In December 2019 we occupied a place that had been empty for more than a decade, that of Hedegile 33. Now that it has been 3 months since the eviction, we want to remember that the choice of this place was not a coincidence. In fact, with this and other premises we wanted to denounce the corruption, speculation and gentrification that the City Council has authorised.

We know that the local was a store by Adolfo Domínguez, and that the initial intention of this multinational was to open six stores on Correría Street, although in the end it only opened two. We also know that in this street there are many empty premises, and that in the 90s the City Hall of Vitoria-Gasteiz began the expropriation of many homes of the Casco Viejo, paying the neighbors below the market value to start a gentrification process.

But how did the property reach Adolfo Domínguez? This paper shows the information found in the records of several meetings of the Housing and Urban Regeneration Department of the City Council in 2006.

The objective of the meeting held in June 2006 was the award of portals 68, 70 and 76 of Correría Adolfo Domínguez Street. The latter's intention was to acquire a property of 1,000 square meters in the Casco Viejo de la capital Vizcaina. There were 23 other businesses interested in the premises of the Old Party, but it was planned to award Adolfo Domínguez the three best establishments. At that meeting, the possibility of free transfer of the premises was also raised, in order to promote commercial activity and thus “rehabilitate” the Casco Viejo.

The July meeting approved the award of the three premises cited to Adolfo. There, representatives of the PP and the PNV discussed the possible prices of the premises, but did not specify a specific amount. However, three months after the transfer agreement, they realized that they were not owned by the City Hall, but by the Basque Government. The award of the premises approved at the previous meeting was therefore cancelled at the October meeting.

Finally, however, the Consistory paid EUR 79,000 to the Basque Government for four premises to be transferred by Adolfo Domínguez and which were transferred. Purchased premises were not specified. Adolfo himself acknowledged in an interview that he had received favorable treatment when establishing his business in the Casco Viejo, recognizing as “admirable voluntarism” that he had obtained attitudes and municipal premises at a “reasonable price”. In all these cases there is no mention of any sale or rent.

We therefore demand that the City Hall:

- Do not sell the neighborhood, defend the neighbors and do not put more public resources in defense of the speculators!

Also answer the following questions:

- How did it become a wonderful plan for the transfer of publicly paid premises to merchants, a collection of empty premises for decades in the hands of multinationals outside the neighborhood?

-If there are at least four premises that ended up in the hands of Adolfo Domínguez, why is there no information about the Hedegile 33 site? Where are the local scriptures and the purchase contract?

- Why, being obligatory, was not notified in the BOTHA the sale of a municipal property to a multinational?

- How many premises went from municipal property to private property of Adolfo Domínguez, without public knowledge? In exchange for what? Is there a sales contract for all these premises? And if so, why were they not published in the Official Bulletin of the Historical Territory of Álava (BOTHA)?

- And who takes care of the disaster for small trade and neighbors that a 2O on Correría Street has been evicted? Or if the ultimate goal of the plan was to give the premises to Adolfo Domínguez so that he would speculate with the neighborhood?

Finally, we cannot fail to mention the last measure approved by the Mayor, Gorka Uraran. With this measure, the City Hall of Vitoria-Gasteiz will make it possible for the entire buildings of the Casco Viejo to become a "tourist apartment". To date, only the upper floors with first floors and independent access were allowed as tourist apartments. Therefore, once again, with the excuse of “revitalizing the neighborhood”, the City Hall has taken another step in the gentrification of the Casco Viejo de Vitoria-Gasteiz.

You are selling the neighborhood! Gorka, leave yourself in peace from the Old Town!