Jaume Collboni

Mayor’s Speech “BCN 2035: The transformation of the century”

Ladies and gentlemen, 

It is a pleasure and an honour for me to speak to you for the first time in this format which has a long tradition, as the dean said. I think it was in 1983, as he mentioned, that mayor Maragall started this tradition.

Firstly, I would like to extend a warm welcome to two mayors in particular, mayor Narcís Serra and mayor Xavier Trias: thank you for being here. Also to the representatives of the municipal groups, councillors, deputy mayors, central government representatives, leader of the opposition, members of parliament and members of the association who are here with us today.

As I was saying, it is an honour to speak to you for the first time in this new format we wanted to launch, which we hope will work well. be dynamic and enable a frank, open and transparent dialogue with the media, with the press.

May I take this opportunity to say that I agree with the reflection the dean made about the importance of a free press, of critical journalism, but also, and above all, truthful journalism that responds to what is happening in our society and which, at the end of the day, is one of the guarantees of our freedoms and our democratic system.

Today is also the anniversary of the birth of Carles Pi i Sunyer, mayor of Barcelona. 

So here we are, then, in the DHUB, which is the metropolitan nerve centre imagined by Ildefons Cerdà: Plaça de les Glòries. This is also where three big metropolitan avenues converge: Diagonal, Meridiana and Gran Via.

So, it is where important events, important dates and a hugely iconic landmark come together. Because it was also here where a pact was signed between the political forces of the day and the local resident associations, the 2007 “Glòries Commitment to”, which finally this year has culminated in a historic transformation process.

After endless calls from local residents, and lots of political work, lots of resources poured in by the City Council, we are finally seeing green spaces, children's play areas, new metro exits.

In fact, I can announce that this building will form part of the Glòries metro stop; it will be a metro museum-station, which I will talk about later, and this will be happening in 2025, with the aim of reconnecting cultural amenities and the city’s nerve centres with the metropolitan public transport network par excellence, which is the metro.

I would like to start by telling you that I am a very proud man because I have the best job in the world in the best city in the world. And I suppose it shows because in the 250 days that we have been working, very hard, and with a great deal of dedication, we have started seeing the fruits, we are seeing how the city as a whole is responding and this really spurs us on.

Barcelona is getting its pulse back after what have been some very complicated years politically speaking, from the point of view of the economic crisis we experienced, the political crises, the energy crisis and now, also, the drought and its consequences which we will have to tackle.

However, these weeks we are also experiencing some very special moments. We have seen how our trade fairs are booming, attended by large numbers of visitors – soon the figure of over 100,000 visitors at the Mobile [World Congress] will be released – but above all, and especially, highly skilled the heads of companies are that have come from all over the world to our city to make decisions.

We have had a historic exhibition, the Miró-Picasso, and right here in Poblenou, we have seen the streets filled with digital art with the Llum Barcelona light arts festival, we have enjoyed literary thrillers at BCN Negra, we have received some very positive news about things we have been working on for some time, such as the arrival of cutting-edge companies like AstraZeneca, who will be occupying a building that, for many years, looked as if was doomed: the Estel building on Avinguda de Roma.

This means that in the space of just eight weeks, we have been able to see audiovisuals, technology, street art, culture, science; in the year that we are also the capital of democracy in the European Union, Barcelona.

Another important figure too, and here I take this opportunity to extend a warm welcome to the metropolitan mayors – I am also a metropolitan mayor -– the Mayor of Hospitalet and the Mayor of Cornellà. As I was saying, a very important figure: Barcelona now has 1.7 million inhabitants registered in its municipal register, which is also a positive sign, following years of population decline in our city. And if we add to this another figure, which is our unemployment rate of 6.1%, the lowest in Spain – to give you an example, the figure in Madrid stands at 9 point something, the unemployment rate in Malaga stands at 20% – this is a very positive time for the city. 

For us, the measure of a city's economic health is how many jobs we are creating and the quality of these jobs. Within these two parameters, the number of jobs and the quality, Barcelona, Catalonia, are doing very well. 

So the conclusion is clear: we said that Barcelona would be back and Barcelona is back. This has been our commitment from the start: to bring Barcelona back, and Barcelona is coming back.

It’s back to share and also to compete. 

And it’s back with a defined project which I will let you about now. We have a project, the Barcelona of 2035, and we have projects that are being developed towards this horizon of 2035. 

