Residents of Centrofama, in Murcia, claim that the orange zone has only moved the gorillas a few meters | La Verdad

“We haven’t solved anything; we’ve only moved the problem of location and time, if anything has changed.” This was the way residents and shopkeepers in the Centrofama shopping gallery expressed themselves yesterday about the serious problem of coexistence and health that the continued presence of gorillas in the area represents for them. It was a few months ago, when after years of weariness and resignation, residents and business owners in this central area decided to create an association to combat this problem.

This step allowed them to quickly attract the attention of the municipal authorities, with whom they have already held several meetings to explain the situations they are forced to endure on a daily basis and to request action to eliminate them. In addition to promising an increase in police pressure, the City Council decided to adopt a deterrent measure implemented last August. Thus, taking into account that the point of greatest conflict with the valets is the one with the largest parking pool, the City Council decided to eliminate the 34 rotating spaces in front of the shopping gallery on Puerta Nueva Street.

This was achieved by changing blue zone parking spaces – used under hourly rates – to orange zone parking spaces or those for residents. However, the effects of this decision could not be seen until September, since August is not a month for the control of the so-called ORA ordinance. This has meant that during the summer residents have continued to witness unpleasant scenes, such as violent fights between valets or even indecent behaviour such as masturbation in the parking area itself.

Restricting the flow of drivers looking for parking should have drastically reduced the presence of parking spotters in this enclave. However, residents point out that, although they have reduced their number – compared to the significant accumulations that occurred at the entrance to the cinemas – they have not disappeared from this point by any means. Firstly, they take advantage of the fact that there are people who continue to use the orange zone as if it were a parking space, which is why residents of the area, such as Carmen, are asking for greater control of parking.

Secondly, many valets have decided to focus their main hours of activity between 2 and 4.30 pm and from 8 pm onwards, which are the time slots in which this regulation stops operating, according to Massimo Virgolini, who runs a hair salon in this very enclave. Finally and thirdly, the largest concentration of valets has not disappeared, but has moved a few metres further away, taking advantage of the blue zone that still exists in streets such as Greco and Doctor José Tapia Sanz and that some of the rotation spaces eliminated in Centrofama have been moved to cross streets to these, such as San Martín de Porres. “If we already had them here, now even more so,” commented a nearby orthopaedic clinic. “They continue sleeping, defecating and throwing rubbish next to the buildings; in addition, they generate conflicts if they are not given the money that they consider sufficient; The degradation that the area has been accumulating for years continues,” says the secretary of the new Centrofama neighborhood association, Francisco Javier Navarro.

“Police pressure will continue”

Municipal sources maintain that “it is still too early to see the positive results of this measure.” However, the Department of Citizen Security assures that “pressure will continue to be applied by the anti-gorrilla group of the Local Police” to address the problems generated by this phenomenon. However, the neighborhood association considers that the measures to be adopted by the City Council cannot be limited to those applied by the Department of Mobility in relation to the regulation of parking.

Its president, Eva Garrido, is committed to promoting the three axes around which the Sustainable Urban Mobility Plan (PMUS) revolves in order to eradicate this problem. Thus, first, she proposes expanding the pedestrian space in the area, eliminating parking spaces, something that some merchants do not agree with. Second, she calls for improving urban transport, to reduce the use of private vehicles and; third, she believes it is appropriate to accompany this last measure with other restrictions on cars such as the implementation of a low-emission zone (ZBE), promoting dissuasive parking and guaranteeing underground parking. For her part, Navarro asks for greater police or municipal personnel presence – “if necessary, bring back the night watchmen” – and to carry out campaigns to ask people not to give money to the gorillas. The sale of drugs in the nearby Polígono de la Fama seems to be another possible cause that no one dares to put on the table due to its complexity. Meanwhile, everything seems to remain the same in Centrofama… or almost.