, we are unaware of its existencesince there is night surveillance in which the park is closed and we make sure that they do not occur.
The town hall indicates that the master plans for the city’s large parks are being promoted
De la Puente carries a folder full of photographs. “That’s what I told you,” he said, pointing to one of them. “Here you fuck,” is written with a marker in some sort of font. In other shots, various condoms: the “cruise” or cancaneo area (practice of sex in public) of Retiro.
For all this, since 2018, the association has requested a master plan of use. Madrid City Hall insists it is working on it. But the project never happens. “In these moments master plans are promoted for large urban parks. Once approved, they will be supplemented by other instruments. Among them and in the case of Retiro, with a project for public use, the details of which will be communicated at that time,” sources from the Department of Urban Planning, Environment and Mobility indicate to the newspaper.
Many people practice Falun Dafa
Already in December 2023, the same association, tired of waiting, wrote a draft proposal with various regulations intended to regulate the public use and enjoyment of the garden: “But not even with those.” The document is made up of 16 articles which require respecting opening hours and putting in place, if necessary, capacity control for access to the park.
Furthermore, it is prohibited park in the gardensset up tents, organize picnics – except in areas designated for this purpose –, place tables and chairs in meadows, play games and sports – except in areas expressly demarcated and signposted – and circulate outside cycle paths, among other practices.
One of the main problems of the park, according to the president of the Retiro Norte neighborhood association, Felix Sanchezin conversation with this newspaper, is that “the Retiro has not had personnel development – maintenance, security and surveillance and enforcement officers – proportional to the increase in tourism. The Municipal Police and the National Police cannot cope with certain times of the year, especially in spring and autumn. This last quarter, El Retiro suffered a considerable impact in weekend attendance, particularly in September.
Sánchez, like De la Puente, says the council has been promising them a plan “for a long time.” Ensures that communication with the Cleanliness and Green Zones Advisor, Jose Antonio Martínez Paramois fluid – “not like with the district councilor Retiro, Andréa Lévy»–. But “we must act”. “I acquire the commitment in favor of the overall management study, the consensual modification of the closure protocol and the master plan of use”, left the councilor in writing in May 2023.
The associations emphasize that the Civic and Social Council, created to debate park issues, has not met for a year
In two hours we visit part of the small urban forest. And not a single policeman. We contemplate the air raid shelter that they want to make accessible. He themed garden He seems worried to say the least. The years of peace and calm are far away. Now a goal: save Retiro.
