
Madrid set to become first European city to scrap low-emissions zone - lentil_soup
https://www.theguardian.com/cities/2019/may/31/madrid-set-to-end-clean-air-project-in-rightwing-power-switch
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dsfyu404ed
This article is setting off red flags for me. The whole conflating traffic,
traffic jams and pollution seems slimy and the really short quote excerpts
seem to indicate the author is trying to take the politician's statements out
of context. Urban pollution has several facets (heavy trucks vs cars,
particulate vs Nox, local climate, etc, etc,) and none of them are mentioned.
Conflating residents in the affected zone voting for "the other guy" with
specifically supporting the existing policy is seems dishonest.

Is there someone who actually knows this issue and can tell me what the
article is omitting? I don't know what I don't know but the way this article
is written makes me think there's a lot of nuance being glossed over.

~~~
gerardvivancos
I think my non-native English prevents me from fully understanding your
question, but I'd say in general terms what is described in the article is
what happened:

\- Party A takes the council 4 years ago

\- Party A implements the low emissions zone

\- Party B goes into elections campaign championing a reverse of the LEZ. The
quote about they saying pollution and jams are part of the city's identity is
true.

\- Party B does not win the election but, because of how the system works,
they could take the council by joining forces with other parties (who were
also against the LEZ)

\- If last point indeed happens, then they will revert the LZE

Actually, it is very possible that the LZE cannot be reverted because of EU's
restrictions and fines for pollution quotas. Some media that are sided to
Party B and were very critical of Party A and the LZE are now changing
headlines to blame EU for the LZE, in what looks like a damage control
operation now that they realise the possibility of their promise being not
able to be fulfilled.

Source: I live somewhere some consider is Spain and some not.

~~~
kwcts
People hated the LEZ. Things were going well, more or less, for Party A until
they implemented it. They made the huge mistake of implementing the LEZ right
before the election and they got rightly sacked. The council should work for
its citizens. This is just democracy at work.

~~~
perfunctory
Why did people hate the LEZ in your opinion?

EDIT: Article says “City centre residents are happy with the LEZ “

~~~
enriquto
It's probably residents far from the city center that hate the LEZ. Most
residents in the center would likely prefer the whole center to be closed to
cars, as public transportation is quite good there.

Notice that the politician in question is not a candidate for mayor of the
city, it's the candidate governor of the whole region around the city.

~~~
NullPrefix
> Most residents in the center would likely prefer the whole center to be
> closed to cars, as public transportation is quite good there.

Are you speaking specifically about residents from Madrid center or just
generic city center residents?

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petecox
Article from last November with a map of the affected area (in Spanish). The
areas in yellow were already covered by vehicle restrictions.

[https://elpais.com/ccaa/2018/11/26/madrid/1543235492_515611....](https://elpais.com/ccaa/2018/11/26/madrid/1543235492_515611.html)

The plan was to create a 4kmˆ2 ring bordering the important landmarks of the
royal palace, museo del prado, buen retiro, Atocha station etc. The interior
has quite a number of Metro stations and is thus quite navigable by foot.

Car-driving populism to revert a policy barely 6 months old seems to have
prevailed. As can be seen from the guardian article's photo, Gran Via is a
pretty major thoroughfare leading to the heart of the city, Puerta del Sol.

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cernunos
That kind of prohibition is nice if:

\- You are rich and can buy a new electric/hybrid car.

\- You live in the center of Madrid and are allowed to use your car.

However, if you are "poor" and work in the center of the city:

\- If your car is not a low-emission vehicle, you are limited to go to work
(only can by public transport).

\- If you are a deliverer of packages, you'd have to buy a new car that
fulfill the emission restrictions without any kind of tax-exemption from the
government.

This low-emissions zone creation has been a show without any kind of planning
and without consulting the citizens. i.e. there has not been any type of car
renovation plan or tax exemptions that could have helped citizens with this
restriction.

I understand the ecology and health-care point of view, but tell that to
somebody whose work depends on reaching to the center of the city to deliver
some packages (for example).

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ojosilva
Just as a side note to the article, the Madrid city and state government are
going through heavy negotiations right now, along the Barcelona city and
Spanish government coalitions, so it's too early to say the LEZ "is set" to be
wiped out.

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pdimitar
Tourism money > ecological concerns?

Unless the article is deliberately manipulated to send the wrong message, my
above is how I'd summarise it.

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magduf
I don't know about other tourists, but as a tourist myself, I like to visit
cities that are clean and where I can easily get around using public transit.
If I have to drive everywhere and there's lots of pollution, I pick someplace
better to spend my time and money. In fact, the last thing I want to do in a
foreign country is deal with driving a car: the traffic rules are all
different (esp. in LHD countries), the customs different, and there's the
question of liability. I don't even like touring American cities because of
this (combined with the public transit being so awful), even though I live in
this country; I'd rather go to Asia or western Europe where the public transit
is excellent.

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vemv
'Fortunately' the only reason that lead to this change was that it was a rival
political party who created the zone in the first place.

Similarly to how Trump would intend to demolish Obamacare.

So there are no big lessons for the rest of the world to learn.

