Barcelona takes a step in Torre Baró's fight to emerge from obscurity

BarcelonaPart of Torre Baró began Christmas in darkness. On December 23, 24, 25, and 26, none of the streetlights on Sant Feliu de Codines Street worked. This is a common problem throughout the neighborhood, the result of a precarious electrical installation. Last summer, for example, they were without power for 24 days. Fixing it is one of the residents' long-standing demands, which the City Council is now beginning to address. Mayor Jaume Collboni announced this Thursday the first investments to begin removing one of the most controversial elements of the landscape in this northern neighborhood of the city: the lampposts. These structures, which have long since disappeared from most of the Catalan capital, had become a major headache for residents years ago, both because of the constant power outages and because the poles installed on the sidewalks hinder pedestrian access for people with mobility issues. Now the city council has announced an investment of fourteen million euros to begin removing and burying both the power and communications lines.

The first works will begin this January on two of the neighborhood's main thoroughfares: Escolapi Càncer Avenue and Llerona Street. This project—which has a budget of four million euros and should be completed in just over a year—is complemented by work on drafting a plan to install more underground utilities in the neighborhood over the coming years, with an initial budget of 10 million euros. All of this should help reverse the situation in a neighborhood that frequently suffers power outages affecting streetlights and even homes. The blame lies with both the precarious state of the electrical installations—highly prone to overloads and, being outdoors, much more vulnerable to the elements—and the frequent copper thefts plaguing the neighborhood. "We want a more resilient, more robust, more stable and reliable electrical grid, prepared for any eventuality," Collboni summarized.

The mayor emphasized that it is a complex operation—the topography and the neighborhood's layout make the work difficult—but he highlighted the "very significant financial effort" Barcelona is making to improve the neighborhood. He stated that this measure is part of "the ongoing struggle to make the city's neighborhoods livable for everyone." "The right to remain in Torre Baró means having a regular bus service, guaranteed housing, and also ensuring that the electricity doesn't go out," he explained. Valeria Ortiz, president of the Torre Baró residents' association, also spoke at the event. While acknowledging that it was a "day of celebration," she set some demands for the City Council. "We want a neighborhood where people can grow old and stay. We don't want them to be afraid to go out because there's no light or they might fall," she stressed, and she demanded that the plans be fulfilled and that the undergrounding of electrical and telecommunications cables reach all the streets.

Collboni asks electricity companies to get involved

During the event, Collboni also took the opportunity to criticize the electricity companies. He emphasized that the City Council is not an electricity operator and is not responsible for the infrastructure; rather, it is the companies that "maintain, fund, and pay for the power lines." He lamented that in some areas of the city, there isn't "the level of investment that there should be" from these companies, and explained that the First Deputy Mayor, Laia Bonet, met with them about this issue. Along these lines, the councilor for Nou Barris, Xavier Marcé, clarified that the undergrounding of the lines is the City Council's responsibility, but since the conduits are the responsibility of the operators, "it's not the same to do it with close cooperation as it is not to do it at all." For now, the project has been successfully implemented with the first undergrounding projects in a neighborhood of Torre Baró, which, after many years of struggle, is finally beginning to see the light at the end of the tunnel.