The Getafe City Council has quantified at 50,000 euros the expenses caused by Mad Cool to the municipality for security, street cleaning, and waste collection generated by the thousands of attendees at the mega-festival from Thursday to Sunday, with a pedestrian corridor enabled from Getafe Norte to the Iberdrola Music venue through the roundabout under the M-45.
Municipal sources have pointed out this Monday that the festival’s mobility plan, validated by the Government Delegation in Madrid, «factually turned Getafe into the festival’s parking lot, forcing the Local Police to deploy dozens of agents, delimiting parking areas only for residents, and sanctioning unauthorized vehicles.»
In addition, the City Council has already reported that «the approved device for taxis and VTCs was not complied with, without Getafe’s consent, and the Government Delegation did not monitor its compliance despite being aware of it.»
RISKY SITUATIONS
All this, aside from the irregular and high-risk situations for people in the festival’s surroundings. People crossing the M-45 or the roundabout under this highway before the special traffic closure device was implemented; taxis stopping in the middle of the road to drop off festival attendees, or VTCs dropping off clients in unauthorized areas. These are some of the situations that Mobility Councilor Carlos Enjuto has denounced on social media.
The City Council denounces that «irregular crossings of the M-45 by festival attendees were once again made, generating dangerous situations that led the Civil Guard to impose sanctions,» municipal sources maintain.
Because of all this, Getafe has once again requested that «technical reports be issued by the National Police and the Civil Guard on the suitability or unsuitability of the Iberdrola Music venue.»
«These reports should evaluate not only the serious damages suffered by Getafe due to noise, traffic, and collapses but also the strategic importance of the M-45 for the south of Madrid and the consequences of its continuous closures to favor festivals,» they have stated.
Therefore, the Getafe City Council has again demanded that «the necessary responsibilities be assumed by those making decisions behind the city’s back,» and, in this sense, has once again «called for the closure of the Iberdrola Music venue in its current location due to its unsuitability.»
And if the events were to continue, Getafe demands that «their schedules be adjusted to end before the closing time of public transportation, avoiding the usual collapses and security issues.»
Additionally, the Getafe government has defended the need for neighborhood rest. Although this year the noise from the concerts has been reduced by orienting the two main stages to the north (Getafe was behind these stages), the people moving to the town after the shows have generated a deafening commotion exacerbated by the queues of taxis and VTCs in unauthorized areas of Getafe Norte.
«Getafe defends the right of its residents to rest, move normally, and not bear the costs or negative effects of a planning that benefits others and always harms the city,» the Getafe Administration has stated.
