The city is the natural ground for spontaneity and the ideal space to put the law in parentheses. When I advocate for a purely urban way of putting legality in a certain epokhé, I am not referring to stabbing each other in the street or running red lights. We must try to comply with the rules of coexistence, of course, but reference cities like London, Paris, New York (and Barcelona!) have also been woven from a certain anarchist tradition. All this armchair metaphysics comes to mind because of the newsworthy case of some residents of Meridional street - in the Clot neighborhood - who were about to be fined more than 700 euros for having committed the terrible crime of placing some plants in the street. A neighbor (the classic somewhat idiotic fellow citizen, certainly) had reported them for hindering circulation and reduced mobility; but, finally, the officials of the Sant Martí district have dropped the case and said outrageous fine.
It should be said that Meridional street is a dead end, that the neighbors in question had no intention of obstructing the passage of cars (nor of quadriplegics!!!) and that, furthermore, the plants aesthetically enhanced a rather soulless street. Often, the language of the administration is practically Stalinist, and the City Council had accused these poor fellow citizens of something that sounds as serious as "occupation of public thoroughfare with unauthorized elements." Let's see, fillets meus: any Barcelonian understands that we cannot dirty the street with whatever objects we please. But placing some plants to beautify a certain area or taking out a small table and a few chairs to get some air and chat with neighbors in front of your house... I would say these are things that not only do not represent any crime against humanity, but also make the city more civil, strengthen the sense of neighborhood, and give us scenes that we admire (and envy) in other cities.
In a Barcelona where, to give a burning and sufficiently controversial example, special tax benefits have been promoted (no taxation of personal income tax, corporate tax, inheritance tax, and a significant part of VAT) for America's Cup participants, it seems quite surreal that some poor elderly women from a rather precarious neighborhood have to shell out 700 euros for having placed four pots on a street to make it more pleasant to the eye. When we travel through Italy, we often get mesmerized by the streets of Siena or Naples, where the neighborhood takes advantage of the pleasure of living in the most beautiful country in the world to organize impromptu outdoor dinners. These are gatherings that can hinder the passage of a car, limit a neighbor's sleeping hours, or even affect the morale of people circulating in the streets. But these are acts performed in the name of aesthetics, which is precisely the differential (and superior) trait of our race, the Mediterranean.
It seems quite surreal that some poor elderly women from a rather precarious neighborhood have to shell out 700 euros for having placed four pots on a street to make it more pleasant to the eye.I celebrate that the Sant Martí officials have withdrawn the fines and, henceforth, it would be appropriate not only to look at municipal regulations against the backdrop of sanity, but (prior to fining neighbors) to talk to them to understand their behavior and, while we're at it, get off our butts to visit a specific street and thus verify that a group of pots and plants are not a reason for a terrorist alert. Meridional Street has more charm with these plants, and not only for a strictly botanical reason, but because the presence of pots will mean that neighbors will go out every day (or when they please) to water them and talk among themselves, gossip and comment on the situation; thus, at least, we will achieve the miracle of making Barcelonans still have the spirit to exchange four words a day among themselves. At home, we opt for compliance with the law, but always with a view to civility. And we love Barcelona for its spirit noucentista, but also because it isThe Rose of Fire. That's how we love her.
To rectify is wise. Now we should not fall again into dehumanizing (even more) the life of our neighborhoods
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