Land Law. Cartoon of 11/10/2020 in CTXT
In 1998, the Aznar government promoted the Land Law with the supposed idea that housing prices would fall. We all know what happened, housing went up, went up and kept on going up.
More than two decades later there are still people who question that the Land Law was the direct and only cause of the real estate bubble and all the shit that followed. The story is that the law was the starting pistol for corruption, anything goes for the false bonanza.
In recent years, the PP has gone reprinting its land liberalisation fever, the one that fattened the bubble, because it is the only thing it knows how to do, to favour wild speculation with anything, no matter how basic and fundamental it is for welfare.
In Madrid they have staged the last chapter of the recovery of the brickyard by sneaking the Land Law through in that way, without quorum and in the most unfortunate way. The Assembly of Madrid approved earlier this month the modification of the Land Law Project, with the votes of PP, Ciudadanos and Vox, the first legislative reform of the Government of Ayuso. A law that will make it possible to abolish most of the licences and liberalise the urban planning sector.
It was a long time coming
Vignette of 19/07/2020 in CTXT
Every big deal has its planning, strategy and programme. And the plan"Madrid, bocadillo de ladrillo"(Madrid, brick sandwich) was very clear, there was no lack of clues. Headlines like this one sang it out.
Almeida "signs up" FCC, Acciona and Sacyr to make Madrid the "capital of construction"
At the time I didn't quite understand the meaning of the first inverted commas or the use of that verb, but I assumed that they had to get clicks as if they were dropping something. Eventually I knew it was another good winking clue.
The first translation that could be made was; back to the brick to resume with joy the party of the megamotrets and their associated traditional shenanigans.
But as we have to be serious and not get carried away by dazzling statements because sometimes what appears to be something at first glance is something else, or even a third thing that nobody expected, I went to find out how the City Council was selling this brick idea.
You have to be careful because the mayor is very prone to inventing adjectives and awards that nobody has given him in order to foist them on the city.
The thing is that the city council allied itself (the details of this alliance are unknown) with large construction and development companies and institutions such as the College of Civil Engineers, the Icex or the ICO, to promote initiatives that consolidate the city as the" worldcapital of construction and engineering".
With the engineering aspect, they are giving it a less brickbatsy touch, well played there.
and all this for what?
They said to generate employment by "attracting and retaining talent", the internationalisation of Spanish companies and applied research, "all in line with progress towards achieving the Sustainable Development Goals".
A round of applause for the joke in the approach. Another misleading move to make it look like something social and committed to social causes, and nothing better than to sneak in the Sustainable Development Goals.
It has never been used before, hypocrisy and so much literaturehypocrisy and cancamusa to the bricks and mortar and hypocrisy. That was one more move for the speculators without guts to get the best positions for the new party and to squeeze well and fast the Law of the soil that was being cooked.
