The Manizales Mayor's Office has its eyes on public spaces: the Planning Department

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Planning Minister of Manizales, José Fernando Olarte.

Manizales Planning Minister Jose Fernando Olarte spoke Radio La Patria About the municipal development plan One of the projects that will be implemented from this office is to manage public space.

They have already started the municipal development plan journey, what have they been able to gather?

We went to four towns and six municipalities. Today we're going to three more. In this first session, we collect citizens' concerns, suggestions and suggestions. They have given us very interesting inputs to consider the scale of goals that we will set and the resource management that we must do during these four years.

In terms of planning, how did the city receive it?

The basic diagnosis is that we have a complex financial situation with high debt. We have to do some exercises to facilitate the release of resources that allow us to make investments so that they do not all go to pay off debts and so that the citizens of Manizales are not able to see investment in these periods of time and this is our challenge. Otherwise, there is a very good staff. The secretariat that has been built over the years and the public function, which is a guarantee of carrying out an operation appropriate to the reality in which the municipality lives. There is no doubt that the problem is the financial situation that we have to solve. It is urgent for citizens to comply.

What's next in terms of public space?

We do exercises in public space and what that means. The concept of public space is very beautiful because it itself reflects what belongs to everyone and where everything is. So you have to address the issue on those fronts. In terms of its development and infrastructure. We carry out studies and designs for interventions in what gave the city its stamp, such as the boulevards, and the adaptation of some spaces such as Carrera 23, Cyprus, Milan Sector and La Estrella. But we also have a very important exercise in reclaiming public space. Working with informal vendors is mainly oriented towards formalization, but also so that citizens can move through public spaces. An interesting exercise is having the park rangers fill it with flowers again. Finally, what is the relationship to citizen culture? This will be another force of work that will be established when we create the Secretariat of Culture in Manizales.

Listen to the full interview here: