The spokesperson for the Socialist Municipal Group, Noelia de la Cruz, has criticized this Thursday the mayor Carlos Velázquez in the Debate on the State of the City, assuring that, after more than three years at the head of the City Council, the mayor, whom she has reminded as the least voted mayor in democracy, is "a naked emperor," with "much parade, much propaganda, and many trips," but without management that has meant a real transformation of Toledo.
De la Cruz, according to what the PSOE has conveyed in a press release, has condensed Velázquez's government action into three ideas: "no relevant own work, a lot of lost money, and a lot of publicity," reproaching him for having made the projects inherited from the previous socialist government "his only political capital."
"Three years and three months later, Toledo is still waiting for a work of Carlos Velázquez," the socialist spokesperson insisted, who emphasized that not even in the area of housing, one of the mayor's great banners, can he showcase his own achievements, as the PSOE has disseminated in its statement.
The five homes delivered in the Corral de Don Diego, she recalled, come from initiatives launched by the previous socialist government, so, De la Cruz emphasized, "Velázquez has not built a single home in Toledo, the only ones being constructed and rehabilitated in this legislature are those promoted with funding from the Government of Spain."
The socialist leader has also pointed to the new Municipal Planning Plan (POM) as a paradigm of the mayor's "improvisation" and his poor urban management. She has criticized the "dance of figures" in the document, emphasizing that the mayor "processed it with errors of thousands of homes," going from more than 31,000 planned homes to about 17,000, and has questioned him on how it is possible to send a strategic document to the Board of Communities without having read it.
She added that this situation has resulted in the Board of Communities issuing an environmental report that calls into question more than 5,500 homes due to flood risk. At this point, she referred to the "latest contradiction" of the mayor regarding flood-prone lands: "Now it turns out that in flood-prone areas it is possible to build with the appropriate measures, when that was precisely the argument Velázquez used to paralyze the new barracks of the Civil Guard in La Peraleda."
Loss of funds and tax increase
Another of the central blocks of his intervention has been the reduction of economic resources for the city. De la Cruz has denounced the loss of 20 million euros of European funds linked to the EDIL project, as well as the return of 3 million euros already received in the municipal coffers, to which nearly 300,000 euros in interest are added, for not having been able to execute the project of the School of Performing Arts and Dance.
To this scenario, he has added the danger that the committed funds for the Low Emission Zone may vanish, something that, in his opinion, confirms that "every time Velázquez wants to manage something, Toledo loses."
In contrast to this loss of funding, he has opposed the increase in tax pressure during the mandate, with rises in taxes, fees, and prices of municipal services such as IBI, the garbage fee, the water bill, sewage, ORA, sports fees, or the bus ticket. "That is exactly the opposite of what he promised in the campaign," he emphasized.
Among the frustrated projects, he has also included Toledo's cultural aspiration for 2031. "And it is that his little cultural ambition and his cuts in culture are making the city lose the cultural weight it had and pay the price of Velázquez," Noelia de la Cruz has stated.
"Image before management" and failed projects
Under the heading "IMAGE BEFORE MANAGEMENT," the socialist spokesperson has questioned Velázquez's model of government, accusing him of prioritizing "advertising, propaganda, and trips" over the execution of projects and the resolution of the daily problems of the neighbors. "Image before management. Headlines before results," he summarized, criticizing what he considers botched jobs and whims of the current government team.
In this line, he has lashed out at several projects and announcements from the mayor that, in his opinion, evidence the lack of planning of the local Executive, such as the Ferris wheel, the cable car, "viewpoints criticized by everyone," "bridges that only exist in his imagination," or interventions that have had to be redone or corrected.
De la Cruz has contrasted these announcements with the problems that, according to him, continue to accumulate in the neighborhoods of the city: potholes in the roads, presence of rats, mobility difficulties, lack of maintenance in sports facilities, or the rise of tourist apartments against the demand for affordable housing.
It has also censored that Carlos Velázquez's way of governing is based on "a lot of money spent, a lot of advertising, and poor results," and has pointed out as a "perfect symbol" of this mismanagement the remodeling of La Vega. It has recalled that this is a project that the previous socialist government left financed and prepared for execution with 3.2 million euros and that, just three months after its inauguration, it already presents potholes, lifted pavement, business closures, and deteriorated areas.
Lack of transparency and forgotten neighborhoods
During her speech, the socialist spokesperson has also warned that Velázquez is repeating in Toledo the "patterns" of his time in Seseña, where he was convicted by a court for denying information to the opposition. Therefore, she has demanded transparency regarding his trips, the costs linked to the European City of Sport, a project executed alongside a councilor's business, and the process of awarding the childcare centers.
De la Cruz has also emphasized that "there are 249 days left until the next elections" and has pointed out that, among his trips, his functions as provincial secretary of the PP, the preparation of the party lists for the municipalities of the province, and his participation in events and demonstrations of his formation, the mayor "will have approximately 100 days left to walk around the city and realize that he has completely abandoned neighborhoods like Palomarejos, Azucaica, Santa Bárbara, and the Polígono."
The representative of the PSOE has reproached Velázquez that now, just a few months before the elections, he has rushed to launch announcements and undertake "patches and fixes" in these neighborhoods that, she has denounced, have not been at the center of his priorities for more than three years of mandate.