In this month's opinion piece, the former Podemos councilor discusses the renovation project for the old Florida cinema and the lack of performance spaces in the capital of the Bajo/Baix Cinca region.
The old Florida cinema is not a good business for Fraga. It's no secret that our city has many shortcomings, and one of them is a lack of public spaces where people can enjoy performing arts.
Concerts, theater, festivals, dance, cultural events, film screenings—we can't see any of this in Fraga right now. To have it, we have to ask ourselves one question: What price are we going to pay?
From my point of view , the lease agreement the City Council has signed with the owner of the old Florida cinema is not a good deal for the residents of Fraga. This building will never truly belong to us. This is because when the lease expires, we will have to return it to its owner. In this way, we will lose all the money that the residents of Fraga have paid, both for the initial improvements, which are essential since it has been closed for 15 years, and for the ongoing maintenance over the next 60 years to keep it up-to-date and in perfect condition.
Having a public space to host concerts, festivals, films, theater, and dance performances is a matter of political will. In this regard, I must lament that over all these years, no city council has shown any interest in building a public space that we could already have up and running. A space where we could enjoy a film, a musical performance, or a dance show any weekend.
Thus, when haste sets in and there's little political will to create public spaces for everyone to enjoy, we end up with shortcuts like this: converting a private space, closed off and abandoned for 15 years, into an emergency solution for the current City Council, using the money of all the residents of Fraga.
It's a kick in the teeth and a bad solution because, as I said, it forces us to invest in someone else's property, at least almost 3 million euros.
In addition to the significant investment that the City Council has to make to adapt and update it, there are the objections and shortcomings expressed from the theatrical field, due to the deficiencies they considered that the old Florida cinema offered.
If we consider that the City Council is going to invest almost 3 million euros in a space that will never be ours, the theater community has expressed numerous doubts about the project. Furthermore, we may lose a grant to remove the asbestos from the roof, and this will ultimately be paid for by our taxpayers.
I get the impression that the town council's investment in converting the old Florida cinema into a rented space for theater, film, or dance performances in Fraga is a bad decision . And I will continue to regret that the council hadn't, from the outset, been interested in using that money to create a public performance space that all the residents of Bajo Cinca could already be enjoying.
