I'm from Algorta, and I have a algortarra family. I have always heard that the billiards are “tareantes”, the rich who bought the houses of Algorta, a small and humble town, and now they built this “paradise” that many know as “Costa Rica”. On the other hand, it would not be fair for everyone to enter the same bag, as is the case in Algorta, because in Bilbao there are also realities and realities.

Today I learned about the campaign “Piztu Bilbo, turn off MTV.” The platform has been created to denounce the city model that "is being imposed" in Bilbao and to oppose the MTV awards that will be held in 2019. According to the information provided, the Basque Government will pay between EUR 1.5 million and EUR 3 million for the event, which will have EUR 3 million. In addition to asking whether the cultural model to be promoted is the right one, some have questioned whether the economic losses will be recovered. In fact, for many people, I could have invested that money better.

According to data from March 2018, there are a total of 25,356 officially registered unemployed in Bilbao. In the report “Youth, Work and Precariousness” recently published by the youth organization Ernai and the LAB union, they have, however, denounced that the situation of many people who are working is absolutely precarious.

As if that were not enough, some 238 people live in the streets, parks and ATMs of the Biscay capital, according to the LAB trade union. In December 2016, there were 5,453 vacant houses in Bilbao and 3,269 are rarely used. Some denounce that in the Casco Viejo bilbaíno there are more tourists than inhabitants for the holiday rental houses and that the monthly rent of the rentals is increasing steadily. Perhaps the people who get rich are the same in Algorta, Bilbao, Donostia or Bakio, and the ones we pay too.

I would say that the intentions of the Bilbao City Council have not changed much in recent years. 80.hamarkadan kidnapped the punkis in Aste Nagusia. They cut off their hair, dusted and dressed in clean clothes to give them a good impression. In recent years, Kukutza, Patakon, Erribera 13, Izar Beltz Ateneo and other self-managed spaces have been demolished and built new luxury constructions such as: The Guggenheim, the Iberdrola Tower or the last Garellano tower to be built in summer 2018, the highest in the Basque Country and designed by the prestigious British architect Richard Rogers.

For the Academy of Urbanism, it is possible that these characteristics are the ones that a city can get the “Best of Europe” award. To me, however, it seems to me that the City Council has tried for many years to turn Bilbao into a showcase. For its part, the Berri Txarrak group assures that “they have already hidden too many powders under the carpet” and that they will have to leave somewhere…