Port Area: Fairground To Return Mid-July - First 40 Hippies October

[Carl]

As a point to note Google translate has used the word 'fairgoers' in the translated article, but in the context of the wording it appears that this should be 'fairground ride operators' or similar, as it relates to increased rates.

https://www.informacion.es/vega-baja/20 ... 94819.html

Google translate, minus video and images:

Dolón assures that the Torrevieja fair returns to the Paseo de La Libertad in mid-July

The government team announces the tender for the first 40 hippie booths, warns that only merchants with a certificate of artisan product will be able to set up, that the rates of fairgoers will rise substantially, and anticipates that the Plaza de Capdepont will be renamed Plaza de España.

The governing board of the Torrevieja City Council gave an account this Monday at a press conference of a battery of relevant news around the port space where a few days ago the Paseo del Mar leisure center was inaugurated. It was led by the announcement by the mayor, Eduardo Dolón, that in mid-July the fairgoers will return to the Paseo de La Libertad and that the new avenue that crosses the port will be opened to traffic in the coming days. He confirmed the tender for the first 40 booths of the hippie craft market and the change of name of the Plaza de Capdepont to Plaza de España, a space in which the tribute to the victims of the bombing of August 1938 will also be located.

The collegiate body reported on the request of the company Abala (Hozono Global Group), accepted by the technicians, to extend the deadline for the redevelopment of the esplanade between the sidewalk of the "Bahía" and the road of the new Paseo del Mar leisure center until July 31, the area where the old Paseo de La Libertad was located, which, By the way, it will maintain that name. These works were awarded for more than seven million euros.

New esplanade of the Paseo de La Libertad

In principle, this request does not imply a modification of the contract in terms of budget. It is justified by the paralysis of supplies due to the United States-Iran war and the fact that the new road that crosses the old new port space has not been opened and, therefore, the company cannot continue the paving and undertake the rest of the services to be extended in what is still part of La Libertad Avenue. that disappears. The road is necessary to give entry to the traffic that goes to the parking lot of the Marina Salinas marina, it has no exit to Ramón y Cajal, so the traffic leaving the port must run along the Juan Mateo promenade. It will open in the next few days. In this context, the mayor of Torrevieja assured that the municipal commitment is that the fairgoers return to their traditional space, now completely renovated, in mid-July, with the festivity of the Virgen del Carmen, without considering it contradictory that the extension of the works on the same space is requested until the 31st of that month. With such a forecast, the esplanade would continue to be under construction while the fair begins its activity.

First forty booths: in October

At the same press conference, which is normally held by the councilor secretary of the governing board, Federico Alarcón, and to which Dolón joined, the tender for the first 40 booths of the hippie market was announced. As reported by INFORMACIÓN they are valued at 22,000 euros each and a tender price of 1.3 million euros. This project also has important nuances. Dolón pointed out that these first booths will be installed in October of this year in the vicinity of the Customs and the Mínguez dock, and approximately in the space left by the ficus row that has disappeared from the Paseo de La Libertad.

Dolón pointed out that the concessionaires of booths with more seniority will have priority when it comes to accessing those first positions, a proposal that comes from the sellers themselves. The City Council plans to tender the construction, transfer and assembly of up to 160, however, it added a fundamental condition: merchants must demonstrate with an official certificate from the Generalitat Valenciana that their offer is artisan in order to be eligible to install a stall. Added to this limitation is the increase in occupancy rates. Vendors who sell T-shirts, toys, mobile phone cases, among other products, must prove this certificate or abandon the activity. At the moment around 25% of the stalls offer this type of offer, many of them for more than a decade, on the former Paseo de la Libertad.

Fees

The councillor also expanded on an issue on which until now there had been little abundant in public interventions on the remodelling of the port area, promoted since 2022. The rates of occupation of public domain that both artisans and fairgoers will have to contribute. We must start from the basis that the port space is not municipal property. The Generalitat is competent to manage this space and sets a fee that the City Council has to provide for its concession - a document that has not been made public. Dolón points out that part of the municipal investment in the port reform and also the economic cost of the occupation of public domain should be reflected in the fee to be paid to the municipality by fairgoers and Artisans.

Because they are all going to receive facilities - and booths in the case of the hippies - at no cost. But the rates they paid until now are going to rise substantially. To this end, the City Council is preparing two ordinances that will regulate both the operation of both activities - the fair lacked it - and the payment for the public domain. And it is possible that some entrepreneurs and self-employed workers who previously carried out the activity cannot afford it now. Dolón and Alarcón assured that the associations that defend the interests of both groups have already known about these changes for a long time. The fair has been working in Antonio Soria Park since the summer of 2023 - users had begun to adapt to the change with the advantage of unlimited parking - and the hippies were moved to Avenida de la Estación at Easter 2025.

Monument and square

As a result of the planned opening of the main road that crosses the port area, from the access to the underground car park to the Levante dock, Dolón gave details of other municipal decisions that perhaps he did not plan to confirm at this press conference. When asked about the name of this new avenue, he pointed out that initially it was thought of as Paseo del Mar, but it generates confusion with the leisure center that marks it. He then indicated that the name of the avenue will be linked to the one that will be given to the Plaza de Capdepont, which will be renamed Plaza de España. There will be the tribute agreed upon by all the political parties In the plenary session to the victims of the bombing of August 1938 by the fascist air force.

This square, in which the old tourist office has been demolished and will maintain its current vegetation, according to the mayor, will be extended with a larger area than the current one by eliminating the current roundabout and building a road that connects the access to the port with Rambla Juan Mateo street, which will become the main exit road for traffic from the port area. The location chosen for the tribute is close to the street where the largest number of victims of that bombing took place: that of the "pylonics", now Torrevejenses Ausentes.

[Brandyboy]

That's good news. Love the name ' Hippie booth'