The mayor of Reus, Sandra Guaita, is making a qualitative leap in the active listening strategy that the Reus Government has set as a priority axis in the 2023-2027 Municipal Action Plan, and is launching the "The Mayor in the Neighborhoods" program, an intense agenda of visits, interviews and street-level meetings, to personally share concerns, proposals and solutions with neighbors to jointly improve the day-to-day life of the city.

The program reinforces the commitment of the Mayor's Office and the entire municipal government to proximity, transparency and direct and sincere dialogue to build, from the neighborhoods, a positive city.

"The Mayor in the Neighborhoods" joins the set of citizen participation and information initiatives that Reus City Council is implementing to place active listening as a priority axis of government action. With the Neighborhood Visits Program alone, the Mayor and councilors of the municipal government have made a total of 83 visits to 36 neighborhoods of the city since the beginning of their mandate, to meet, in this case, with the neighborhood representatives of each area.

“The Mayor in the Neighborhoods” takes active listening a step further and addresses citizens directly. The program unfolds an intense three-day agenda in each area, with visits, meetings and interviews on the street.

Thus, every day, morning and afternoon, a tent will be set up in a point in the neighborhood where the mayor will personally attend to anyone who wants to collect their concerns and proposals. On a timely basis and for agenda reasons, other representatives of the consistory may attend.

The mayor, accompanied by other councilors from the municipal government, will also tour the neighborhood to gather the opinion of the residents; and will visit the shops and all the facilities in the area.

The program was created with the aim of being a useful, effective and efficient tool, which allows ideas, opinions and proposals to be collected that are different from those already collected through other stable active school channels. For example, during visits to educational centers, the mayor will meet with the respective management and student family associations; while in civic centers or sports or health facilities, she will meet with users.

The program's agenda also includes meetings with representatives of the residents' associations in each neighborhood.

The program begins on February 10, 11, and 12 in the Fortuny and Juroca neighborhoods and the agenda includes visiting the Marià Fortuny and Puigcerver schools, the Generalitat Adult Training Center, the Barrufet Kindergarten and the Margalló municipal nursery school, as well as the Migjorn civic center and the municipal Olympic pavilion.

The tent will be set up in the mornings from 10:00 to 13:00 and in the afternoons from 16:30 to 18:30 on the three days:

• Tuesday, February 10: Gabriel Ferrater Square
• Wednesday, February 11: Astorga Street, in front of Marià Fortuny School
• Thursday, February 12: Antoni Jiménez Vega Square

Calendar
The program's schedule will be announced in advance by distributing information leaflets in the mailboxes of the neighborhoods where it will be held, as well as through the Reus City Council's social networks. The initial forecast is as follows:

• Fortuny and Juroca
• Muralla
• Pastoreta and Monasteries
• Mas Abelló and Mas Pellicer
• Sun and Vista and Pelai
• Poets and Slaughterhouse
• Montserrat, Casas and Lledoners Plots
• Niloga
• Carmen and Sardana
• Mas Iglesias
• Carriage
• Gaudí
• Mineta
• Mother Molas
• Horts de Miró
• Mas Carpa, Jardins de Reus, Chalets Quintana and Sant Joan.

Stable active listening channels
The Reus City Council has, among others, the following stable channels of active listening, which are in addition to the rest of the participation instruments provided for in the Municipal Regulation of Citizen Participation:

• Proximity program of visits to neighborhoods: A direct, close and on-the-ground communication channel with the local representatives of each neighborhood of the city; and its objective is to improve the quality of life in the neighborhoods. For this reason, complaints and suggestions for improvement of any issue within the municipal jurisdiction are collected at street level, especially actions to improve public roads.

• Company visit program: The aim of the visits is to learn first-hand about the reality of the city's economic sector through personal and direct contact with business people and workers. The visit program allows for the dissemination and exchange of opinions regarding the economic promotion and job creation services that Reus City Council carries out.

• Trade Table: Forum for dialogue, participation and regular collaboration where political and technical representatives of the City Council meet with associations of traders, entities and agents related to the city's commerce to discuss issues of interest to one of the city's strategic sectors.

• Complaints and suggestions mailbox: It is part of the active listening policy that the Reus Government promotes and encourages. The objective is to involve citizens in the improvement of the city, as a shared commitment between the administration and citizens. The mailbox is only part of the circuit for resolving proposals, which continues with the action of the competent municipal department and the communication of the final resolution to the person proposing.

• City App: New municipal service channel through mobile devices that will be launched with a first functionality that will facilitate the instant and geolocated reporting of incidents on public roads. The application is in the development phase, once the contract has been awarded to the company Codigital 360 Solutions SL with a total budget of 120.280,05 euros.

• Social Networks: The Reus City Council and selected officials are present on social networks with the aim of approaching citizens as tools for disseminating public information and collecting citizen opinion on city issues.

• Municipal Councils: Direct participation bodies, structured according to themes and groups and made up of entities and individuals representing each area. The existing municipal councils are: Social Services, Environment, City Education, Disability, Gender Policies, Sports, Children, Senior Citizens, International Solidarity and Cooperation, Youth, Health, Housing, Culture.

• Public hearings: Participation instrument provided for in the Reus City Council's Citizen Participation Regulations, which consists of a meeting between the City Council and citizens so that they can receive information and present and debate proposals in relation to a specific public action, activity or municipal action program.

• Participatory Budgeting: An instrument that allows citizens to participate in the preparation and management of public budgets. This year, the fourth edition is underway to decide on which projects we will allocate 750.000 euros from the investment plan.