Barcelona has a new mayor, Jaume Collboni, and he has a new plan to “Tidy-up” or “Straighten-up” the city for order and cleanliness.
Called the Pla Endreça, Collboni’s program includes big increases in fines for public urination and drinking. Officially, it consists of three points: “reinforcing and expanding maintenance, ensuring proper use of public facilities and shared responsibility and combating antisocial behaviour with authority.
According to recent polls, insecurity and dirtyness are two main concerns of local residents and they played a role in recent election campaigning. The increases in fines include one from €300 to €600 for drinking on the street, for graffiti from €300 to €500 and urinating in the street will go from €200 to €300.
Aside from the penalties, which authorities pledge will be fully enforced, the city will triple weekly cleaning inspections to 1800, and clean parks, squares and beaches more often, as well as increasing the number streets that are cleaned with water. A “rapid intervention brigade” will be implemented to deal with emergencies.
