Josep Marí Ribas, Agustinet, former mayor of Sant Josep, “wanted to burn himself to death”. Politically speaking, of course. Desperate for how the case of the Don Pepe building was developing – the City Council has a report that warns that it is “at the end of its days” and there is “a risk to the health and lives” of its tenants- the current Balearic Minister of Mobility and Housing proposed to take drastic action, so serious that it would end his political career for prevaricating: “One day I arrived here, at the Consistory, and the previous mayor he wanted to sign a decree, by himself and without any kind of report, to grant the license [for the renovation of the Don Pepe building] and the next day to present his resignation. He was going to burn himself to death.” This was told yesterday by the current mayor, Ángel Luis Guerrero (councillor for urban planning at the time of this story), during the plenary debate on motions presented by Vox and PP to find solutions to the situation of the residents of these flats, located in es Codolar.
Agustinet yesterday acknowledged to this newspaper propose that he proposed it “during a brainstorming session, but not seriously”. He was “desperate” because he saw no legal way out of this matter. But it did not cease to be, he assures, a kind of tantrum , because he was aware that his sacrifice would be sterile and that he would be guilty of prevarication, as he could not grant permission to a building that was out of order and without a licence. Guerrero used it yesterday as an example that “the City Council has tried to explore all the alternatives. It has even reached the level of personal madness”, he said in reference to the virtual political sacrifice.
Protest banners in the Don Pepe building. JA Riera.
The plenary session rejected the motions of PP and Vox. PP’s motion proposed that the Consistory look for all possible alternatives to be able to grant a repair licence for the Don Pepe building, as well as to urge the Government to make the necessary legislative or regulatory modifications to solve the problem of the 100 families that reside in these buildings . Vox wanted to urge the Balearic Ministries of Environment and Social Affairs to allocate funds for the “dignified payment for the affected homes”, so that their owners can “have a dignified way out”.
The mayor said during the plenary session that, in this “search for all the alternatives” to solve the problem of Don Pepe they even studied “giving a piece of land to the owners, reclassifying it as urban and constructing a multi-family building in a cooperative way.” “But,” he confessed, “this is not legally possible.”
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