"Very narrow streets", "a complex urban fabric" and "an environment with houses". Those are the three problems that the Rastro presents to the Madrid City Council and that are delaying the reopening of the market that is held every Sunday at the confluence of the neighborhoods of La Latina and Lavapiés. At that point, the Municipal Board of the Central District and the Economic Area agree that they are developing with the merchants an action plan for the return of the stalls to the streets on July 12 .

At first, the intention at the Palacio de Cibeles was for the return of the Rastro to take place from the second weekend of Phase 3, which placed the calendar at the end of this month of June or beginning of July. But now the municipal corporation has its sights set on Sunday 12, as confirmed by the mayor, José Luis Martínez-Almeida. "We are working on that time horizon," said the councilman yesterday.

In fact, the Municipal Board of the Center led by José Fernández has already transferred its proposal to merchants to resume activity that Sunday, establishing three phases, according to municipal sources, to EL MUNDO. The first phase would be that day 12 with some 135 posts chosen by lottery that would be located on Ribera de Curtidores street between Ronda de Toledo and Plaza de Cascorro. A draw that would be held among the 996 positions that have paid the rate during 2019.

The following Sunday, the 19th, the corporation plans a second phase adding the General Vara del Rey Plaza and the third would begin on the 26th with the incorporation of the Plaza del Campillo del Mundo Nuevo . To do this, Cibeles is studying how to perform a perimeter fence with entry and exit points with gauging controls at each of these points.

Municipal sources state that the technicians of the Municipal Board of the Center are analyzing how many maximum control points could be established and who could be located at those points. But what worries the municipal government is how to control the capacity, as it is located in Rastro in an "urban environment" in the heart of the capital. “Neighbors live there and they will have to leave their houses even if the Rastro is installed. Those people would also count within the perimeter capacity and it is very difficult to control, "they explain.

«This balance between respect for the neighbors and the work of the merchants is complicated because we are not talking about an isolated esplanade. The neighbors have the right to go out and the merchants to resume their activity ”, relate the sources consulted, who indicate that the draw between the stalls would be done alternately so that the same merchants do not repeat consecutive weekends.

Precisely those merchants are the other leg of this equation, still in the process of being solved. The spokeswoman for the association El Rastro Punto Es, Mayka Torralbo, considers the raffle "inadmissible" instead of maintaining spaces that span generations and ugly the municipal government that "tries to completely reform" the market. For this reason, she points out, that all the merchants in this area are going to call a protest on July 5.

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