Look, we were talking about it at the start, when I was asked by journalists at the press briefing, who I will speak to after, what most concerned me as mayor. I talked about issues that are perhaps too global, too abstract, but which have an impact on life in the city and which we have to respond to as a city. 

We talked about the climate emergency, the drought... And we also talked about the green transition which has to be just, and which requires public investment to ensure it takes place with guarantees. We talked about the geopolitical situation, and this geopolitical shift which is taking place in the Asia-Pacific region and the United States, we talked about the war in Ukraine, we talked about the disgraceful war that Israel is currently waging against the Palestinian people... And we talked about how this might affect our model of life and our values as Europeans.

Remembering a book that influenced me a great deal, “The European Dream”, written by Jeremy Rifkin, an American, which explains the positive aspects of the European system of coexistence and also its city models, Europe has to react. Europe needs to boost itself technologically, and from an industrial point of view, but also ideologically, defending our values and our life model.

Because it is all these challenges – climate change, the demographic challenge, the ecological transition, technological changes - that have an impact on cities. But at the same time, it is in cities where the solutions to these challenges are to be found. Far from considering cities to be the problem, I believe the opposite: that cities, the urban fabric, hold the solution to many of the problems and challenges that we currently face as a society.

So when I was asked spontaneously what concerned me most as mayor, this is where I started. Because the wars will affect us, because climate change will affect us, because the digital transition will affect us, because the demographic challenge, ageing, will affect us, because the housing crisis we are experiencing at the moment, also the product of a global city like Barcelona, is affecting us right now.

And therefore, the response is the city. More city and more cities. And more Barcelona to ensure this future is guaranteed and to have a habitable city, to inhabit, to live in, that guarantees our life projects.

We were saying a moment ago that this municipal government took office a relatively short time ago, approximately 250 days ago, with the immense and exciting task of governing the city of Barcelona. A government that began with this striking heading “This historic transformation 2035”, but a government that knows only too well that the greatest virtue of local politics is that it starts in the neighbourhoods, it starts on the street where you live. “The human scale”, which I will repeat often during this speech. Because our number one commitment, my number one commitment as mayor, is to protect and defend the human scale of the city of Barcelona.

The human scale is what makes the city habitable, it’s the scale that provides an answer to many of the concerns and challenges we have. Doing so through dialogue, building trust across the city and governing well. And in these 250 days, as I was saying before, the thing I have been most concerned about and which I have been focusing on a lot – I’ll talk about specific actions later – has been an idea I believe is fundamental and which today, whilst I have the opportunity to address you all I will repeat, is the need for Barcelona to believe in herself again.

For the people of Barcelona to once again believe in our city and in everything the city can do to tackle these challenges in a just way and to guarantee its habitability and to ensure we are all able to achieve our life goals here. 

For Barcelona to believe in herself again. Therefore, I’m appealing for city patriotism. City patriotism is an essential frame of mind for ensuring the city addresses and tackles the challenges we face with guarantees.

Lluís Permanyer, a journalist and one of the best chroniclers of our city, said something that I would like to repeat here: “jo milito sempre per Barcelona” [I always serve Barcelona]. This serving Barcelona is what I have demanded of my councillors. This is what I have demanded of the City Council executives. This is what I demand of the leaders of the neighbourhood associations, the unions, the economic, cultural, scientific and sports leaders. Serve Barcelona. This attitude is transformative, this change of perspective is transformative. Serve Barcelona. 

This government, this mayor, this city council stands alongside all those who want to serve Barcelona, because Barcelona needs each and every one of us, because we are all Barcelona. In short, because Barcelona will have at its side a mayor who listens, who discusses, who encourages and spurs people on and who has the will not only to lead the City Council but also to lead the city. Serve Barcelona.

Because this change of perspective, the result of dialogue and institutional standardisation that we are working on, is a sign of the city's strength. It is a sign of political maturity. It is a sign of self-confidence in our own possibilities.

Talking to everyone, self-confidence, serving Barcelona and getting on with the job. And this is also what we have been doing in the 250 days that we have been governing. Getting on with the job. 

In just 250 days, allow me to offer a brief review: we have activated 27 new plots of land to build 1,700 Officially Protected Housing units, allocated to the Generalitat, to INCASOL.

We have launched the Pla Endreça, which is helping to ensure we have quality, clean and safe public spaces.

