The city of Las Palmas had dunes but they were removed to build that beautiful seafront. Incapable of protecting the Playita de Las Canteras, in the south of the island they continue to suffer traditional mistreatment by Environmental officials and the 1.001 management commissions that exist with this matter. The president of the Cabildo of Gran Canaria, Antonio Morales, already said it this Monday, we are at the mercy of Instagam influencers.
As an example, the San Bartolomé de Tirajana City Council has no powers over the Maspalomas dunes except spending money on the bathing area and cleaning. Where is the command over the Maspalomas Dunes? In Las Palmas. Where is the office of the Coastal official who regulates permits? in Madrid.
In Las Palmas there were dunes but according to Professor Iris Ester Melián Sánchez in her study 'Port Architecture in the Port of Refugio de la Luz (1880-1930)' the dunes of Las Palmas disappeared because the architect Laureano Arroyo ended them by designing a large space of urban land on this surface. "In the dune terrain of Santa Catalina, a large central circle was planned, although not going into many details, from which branches of avenues emerged topped with semicircular openings."
The dunes of Las Palmas capital were better than those of Maspalomas. But they killed themselves when planning a main road that started almost from the Plaza de San Bernardo in Triana and would reach the current Juan Manuel Duran street, a road that would run into the expansion of Puerto de la Luz. Regarding the expansion that was planned for the La Isleta area, it should be mentioned that it was a little more precise than the others; The project covered from Juan Manuel Duran Street to the current Tecén Street, proposing a system that devastated the sand.
In the dunes of Las Palmas in the Santa Catalina area, the land was occupied with a surface area of 67 football fields of sand. The land was put up for auction in 1860 and the winning bidder was Nicolás Apolinario. Despite this purchase of the land, it would not be until the beginning of the construction of the Port, in the 1880s, when this area would begin to be thought of as a developable place. From this moment on, the purchase of plots on this surface is quite frequent due to the proximity to the Port of Refuge,
achieving that it was equipped with a minimum street planning, although lacking free spaces for collective use with the exception of Santa Catalina Park.
Arroyo was municipal architect of the Las Palmas de Gran Canaria City Council and was in charge of expanding the city with new neighborhoods, reforming old streets (such as Calle de los Balcones in Vegueta) and planning the urbanization of the Puerto de la Light. In 1890 he designed the Military Navy Command, later modified by Fernando Navarro at the beginning of the XNUMXth century.
