Children's anniversaries always look forward. They are summative, optimistic, cumulative. They are growth. The anniversaries of our grandparents look back. They are nostalgic, reflective, serene. They are a summary that extends over time.
But in between, in middle age, anniversaries look back and forth. We have enough history to review it with pride and enough life to project ourselves towards all possible futures. We are alive between two times, and that is exciting.
Today marks 40 years of democratic Town Halls. Four decades in which power has slowly changed from the verticality of black and white to a horizontal conception, of equal neighbors, of open doors, of exchanging imposition for agreements and selfishness for the common good.
The progress is extraordinary but it has not been easy nor is it complete. Together, we have improved this country, even though there have been shadows that we cannot forget: some errors and some deviations that do not invalidate the work as a whole, but that force us not to be satisfied yet. In this new phase of democratic maturity there is still room for improvement.
The Town Halls, moreover, have been the Institution closest to the citizenry and the first responsible for our daily living conditions. Far from the noise of the big headlines, it has been in the local councils where people have found an answer to their most immediate needs: light on our street, help for someone in need, an emergency that could not wait until Monday, a model of habitable town in which we all had a place and in which diversity and freedom were always a value free from misgivings.
In Xàbia, where I have the honor of being mayor, these forty years have seen dozens of men and women serve their people. Under different acronyms and ideologies, with sometimes conflicting projects, but always with something in common that we must value: the desire to make the community prosper and the deep respect for what the local Institution represents. Enrique Bas, Juan Moragues, Jaime Sapena y Eduardo MonfortThey are people to whom we owe -as well as to their teams- the advances of this time and the fact that Xàbia is a harmonious community that recognizes and respects its roots. As we owe it to the hundreds of officials who have given the best of themselves so that the Town hall worked.
From the hesitant steps of the beginning (where everything was new, exciting and uncertain) to the consolidation we know today (where our problems are of a different nature). For me, having had the trust of my neighbors to be part of this story of effort is something extraordinary and one that I will always be grateful for. And neither can I now forget the people who have been with me since 2011 and who have made every success possible. A group of dedicated, generous and trustworthy bona gents. A team.
Sometimes forty years seems like a lifetime. An eternity that cannot be put at risk and will never be altered. Solid and timeless as the Montgo. But history teaches us that this is not the case. That the advances are very difficult to achieve, but they can vanish at the stroke of a pen. That is why today, when new-style populisms are raging (but they are so old), it is necessary to become strong in our democratic convictions. That is why today we have to strongly defend each step taken so far in terms of rights and freedoms and we have to establish a grand pact, beyond the initials, to close the doors to any return to the past. Especially if that means returning to a sadness that we had already overcome.
On the contrary, dear friends and friends, anniversaries are to be celebrated. And we have every reason to do it with joy, full of conviction, surrounded by our people, and above all, in the town we love. In a place that today is an example of good work and good news in the Valencian Community.
How to Live Aligned with Mayor of XàbiaI wish you a happy anniversary of democratic Town Halls.
Jose F.Chulvi Spanish
Mayor of Xàbia
