On the day that the autovía was inaugurated, there were a couple of dozen residents of Velilla protesting on the Taramay roundabout – they were not pleased and nobody would deny that they have good cause to be.
High taxes and little or no service, is there beef, they denounced to economic decline of Velilla. There is even a well-worn story that last summer, somebody’s ice cream fell on the pavement and the stain that it produced is still there. An urban legend or pending urban warfare?
But the litany of complaints goes on: there are still remains on the beach from the night of San Juan night on the 24th of June, there are public gardens swamped by dog poop and once white pavement stones are stubbornly grey.
“I’ve been coming here for the last 25 years, staying in rented accommodation, spending a fortune, but this is definitely the last time that I’ll be coming, because I can’t pay the Blue Zones and the place is just not worth it anymore,” said one woman. “The only time you see a policeman is when they come to fine somebody,” she added.
But it is the Blue Zones that ‘broke the camel’s back,’ because many of the blocks don’t have their own parking, meaning that people who are already paying holiday rentals have to find another 200 euros a month to get a monthly parking pass.