You are Lucía Serrano Vidal, chair of the residents' council of Las Acacias, a block of 38 households. Tonight, Tuesday April 14, the council must decide how a €1,200 basketball half-court will be paid for: the town hall's offer of the lot expires in 45 days.
The situation
Between the block's two buildings sits a fenced, dusty municipal lot of 18 by 22 metres, used now and then for parking. The town hall offers it free for community use but will not pay to fit it out. If nothing is built within 45 days, it goes back to parking. Anyone living in the block will be able to use the court, whether or not they paid.
A door-to-door survey run by the block's teenagers says 34 of the 38 households think the court would improve their quality of life, and 28 value it at between €30 and €100 a year. Added up, residents declare €2,400 a year of benefit from a project that costs €1,200 once.
The group chat tells a different story. In eleven weeks it has pledged €340; €220 of it comes from five households who would use the court a lot. Two of the loudest supporters have pledged nothing, and nobody has handed over a single euro. The generous feel taken for granted and the rest feel pressured. Tomás Beltrán, 71, has written that if the council cannot build a court it will never fix the Block B lift, which has failed twice this year. Five more projects wait behind the court, and you, elected in January, have never run a vote on money.