We have launched measures that were being prepared during the previous term of office, such as the Clima Escola school climate plan to improve the climate control systems in Barcelona's 170 primary schools, between now and 2027, with the twin aim of combating the effects of climate change and guaranteeing the best conditions for teachers and students. 

Just yesterday, we held a meeting with the parents’ associations where we explained that we would be carrying out work this summer to improve the climate control systems in schools using funds raised through the tourist tax. A measure that no other city has yet carried out.

In these 250 days we have promoted, cleared the way, and given approval for the extension and construction of 11 new primary care centres in the city of Barcelona. In Barceloneta we have bought a building, in Horta we are refloating the redevelopment plan in order to have the public primary care system that the city deserves and needs.

We are a city with an unemployment rate of just 6.1%, with the just in inverted commas because while there is just one person without a job, we still have a collective challenge. At the same time, we are a city at the forefront of job creation in added value sectors, in added value economies: technology, science and research.

In these 250 days, the public – and this is not just the perception we have on the street but also what the municipal barometer is telling us, have appreciated it. The figures in a survey are never exact, I believe them relatively speaking, but it is clear that they have appreciated it. The public have appreciated it, they see it and they approve of it. And therefore, what we had hoped for from the city, is happening. 

And we have achieved some great agreements. We are a minority government, we are often reminded of this fact, we are very aware that we are a minority government, but despite being a minority government, we have achieved citywide agreements.

Very important agreements for which I would like to thank all the municipal groups. Because due to the experience we have and the experience that I have, I know that when it comes to things in the city that it makes sense to support, everyone comes together. We reached an agreement on covering the Ronda de Dalt, and we have put the works out to tender for the second phase of the project.

We have launched and speeded up redevelopment of La Rambla, shortening the execution period. 

From the point of view of reforms that we need to do during this term of office, we have started a discussion and participatory process on reforming the byelaw on coexistence and civic behaviour, which has not been addressed in 10 years.

We have launched the reform of the Barcelona Municipal Charter, which was last amended a decade ago. We have reached an agreement with the [party] groups to set up a commission on administrative simplification within the administration, and another on tackling repeat offending and the insecurity this causes on our streets and in our squares. We have also set up a commission agreed with the opposition groups on the social use of the Catalan language, especially among young people and on social networks. And it doesn’t end there.

I could go on with a long list of political initiatives that, fortunately, we have been able to agree with the opposition political groups, but I don’t want to bore you all. 

However, talking of agreements, today I would particularly like to celebrate the budgetary agreement we have reached with the Partit dels Socialistes de Catalunya and the Catalan Government.

I would firstly like to congratulate the president of the Generalitat and also Salvador Illa as the leader of the opposition for having carried out this exercise in responsibility with the country. This is another demonstration of their sense of purpose and service vocation, thinking about what matters and what our fellow citizens need, thinking about the municipalities, because the municipalities have also made contributions which the PSC has taken on board. That is, politics aimed at and focused on solving things, on improving people's lives, in the case of Barcelona, with an impact of 650 million euros, on the metro, on housing, on security, on the judicial system.

Agreements, agreements, agreements. Like the agreement we are seeking, which was also mentioned in the introduction, on the municipal budget for 2024, and which I believe we will have in the city of Barcelona by 22 March. Because we will not leave the table until we have an agreement.

And we will carry on talking until we have an agreement on the municipal budget for 2024. 

The figures speak for themselves: the City Council’s municipal budget, 3.807 billion euros, is the highest municipal budget in history. 438 million for social policies, for people; 479 million for the neighbourhoods and above all the Neighbourhood Plan, which will see its budget rise by 30%. And an accumulated investment, between the City Council and all the companies in the municipal group, of almost 1 billion euros in a year, including the housing budget which is up 7%.

In other words, a budget that matches the immense challenges the city of Barcelona faces and which is at the service of progress and prosperity; at the service of a just, green transition and a sustainable city; at the service of needs in housing, health, transport and urban regeneration and reform. 

I believe that at this time of social and political uncertainty, Barcelona needs to send out an unequivocal sign of certainty and confidence: we are the city in the Spanish State that will invest the most in absolute and relative terms. And we will invest because we know only too well the challenges faced by people of the city and its neighbourhoods.

We all learned a lesson from the pandemic: the importance of the role played by the public sector and the importance of public investment, which enabled us not only to combat a situation never before experienced but also, and Barcelona is a case in point, it enabled us to come out of a crisis that had a profound social impact economically strong.

In that regard, I would like to thank the Esquerra Republicana group for the responsibility and support they have shown in signing the budget agreement with the municipal government. 

What does a budget express? A budget expresses priorities. A budget expresses policies. A budget is the materialisation of everything that a government and a city council intend to do over a fixed period of time.

And now I would like to address one of the issues that is of most concern and which is our number one priority: housing. 

First of all, celebrating the fact that we finally have a proposal to regulate rental prices throughout the country. We will be one of the few cities that has the will to apply it and that will be applying it. 

A regulation on rental prices that could potentially benefit up to 200,000 families in our city and which should at least put a stop to rental price rises and reduce the average price. A condition that is necessary, but not sufficient, to tackle the housing crisis we are facing.

Because we will have to put even more public and private resources into building new homes, into increasing the public rented housing stock and, let's say it, revitalising and also giving confidence to private investors so they invest in housing in the free market.

Barcelona, in the plans I am talking about here, has the potential to build 70,000 homes in the coming years, of which half will be protected housing. So the idea that there is no space to grow or develop, you’ll hear me say this a number of times throughout the speech, is not true.

Barcelona can grow. It can grow in terms of economic space, it can grow in terms of public space and it can also grow in terms of its housing stock. And this is the endeavour that I ask we all participate in over the next few years. 

Going back to the central idea of this point that the city is in, I would like to make reference to the American writer David Foster Wallace, who was an intellectual provocateur, a somewhat paradoxical university professor and an iconoclastic writer when it came to proposing ideas. I really liked a speech he made at a graduation ceremony in Kenyon College in which he said:

There are these two young fish swimming along and they happen to meet an older fish swimming the other way who nods at them and says: "Morning, boys. How’s the water?"

The two young fish swim on for a bit and then eventually one of them looks over at the other and goes: "What the hell is water?"

I wanted to tell you this story because today in Barcelona, when we wonder what is happening here with the transformation of Les Glòries or when they talk about finishing La Sagrera station or the new Sants Station, or the transformation of the coastal area which we’re carrying out for the America's Cup or of the big historic avenues which are also being transformed or 22@ Nord or La Mercedes... Well, this is the water. 

This is the context the city finds itself in at the moment. And because we have seen it spill over into our day-to-day lives in recent months and years, we are not aware of the extent to which Barcelona is undergoing a transformation comparable to that of the Exposition of 1888, the Exposition of 1929 or the 1992 Olympic Games.

Because, dear friends, Barcelona is immersed in the most important transformation of the first half of the 21st century. And without the need to have a major transformational event, as had always been the case; a universal exposition or international sports event. 

Here we have Narcís Serra, who planted the seed of what would later become the transformation of the Olympic city. Barcelona today is its own project. And we have to use all these transformations as a means of responding to the challenges of having a habitable city, of having more public transport, of having more housing, of having more economic land. A transformation that will mark the 21st century with a view to 2035. 

Let's look at some figures. It’s a bit boring reeling off figures, but they need to be said.

At present, in the city of Barcelona, the biggest public investment since the Olympic Games is being mobilised. More than 10.6 billion euros from the public sector. At the same time, the surface area of the city that is being transformed and which will be transformed over the coming years is equivalent to three quarters of the Eixample district. That is the scale of the transformation. 

Urban hubs in Ciutat Vella, Montjuïc, knowledge economy, transport infrastructure, and so on. To offer a comparison: the 1992 Olympic Games mobilised a combined public-private investment equivalent to 13.5 billion euros today. And we, at the moment, the City Council, the Generalitat and the Spanish Government, have investment projects worth 10.6 billion euros up to 2035, not counting private investment. 

This is the scale of the transformation we are currently going through. The water the fish are swimming in. And this is happening now, after coming out of the pandemic. And what are the aspects of this transformation, what are the lines of this transformation with this 2035 horizon?

First of all, sustainable mobility infrastructure. Metro, railways, trams, port. I won’t say too much or the speech would go on for too long but here we’re talking about Line 9, Line 10, Line 8, the Ferrocarrils de la Generalitat railway connections, the new Sagrera and Sants stations which are currently under way. The AVE high speed trains will be passing through La Sagrera by next year. They won’t be stopping there yet but they will be passing through. In La Sagrera, we are going to create the biggest green park in the whole of Barcelona. And redevelop a whole area that will reconnect the districts of Sant Martí and Sant Andreu, provide access routes to the port, etc.

