Malaga already has a traffic light in honor of little boy of the road. The Vocational Training teachers and students of the Ave María Schools have made the ornamental traffic light commissioned by the Malaga City Council to commemorate this well-known Malaga humorist. Thus, the figure that indicates to the pedestrian whether he can pass or not bears the Chiquito’s characteristic humorous posture.
This device, it is ornamental in nature and for security reasons it will not regulate the traffic of the environment where it is located, although its location has not yet been decided, it will have a red phase of 40 seconds and a green phase of 60 seconds, accompanied by the famous phrases of this well-known humorist. You can regulate the sequential volume that accompanies the red and green phases. In addition, it includes a timer to determine the start and end of its daily operation.
The mayor of Malaga, Francisco de la Torre, together with the councilor for the Mobility Area, José del Río, and the mayor of Carretera de Cádiz, Luis Verde, attended the demonstration of the ornamental traffic light, which has materialized thanks to an economic contribution of 1,000 euros made by the Municipal Transport Company (EMT) as a research aid to the Ave María Foundation, as well as for the purchase of the necessary materials for its construction.
For its part, Monelec (from the ETRA group) has also collaborated so that the ornamental traffic light in Chiquito be a reality. In this sense, this entity has ceded the 2.4-meter column for the traffic light, an acoustic warning-repeater for pedestrian crossings with automatic volume adjustment, pedestrian-type traffic light in aluminum injection and a push button for pedestrian demand.
“We have dedicated a month and a half to the project and the most important challenge has been to make the mobile dolls since we have had to use programmable led arrays to being able to stage Chiquito’s movement“, Miguel Descalzo López, basic FP teacher and tutor of one of the groups, told us. “The recordings are original and they have been coordinating the movement whether the traffic light is red or green”.
“It will not be placed regulating trafficsince it will only be ornamental so that people can enjoy Chiquito’s movement and voice”, Miguel told us, who has been closely supervising the work. “The students accepted the challenge from the first moment they were given on the table. We appreciate that the students managed to keep the project secret so that the final proof could have been seen today”.
“If you have to put two traffic lights at two different points because it had repercussions, it would fit without problem, perhaps because of the area in which he lived. We are considering that possibility,” concluded Miguel.
“We have chosen about 30 jokes that the students have been cutting little by little. They have really enjoyed doing it,” said Paco Parejas, coordinator of the project.
“We have worked very well because any problem one department had was solved by anotherso we have been a very complete team”, said Paco Parejas.
Francisco de la Torre, Mayor of Malaga, did not want to miss the opportunity to “thank everyone for making this possible, especially the students who have participated”. “This challenge has been overcome and will be a success“, concluded De la Torre.
The Malaga City Council has promoted the design and execution of this installation, after its approval, unanimously by all the municipal political groups, of a motion in the Consistory’s Culture Commission.
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Likewise, last December the inauguration of the tribute sculpture took place in the park that bears his name since 2004, made by the sculptor Ramón Chaparro and whose works necessary for its installation were carried out by the Consistory, through the Municipal Planning Department. The execution of the base of the sculpture involved a municipal investment of 20,000 euros.
These tributes to Chiquito de la Calzada, an icon of humor in Spain, join those received previously, some posthumously, such as the award of the City Medal (October 2018), the appointment of Favorite Son of the City of Malaga (October 2018) and the recent tribute, in the fourth anniversary of the death of the comedian and singer, with the placement of a plaque of the plan “Málaga makes History” at the Chinitas bar. In addition, he was a town crier at the Malaga Fair in 1996.