La Rambla calls for maintenance taking advantage of the lack of tourists

BarcelonaThe Rambla in Barcelona is, these days, emptier and sadder than ever. With no tourists and many Barcelona residents teleworking, it has lost its rhythm. For this reason, the Associació Amics de la Rambla, which brings together businesspeople and shopkeepers in the area, has been launching a campaign for weeks to ask for the speeding up of the great reform of the Rambla, pending since 2016. An inventory on the state of the different elements of the avenue has been updated and the association claims there is an urgent need for some maintenance. They believe now is the right time.

Apart from urging the repair of damages to the pavement, the association calls for the removal of elements such as the old aviary stops - now reconverted into different types of shops - and a reduction in the number of telephone booths. There are 23 and, according to the inventory made by Amics de la Rambla associates, most of them are damaged or have graffiti. That is why they are asking Telefónica to start eliminating them.

The inventory calculates that 60% of the pavement tiles are deteriorated and points out that none of the four fountains work. It also regrets that the tiles which mark the the modernist route are cracked, the flower stalls are full of graffiti and that the holm oaks of the Pla del Teatre need to be pruned.

"Given the eternal postponement of the start of the reform of the Rambla and the expected duration of the works, it is necessary that all these elements, which have become obsolete and outside the regulations, disappear. It is also essential to repair all the deteriorated elements and more intensive maintenance to prevent it from degrading again," they claim. The association, in fact, has already promoted the installation of a meter to record the days of delay that the approved reform accumulates.