Second aspect of this transformation by 2035: local economy growth areas. Fira Montjuïc-Gran Via, for which the works contract has now been awarded; 22@ Nord, the development of which is now in full swing; area of La Sagrera and Besòs, la Mercedes, the industrial estates of Besòs, Zona Franca and La Marina. All of these are areas of growth and investment landing, where economic spaces are being created, from the technology sector to the urban industry that might be located in the Besòs area.

All these transformations are always accompanied by construction, plans for housing, making a city. We are not just talking about economic estates. Some of the lessons we have learned from recent history in our city: the need to combine uses, the need to make space for housing, for green spaces, for shops, for public amenities. In short, making a city, creating citizenry.

Third aspect of the transformation, talent and science. We are currently seeing a drive and great capacity to attract investment and talent. I think the clearest example is the Ciutadella of Knowledge. We're talking about what will be the biggest concentration of talent in southern Europe, with 2,000 researchers. And we’re doing so with a great alliance. Three universities (UAB, UPF, UB), two foundations (BIST and Fundació Pasqual Maragall), the CSIC, the PRBB, the Catalan Ministry for Research and Universities, the Spanish Ministry of Science, Innovation and Universities and Barcelona City Council.

We already have two pieces: the Hivernacle and the Museu Martorell. And the third, the Mercat del Peix research centre which will be operational in 2027. And I can announce that by the end of this term of office, we will have renovated the Umbracle and the Tres Dragons building. 

Together, we have the capacity to generate knowledge and research, and also investment from companies linked to the scientific field.

Fourth aspect of the transformation, health. Health is also proving to be a very powerful area. We have now given the green light to build the Hospital Clinic, which will be a long process, without a doubt, but which is now beginning. The expansion of a number of the city's public hospitals is now under way: Hospital del Mar, Vall d'Hebron, Sant Pau. This gives rise to and attracts investment from hubs and companies linked to the health sector, to biotechnology, and so on. 

Fifth aspect of the transformation, sport. Directly linked to Barcelona's DNA. This year's America's Cup is an event that will leave an economic, sporting and social legacy. Also in terms of transformation: the Olympic Port dedicated to the blue economy will be operational from July; and the whole of the coast, from La Mar Bella to the Fòrum, is also undergoing a transformation with the so-called “Blue Pavilion”, 2.5 km for practising sport. 

We are making the opening up of Barcelona to the sea a reality. 

Sixth aspect of the transformation, culture. Culture is also a way of promoting the city’s transformation. At last, the long-awaited Provincial Library at França Station is now under way; and we will reach the figure of 45 public libraries proposed at the start of the democracy by our predecessors to make culture accessible. And we also have a big project that is not strictly speaking within the municipal boundaries of Barcelona but which is a city-metropolitan project, the Tres Xemeneies [Three Chimneys] project with its audiovisual hub.

All of this will have to be connected with public transport, above all the metro. And here I come back to the DHUB. For that reason we decided the hall of this building will become one of the entrances to Les Glòries station. It will become a big museum-metro stop or a cultural centre-metro stop. If everything goes well, and as our Urban Planning and Infrastructures’ colleagues have assured me, this will happen by next year.

So, I think this is the time to raise our sights and acknowledge the moment we are living through. As Ortega y Gasset said with a phrase that I like to remember: “We can only progress when we think big, we can only move forward when we look further afield”.

And I invite the whole of the city to look further afield and to think big again. Not forgetting the human scale, the local scale, but with all the necessary ambition to ensure Barcelona continues to be an example of how to overcome the challenge of climate change, of reducing inequalities.

The Barcelona 2035 project is to build a habitable Barcelona, an economically prosperous Barcelona, a sustainable Barcelona, a cultured Barcelona and a healthy Barcelona for everyone. This is the invitation we're making. 

These are the big words, the big challenges. But now I want to go back to the budget and I want to talk about the human scale to finish off.

