The mayor of Badalona, Xavier Garcia Albiol and the ‘councillor’ of Rights Socials, Carlos Campuzano, They have staged good harmony after the meeting that they have held this Friday at noon to discuss the social problems of the southern neighborhoods of Badalona. “The meeting has been very useful. It has been a cordial, hopeful meeting, and my assessment is very positive,” he assured Albiol. “Badalona occupies and worries the Generalitat”, Campuzano declared.
Resurrect the Consortium
It has been a “first meet“, which has served for “lay the foundations“of a better collaboration between the two administrations, both have assured.
The instrument that will channel such collaboration will be the Badalona Sud Consortium. An entity made up of various departments of the Generalitat and the Badalona City Council, and which had been in the process of being closed since April last year, when the Consortium plenary approved its dissolution, at the proposal of the Generalitat and the Badalona town hall. .
As this newspaper explained, the entity was created in 2006, and its objective was to provide tools for the social transformation of the southern neighborhoods of the city (Congrés, Remei, la Mora, Artigues and Sant Roc). It was born with seven workers and a budget of 1.2 million euros; However, thirteen years later, there was only one worker left and he had half the initial resources.
“We have decided to stop the final phase of dissolution in which the Consorci finds itself with a sine qua non condition: it has to have a different dimension, in which areas of transversal action can be included”, explained Albiol. The mayor refers to the fact that, when the Consorci was active, it was the Department of Social Rights “the only one that works in it effectively”. The ‘councillor’ has agreed with the mayor that it will be necessary “reformulate” the entity to make it “more complete”.
The former ‘councillor’ of Drets Socials, Violant Cerveraassured that even the disappearance of the consortium, the joint work between the ‘conselleria’ and the consistory would be maintained. Ruben Guijarromayor of Badalona at that time, stated that despite the dissolution from now on, “more economic resources and more personnel” would be allocated to the southern neighborhoods of the city and he was confident that “networking and empowerment of the social programs”.
Urgency in social investments
The interview occurs less than a week after the popular candidate take the stick of command from the fourth city of Catalonia. The urgency of the meeting was confirmed by Campuzano himself, who sent a letter to Albiol this week in which he proposed to meet “as soon as possible at the headquarters of the department” to inform the mayor of Badalona “first-hand about the agreement of the Sant Roc neighbourhood”.
Thus, while the legal processes to revive the moribund Consorci Badalona Sud are taking place, both the mayor and the ‘councillor’ have maintained the need to introduce other urgent social intervention programs. So far, they have mentioned two.
On the one hand, the arrival in Badalona of the barnahus model, which was already announced this March and should be put into practice before the end of the year. It is a care model for child victims of sexual abuse that takes care of their development and recovery.
Its facilities have the look of a home, so that children and their families recognize it as a friendly space that provides security and confidence. Besides, minors only have to explain the abuse they have suffered once to a specialized team, thus avoiding re-victimization.
Secondly, the ‘minister’ Campuzano has advanced that next week they will try to sign the agreement to introduce the program ‘Bloc a Bloc’ in Badalona. This initiative aims to organize the neighboring communities of Sant Roc, improve coexistence and detect all cases of social care not identified by the Social Services.
Lowering of criminal age
After learning about the last case of group sexual assault in Badalona, on Saturday June 3, Albiol fueled the debate on the role of justice in this type of case and opted to modify the minor’s law to lower the criminal age: “The current law is raised in accordance with a mentality that no longer exists,” he said.
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Although it has not been unfortunate, the speech of the new mayor has been lowered with the passing of the days, to end up introducing other factors such as educational or social. At Friday’s meeting, without going any further, “the toughening of penalties has not been on the table“, said the ‘minister’ Campuzano.
More news from badalona in the local edition of EL PERIÓDICO Badalona.