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The city hall's decision to "privatise" a public space for around three months has been widely criticised by locals and opposition politiciansMayor of Malaga Paco de la Torre announced at the last full council meeting that the city hall is considering relocating the Chinese lantern show which is currently in Parque del Oeste, should it be held again in future years, in response to the two motions put forward by opposition parties PSOE and Con Málaga.
"We are going to see what the overall reaction is. If it is negative, it will no longer be held there," he responded to insistent questions from the Con Málaga spokesperson, Toni Morillas.
De la Torre also made the amendment proposed by the councillor for festivals, Teresa Porras: "Malaga city hall is committed to assessing with the neighbourhood associations and groups in the area whether or not to keep the lantern festival in Parque del Oeste".
Four local residents, who had asked to speak at the meeting, Natividad, Antonio, Rocío and Laura, referred to the "wall of shame", which had been built by the company Iluminaciones Ximénez by locating the festival inside the park. "We are thousands, hundreds of people who use this park every day, and now we will have to put up with three more months in this situation", as the show ends in February, they added.
"They have put the profitability of a company ahead of the welfare of the local people," Laura Castillón pointed out, to which Antonio Luque added that they enjoyed their park 365 days a year and now they could not. Others stressed that the closure of part of the park was "detrimental to their physical health".
The Con Málaga councillor, Toni Morillas, criticised the privatisation of the public space and that the fee of 100,000 euros paid by the company was not enough. On this point, De la Torre agreed that the fee could also be higher if the event were to be held again and be devoted entirely to improvements in the Parque del Oeste.
Socialist councillor, Begoña Medina, told Porras that she had disrespected local residents and that "this was not a circus" and said that the future of the lantern festival "should be decided by the residents".
The deputy spokesperson for Vox, Yolanda Gómez, stressed that this was not the right location, but that the public property, i.e. the Parque del Oeste, belonged to the city hall, which angered local residents. Finally, the PP government team voted against the two motions that did not go ahead, but De la Torre made clear his willingness to speak with the residents ahead of holding the event again in future.
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