“Urgent” and “embarrassing”.These are the words that are repeated the most in the neighborhood assembly of the Central district of Madrid.These twenty residents, gathered last week in the neighborhood of La Latina, are outraged by the metamorphosis that the city is undergoing."It has become a theme park for tourists," synthesize those who resist the proliferation of tourist flats, terraces, garbage and noise pollution.They don't go around with little girls anymore.They are going to give war, they say, before the inaction of the City council.There are several proposals on the table, such as the creation of working groups, which will investigate the illegalities of tourist premises and flats.Once the evidence is collected, the next step will be to hire a lawyer to take the Consistory to court."I want to take the Madrid City Council to court," says Javier López, who has lived in the neighborhood for more than two decades, angrily.Madrid is clear.And his companions agree.The hardest part is drawing up a roadmap.For them, the problem is that the Administration turns a deaf ear to their retorts and turns a blind eye to business failures."The files die on a councilman's table," explains desperate Saturnino Vera (60 years old, originally from Badajoz), president of the Cavas La Latina association, which keeps a pendrive with more than 80 complaints filed by the neighbours.Two years after the outbreak of the pandemic, the terraces continue to invade the streets, the Homes for Tourist Use, some of them without a license, increasingly occupy more space in the residential blocks, the garbage bags accumulate around the containers and the noise caused by tourists enjoying the Madrid night is incessant.“People want to have a drink at the door of my house.What bothers me the most is that they take away public space from us,” says Teresa Isasi, 67.Just take a walk around the neighborhood to check it out.The chairs and tables on the terraces, packed with customers, occupy several meters of the tracks, due to the measure promoted to support businesses after the hardest months of the pandemic.To which is added the revelry of visitors at dawn."After so many years without sleep, I'm already an insomniac," López laments.The music of some young people who parade through the square with a loudspeaker at full volume interrupts the conversation of the neighbors.A few minutes later, another parenthesis.It's the noise of a tour bus engine.“Look, look!” they point out with a tinkle, amid the swaying of visitors with suitcases.Life in the neighborhood is getting more and more expensive.Housing prices rise and community spending increases."Many have already left... I can attest," confirms one of them, after the intervention of Agustín Martínez, 32, who lives in a 70-square-meter flat for which he pays 1,200 euros a month.“The prices are abusive and they ask you for impossible guarantees.Everything is focused on tourism, parties, large bottles and bachelor parties”, he says.One example is time violations in grocery stores, where it is possible to buy a can of beer or a bottle of vodka in the wee hours of the morning.“Here we are not fools.There are laws that are not being followed, but you run into a wall.It is insulting that, in the face of citizen complaints, nothing is done,” protests López.The neighbor recounts his last fight against the gap in a bar in the area: “What do you think they prefer?Soundproof the bar or buy a Mercedes? ”, He says that a police officer answered him ironically.Night falls, but not even the summer breeze eases his anger.“How is Madrid!” says one of them, who raises her hand to complain about the lack of trees in the capital, as in the renovation of Puerta del Sol, without green areas.Even throwing out the garbage is a feat."It's disgusting to see the accumulation of garbage in the containers," says the president.The complaints also continue in terms of mobility and traffic, in an area that brings together five schools, two institutes and a nursery school.Residents lament the lack of parking due to the filming of movies and series, which block the streets with beacons and prohibit passers-by.There are many issues to resolve.“We are not going to reach a solution tomorrow,” says María Bravo, who has been in the area for 30 years.As a starting point, the team will write forms so that neighbors have tools to report grievances.Work has already been put to work to create an application that collects breaches with photographs, locations and reasons.“I have seen the neighborhood disappear.I have known this square with a garden, without bars and with trees.It is a Madrid in extinction”, concludes sadly Juan López (72 years old, originally from Córdoba), who has been in the neighborhood since 1982.It's 10 at night and the tiredness of the neighbors leads to jokes.“We have to specify”, say the most avid."Persecute the City Council to comply with the law," they conclude.Subscribe here to our daily newsletter about Madrid.Blue Pro-Retinol Multi-Correct is the new anti-aging solution from Biotherm's Blue Therapy line.Or subscribe to read without limitsSubscribe and read without limits