In addition to that, the City Council will continue being a city council. It will carry on with its investment plan, which during this 2023-2027 term will increase to 2.8 billion euros, 30% more than in the previous term of office. Because we are a City Council that wants to push forward, that doesn’t want to slow down. We are a City Council that invests, we are a City Council that enters into dialogue, that doesn’t impose. We are a City Council that reaches agreements, makes deals, which sometimes for that reason is a little slower, but which will certainly go much further. Because we are a City Council and a mayor that work together with those who want to make the city with us: associations, organisations, public and private, etc. A City Council that actively listens, without prejudice and without dogma, that brings people together rather than pushing them apart, and that has a project for the whole city and for all Barcelona’s residents, for all those who live their lives in the city or who work in our city. And for that reason the City Council and the Mayor say to you: let’s do it, and let’s do it together.

Because in recent history, when the City Council and the mayor have made commitments and have led projects, the city has responded. And I believe that this time it will be the same. 

This means that we have to talk about big infrastructure projects but we also have to promote the projects on a human scale that I mentioned earlier.

We have one goal: to ensure that urban improvement reaches all corners of every neighbourhood. The neighbourhoods and local amenities are our top priority. It is an investment plan that is committed to public space, housing and sustainability, and this translates, first and foremost, into a commitment to decarbonisation and greenery.

We will create new green spaces throughout the city: we will restore spaces that have fallen into disuse equivalent to 32 block interiors in the Eixample.

And we will also electrify mobility: we aim to reach 3,000 charging points.

And added to this is the transformation from La Meridiana to Fabra i Puig, the renovation of Carrer de Balmes and Passeig de la Mar Bella, from La Mar Bella to the Fòrum. But also the four libraries we need to complete the Libraries Plan, the six sports centres for the neighbourhoods, the three new nursery schools and the four municipal markets that we are renovating or constructing during this term of office. All of this is an essential part of the Barcelona of 2035 too. 

Therefore, this transformation of the century will have a direct impact on the everyday lives of the city’s residents. 

And one final reflection, my final reflection. I couldn’t make this reflection without talking about the metropolitan future, the metropolitan challenge. 

We are now starting to see a metropolitan area, a metropolitan region without peripheries. A metropolitan city with new centres, based on a new way of building and making a city: built on knowledge, on science, public transport, the future drivers of urban and social transformation. As the geographer José Antonio Donaire notes, every 50 years there is a change in the way we think about and build cities.

In the 1970s, in the midst of the oil crisis, Barcelona approved its General Metropolitan Plan, 1974. Today, in 2024, in the midst of the climate crisis, Barcelona and the metropolitan municipalities that form part of the Area, have a great opportunity to define our future with a new urban paradigm, which will be the Metropolitan Urban Master Plan, better known as the PDUM. A Plan that has just got under way with discussions between the municipalities.

And, therefore, this transformation which we are tackling up to 2035, paves the way for the following step, which is the metropolitan leap. I am of the belief that the perspective and horizon needs to be the Barcelona of 5 million inhabitants.

Why? Because this is the scale that makes it possible to be the world, the scale that makes it possible to resolve problems such as housing, it is the scale we need to structure public transport, particularly railways, and it is the ambition that I believe we need to aim for from the point of view of managing our reality and the problems we need to resolve together. 

I always say that we shouldn’t put the cart before the horse. We should first talk about the model. And indeed we have a tangible reality that works and works very well, that is the metropolitan area which has this PDUM. But we need to look further and we need to look more in the medium term with the city, with the real Barcelona, which will be the Barcelona of 5 million inhabitants.

And we’re back here, in Plaça de les Glòries. If you pick up a map of this metropolitan reality, you’ll see that here, in Plaça de les Glòries, we are at the physical, geographical centre of this metropolitan area. With the metropolitan avenues, which we will have the occasion to talk about in the future, Diagonal, Meridiana, Gran Via. And public transport, particularly the railways, as the great articulator.

So, dear friends, I believe we need to make the effort and not waste any more time. We have already lost a lot of time due to the economic crises, political instability, for lots of reasons. We can’t allow ourselves to miss any more opportunities as a city. We have seen what this means, for example, in a drought situation, which I believe is very tangible at the moment, and very serious, very worrying. Now we are seeing the consequences of not having made the investments the city and the country needed to tackle a situation like the one we are experiencing at the moment.

I am not looking to blame anyone, I am simply trying to learn or ensure we learn the lesson. That we learn the lesson about what the city has to do and what the metropolitan area has to do and what the country has to do in order to tackle the challenges that we will face down the line with guarantees, and make the city a habitable place, a better place, a place we can be proud of. 

Thank you for being here. Thank you.