Editor’s Note
This article discusses the high-stakes ‘Mamometro’ development project in Santa Brígida, framed by local officials as a crucial, if unpolished, opportunity for the municipality’s future.
The ‘Mamometro’ Project
The municipality of Santa Brígida looks to the future with optimism, under the shadow of the ‘mamometro’ project that is always on everyone’s lips.
Martín Sosa, Deputy Mayor of Santa Brígida City Council and head of Urban Planning, emphasizes that
“the ‘mamometro’ is a rough diamond, key to the future of the municipality. We are at such a critical moment that we cannot afford to make a wrong move. We are playing with the social, commercial, and touristic future of the municipality. We must create a space that solves all the problems of recreation, parking, and social use. The Santa Brígida City Council renounced from minute one the idea of creating a large commercial area there. We are aware that what Santa Brígida needs is a stimulus, and we are going to have one of the largest public spaces in the Canary Islands.”
The definitive project will consist of a square with 5,000 square meters, featuring a gastromarket area, and multipurpose rooms for social and cultural purposes. It will be a large urban park with 550 parking spaces. However, the big question for the residents of Santa Brígida is when they will be able to enjoy this space. Martín Sosa is clear on this matter:
“Right now we are in the phase of putting out to tender the drafting of the definitive basic project and that of the execution of Phase 1. Phase 1 will be the commissioning of the 550 parking spaces. We cannot develop the pedestrianization of streets or the revitalization of the open commercial area if we do not offer adequate parking. Our goal, within a year from now, is to begin Phase 1. And for the rest, we will continue working on the different phases. But we will not fall into false promises. The people of Santa Brígida do not deserve to be deceived. Since we have waited so many years to solve this problem, now we have to do it coherently and with criteria that go hand in hand with the residents of the town.”
For this project to be fully completed and the ‘mamometro’ to be transformed into a public square and a place full of life for Santa Brígida, with multiple opportunities,
“we will have to wait about four to six years. Before that, it will be practically impossible.”
Political Candidacy
Martín Sosa, a 39-year-old resident and native of La Atalaya (Santa Brígida), entered politics in 2007 with Lucas Bravo de Laguna, in the PP (People’s Party). In 2015, he joined Unidos por Gran Canaria (UxGC), a party created by José Miguel Bravo de Laguna, and in 2023 he will run again as a candidate for mayor of Santa Brígida for UxGC, as he confirmed to CANARIAS7.
“Our president, Lucas Bravo de Laguna, has conveyed it to me and I accept it with great enthusiasm. One spends years in politics, but when elections approach, you live it with the same excitement, but also with more responsibility, perhaps the kind that comes with the years. I have accepted our president’s proposal and we are already starting to organize our work plan for the upcoming elections.”
There has been some speculation about which political acronym Martín Sosa would defend in the 2023 municipal elections, but he wanted to be categorical in this regard:
“Apart from comments that are often heard, there have been no serious offers from other political groups, regardless of jokes or banter that may exist or even malicious comments. It has not been like that. Since 2015, when I took the step to integrate into UxGC, I have remained there, and as long as my party continues to want me there, I will be there,”
emphasized this man who appreciates in politics the
“affection I receive from the neighbors and being able to contribute to helping solve their problems, but sometimes there is also frustration at not being able to solve everything that is presented to us.”
Other Urban Projects
Another urban planning project in Santa Brígida
“is the urban development of the Los Olivos area, the only expansion zone remaining in the urban center. There is a high demand for land to build in Santa Brígida and we have to develop the entire Partial Plan. We want the municipality to be a benchmark in the midlands.”
Regarding La Atalaya:
“It is a neighborhood that is a cultural and ethnographic reference on the island, and we want to acquire land to improve infrastructure, especially parking, which is a major demand from the neighbors.”
