Barcelona and the piles of rubbish at the foot of the bins
I love Barcelona very much, despite the difficulties. That the news in the city now is the resistance of two lifelong bars to change the two old signs on their facades because they are larger than the municipal ordinance stipulates is a joke compared to all the easily observable infringements, such as the disgrace of the tacky signs and the blinding lighting of the 24-hour supermarkets (which, by the way, no one can explain how they manage to pay the rent for a central location), which are an insult to Barcelona, which prides itself on design and good taste. Not to mention the Barcelona that is incapable of enforcing the law that prevents a bar or restaurant from running an electrical cable from the facade to the awnings of the terraces, when the safety regulations prohibit overhead electrical cables, as they pose a clear risk of electrocution, detachment, or fire.
Has any municipal cleaning official (which has been improving considerably) thought that it is now urgent to create the figure of a 'container tidier'? Someone who does nothing but ensure that everything goes inside, and who quickly has removed what cannot go there, such as the toilet bowl from some construction work or last year's broken fans, and who reminds supermarkets, restaurants, and shops in general that the cardboard goes inside, not on the sidewalk.
The piles of rubbish at the foot of the containers are the new broken window of Wilson and Kelling's theory, which relates the abandonment of public space to increased uncivil behavior, insecurity, and delinquency. We all see it. This and many other flaws. Do those who are paid to see it not see all this?