Work begins in Almendro Park amid complaints from neighbors and the opposition | Madrid News | EUROtoday

Last week, a team of workers with heavy equipment broke into the Almendro 3 playground (within the La Latina neighborhood) to the shock of some neighbors who declare to don’t have any details about the undertaking that’s going to be carried out. Concerned in regards to the destiny of the leisure space, some residents have began a petition looking for to ensure its continuity. The councilor for Más Madrid Lucía Lois has criticized that the excavators appeared “without warning, and without listening to the families”, whereas municipal sources justify the work because of the “notable deterioration” of the world and guarantee that the undertaking was reported within the District Plenary.

The president of the Cavas-La Latina Neighborhood Association, Saturnino Vera, has acknowledged the necessity to intervene within the park attributable to its “poor state of conservation” however denounces the shortage of transparency on the a part of the City Council: “The works are welcome when you know what they are going to do and you agree with it, but they have done it without counting on the neighbors. We do not know if the space will continue to be for the little ones or how long the work will last.”

Vera emphasizes the significance of preserving this leisure space that was created in the course of the administration of Manuela Carmena and that concerned the transformation of an deserted lot into an space supposed for the enjoyment of the little ones. “That lot was completely abandoned, full of garbage and even with cars parked there. Since its transformation it has had a lot of traffic, so we hope that the works will improve it and it will reopen as soon as possible,” highlights the neighborhood consultant.

From Más Madrid, Lucía Lois has criticized the “lack of sensitivity towards childhood” of the City Council headed by José Luis Martínez-Almeida and has been in opposition to the destruction of “the roofed structure and all the community toys that make this space special and safe.” “Thanks to neighborhood work, we transformed an unhealthy, dangerous lot, which was a focus of insecurity and drug consumption, into a playground, a safe space closed to traffic, for our boys and girls,” stated the councilor earlier than criticizing the reopening of an entry by Cava Baja, which additionally has the rejection of the neighbors as a result of it’s a nightlife space, with a excessive frequency of highway site visitors and which, they denounce, may result in the holding of bottles within the park.

“Our sons and daughters have the right to play safely in a space like this, which is for children’s use, and they have the right to coexistence. We demand that this decision be revoked and that it be maintained as a playground as it is, with the same access through Almendro Street and not through Cava Baja,” Lois concluded.

Municipal sources contacted by this newspaper have detailed that the Almendro 3 youngsters’s area “was in notable deterioration, so the Center Board has decided to carry out an improvement, with a first action on the perimeter and the land, since the adjacent buildings are damp.” For this purpose, they guarantee that they’ll “clean up the green areas and adapt all the spaces for the best use by families”, along with “recovering the space that one of the Cava Baja stores has usurped on the site.” The set up of youngsters’s parts is scheduled for 2026 in a undertaking whose endowment quantities to as much as 200,000 euros and which they guarantee was reported on the District Budget Plenary for 2025 and 2026.

Next Friday, December 12, there might be a gathering between the residents of the world, the councilor of the Central District, Carlos Segura, and the District Board to deal with the difficulty, as confirmed by the Cavas-La Latina Neighborhood Association.