In the century-old Plaza de Santa Ana, nestled in the scorching centre of Madrid, there will be space for nearly 300 cars, but not for more than 40 trees that will be cut down this summer. The exchange does not seem like a good deal for the residents of the Barrio de las Letras, who took to the streets on Tuesday, shouting “Madrid, capital of illegal logging.” The demonstration was followed by more than 200 people who condemned the City Council’s project to renovate the underground parking lot of the picturesque esplanade, which means cutting down 85% of the trees, which include specimens of cypresses, Japanese cherry trees and horse chestnuts. The council has defended that “it is an action of public interest,” while the winner of the tender, which will invoice nearly 50 million over the next 25 years, has abstained from making statements about the environmental impact of the work.
The reform involves the loss of 47 of the 54 trees that the square has, explained the president of the Sol Neighborhood Association of the Literary DistrictVíctor del Rey (64 years old). Of the trees to be removed, 19 will be transplanted and 28 will be cut down. “We are in a district where there are not many squares of this size or with this forest mass, so we understand that we must prioritize green space before the entry of more cars. We cannot allow ourselves the luxury of losing those areas that we have left for recreation,” Del Rey urged. The felling is planned in the core of central Madrid, the most scorching urban heat island (UHI) in the capital, with temperatures up to 8.5 °C higher than in the rural environment, according to a 2023 study by Urban Heat Snapshot.
The trees that will be cut down flank the pedestrian walkway between the statues of Calderón de la Barca and Federico García Lorca. This corridor of those condemned to death is easily recognizable, thanks to the marks that the City Council workers painted with bright yellow spray paint on the trunks to be cut down a week ago. It was on these trees that the neighbors hung signs with the phrase “this tree is going to be cut down RIP”, accompanied by a typical death’s head, which instead of two crossed bones had a pair of trunks.
At 8:30 p.m., the members of the neighbourhood platform began to draw a rectangle on the ground with tape, inside which they wrote in chalk “no to logging” and around the outline of the letters they lit some candles that became the protagonists as night fell. Collectives such as No to logging, parties such as Más Madrid or personalities such as María Reyes Maroto, from the PSOE, attended the protest. But the spectacle that stole the attention and the laughter was a man who put on a disfigured mask of the mayor of Madrid, Jose Luis Martínez Almeida, while brandishing a cardboard chainsaw, with which he chased another attendee dressed as a tree. The rally was festive and was full of banners and jokes of all kinds, although not without indignation, judging by the slogans they chanted for more than 60 minutes.
The operation of the Santa Ana car park has been in private hands for almost 50 years. After the previous concession, which ended last year, residents requested that the council be the administrator of the car park, as Del Rey explained: “We are against privatisation because we understand that it is a parking which can generate money for the City Council.” The reform does not imply an increase in the number of places, so there will be 296 places, of which 110 will be reserved for residents.
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The contract for 45.8 million euros to renovate and operate the car park has been awarded to the Ortiz Group for the next 25 years. The agreement includes the sum of more than six million euros by the Ortiz Group for the renovation of the infrastructure, since an inspection by the council discovered some water leaks from the roof to the lower floors. The works will require the removal of some of the elements of the Plaza de Santa Ana, including the trees, to waterproof the roof. However, the residents believe that there are other alternatives. “The location of the leak points is localised and adds up to about 600 square metres – of the 4,400 square metres that the square measures – and would affect six or seven trees,” explained Del Rey. EL PAÍS has contacted the Public Relations department of the Ortiz Group, which has declined the interview.
The one who has spoken out on the subject has been the Delegate of the Urban Planning Department of the City Council, Borja Carabante, who has defended the works on Monday by arguing the need to repair the leaks and increase the number of spaces for residents. Carabante has pointed out that the clearings “are going to be reviewed to minimize the impact as much as possible” and has assured that the works are “directed especially to the residents, who now have nowhere to park” and that they will now have a space “at a reasonable price”. Such statements have been taken as “an impressive exercise in cynicism”, in the words of Del Rey, who has taken the opportunity to send a message to the delegate: “If you are so concerned about where the residents can park, I remind you that 500 meters from the square there is a parking with more than 200 seats, abandoned and unrepaired. It has been unused for six years.”
The neighborhood association has launched a collection of signatures on the platform change.orgwhich already has more than 5,500 supporters. The text accompanying the petition recalls other fellings such as that of Madrid Río, the Comillas park or Atocha. “We cannot allow the few trees that there are in our neighbourhood to disappear, giving way to yet another hard granite square, uninhabitable in times of heat, like the nearby Puerta del Sol,” they requested. The residents of the Barrio de las Letras already suffered the loss of 28 trees in 2023 due to another car park, the management of which was awarded, again, to a private company until 2044.
The work on the Plaza de Santa Ana will last approximately one year, something that has made the hoteliers in the area fear that they will have to take turns to close the terraces for two months, as confirmed this Tuesday by Baldo Cubas (54 years old), manager of the Santa Ana brewery. “Sales will drop by 20% during the year,” Cubas estimated, although he remains somewhat optimistic about the idea that the workers on the construction site will look for some refreshment or menu in his premises during the day.
Actress Marisa Paredes (78 years old), star of several Pedro Almodóvar films and a combative icon of the left, grew up in the Barrio de las Letras, when it was still affordable for working-class families. Her childhood memories are set in Plaza de Santa Ana, where she returned in January of this year to take part in the first demonstration after the City Council’s plans to cut down the trees became known. At that time, she took the megaphone to thank the press and the neighbours for their attendance. This Tuesday, seven months after that demonstration, she once again stated her position amid a wave of applause: “What did you think, Mr. Almeida, that we weren’t going to be here? You don’t know your people.”
Oblivious to the noise of the neighbourhood, the serene statue of Lorca has offered an image of contrast, contemplating the façade of the monumental Teatro Español and turning its back on the trees that will become history in a matter of days. The image of the poet, who published Barren long before the Popular Party governed Madrid, it shows the man from Granada releasing a dove that he holds in his hands. Fortunately it is only a piece of bronze, because there will be no place for the birds in the new Plaza de Santa Ana, nor for the residents who want to take shelter from the sun, unless they like the coolness of the underground parking lots.
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