Rivas-Vaciamadrid Explained

Rivas-Vaciamadrid
Settlement:Municipality
Flag Size:140px
Pushpin Map:Spain
Pushpin Map Caption:Location in Spain
Subdivision Type:Country
Subdivision Name: Spain
Subdivision Type1:Region
Subdivision Name1: Community of Madrid
Subdivision Type2:Comarca
Subdivision Name2:Cuenca del Henares
Coordinates:40.3394°N -3.5181°W
Elevation M:590
Elevation Min M:525
Elevation Max M:699
Area Total Km2:67.16
Population As Of:2023
Population Total:100,250
Population Demonym:ripenses
Timezone:CET
Utc Offset:+1
Timezone Dst:CEST
Utc Offset Dst:+2
Postal Code Type:Postal code
Postal Code:28521, 28522, 28523, 28524
Area Code Type:Dialing code
Leader Title:Mayor
Leader Name:Aída Castillejo (since 2022)
Leader Party:IU
Website:www.rivasciudad.es

Rivas-Vaciamadrid (pronounced as /es/) is the 15th most populated city in the Community of Madrid, Spain.[1] It belongs to the Madrid metropolitan area and is located just 15 km from central Madrid, to the south-east. In the southern part of the municipality, the Manzanares river flows into the Jarama, which is part of the Lower Manzanares and Jarama Rivers Regional Park. Almost three quarters of the municipality form part of the park, making it an important ecological centre with numerous lakes and various species of wildlife and fauna.

It has been one of the fastest-growing municipalities in Spain in recent years, growing from 500 inhabitants in the 1980s to its current figure of 100,000. It is bordered to the north by Madrid and San Fernando de Henares, to the south by Arganda del Rey and San Martín de la Vega, to the east by Mejorada del Campo and Velilla de San Antonio, and to the west by Getafe and Madrid (the district of Villa de Vallecas.)

Rivas-Vaciamadrid municipality has the fourth lowest rate of population in risk of poverty, among municipalities with more than 50,000 inhabitants.[2] It is the most populated city in Spain governed by United Left.

History

In 1845, the area of Vaciamadrid, previously part of the village of Vallecas, was joined to the town of Rivas, with the unified municipality originally called Ribas de Jarama.

The area was devastated during the Spanish Civil War and had to be rebuilt in the post-civil war period. In 1954 the name was changed to its current title. At the end of the 1980s the area was designated as a future nucleus for new urbanisation projects under a project titled Rivas-Urbanizaciones (Rivas-Urbanisations). The first developments were those in the current districts of Pablo Iglesias and Covibar.

In 2004 the municipal boundary with the city of Madrid was altered. This involved the transfer of areas known as Covibar-Madrid to Rivas-Vaciamadrid. In exchange, some uninhabited areas in Los Berrocales district were transferred to the Vicálvaro district of Madrid in order to allow the construction of a new housing project.

Local politics

Rivas-Vaciamadrid has always been governed by left-wing parties, mostly United Left, that has remained uninterruptedly in power since 1991. The current mayor is Pedro del Cura, who took office in 2014 after José Masa's resignation, and was re-elected in 2015. However, the 2015 election gave the worst result to United Left (24.5%) since its creation in 1986, due to the big support that the Podemos-linked candidacy Rivas Puede (Spanish for Rivas Can) obtained (23.3%).

Local election results in Rivas-Vaciamadrid (number of councillors)[3]
Party1987199119951999200320072011201520192023
United Left (IU)4768912137[4] 79
People's Party (PP)0267667429
Spanish Socialist Workers' Party (PSOE)5656664475
Rivas Puede (Podemos-linked candidacy)-------620
-------450
VOX22
Others4211

Mayors

Thorough most of its modern democratic history, the municipality of Rivas has been ruled by United Left, belonging to the so-called "red belt" of the region. No right-of-centre party has ruled the municipality since the Transition.

List of Mayors! bgcolor="gold"
TermNameParty
1979-1987Antonio Martínez VeraIndep.
1987-1991Francisco José de Pablo TamayoPSOE-M
1991-1992Eduardo Díaz MontesIUCM
1992Candela Cajas MartínIUCM
1992-1995Antonio Serrano PérezIUCM
1995-2003Fausto Fernández DíazIUCM
2003-2014José Masa Díaz IUCM
2014-2022Pedro del Cura SánchezIUCM
2022-currentAída CastillejoIU-Equo-MM

Transport

The main road serving Rivas-Vaciamadrid is the A-3 motorway, that connects Madrid with Valencia. The exits to Rivas-Vaciamadrid are numbers 12 (West), 15 (Centre) and 17 (East).

The main public transport in Rivas-Vaciamadrid is the bus.[5] There are four lines connecting with Madrid and three connecting with other municipalities. Moreover, the Madrid Metro line 9 crosses the city on its way between Madrid and Arganda del Rey, serving Rivas-Vaciamadrid with three stations: Rivas-Urbanizaciones in the west, Rivas Futura in the centre and Rivas-Vaciamadrid in the east.

Festivals

The main festivals are the festival of Romería del Cristo de Rivas (29 September), San Isidro (15 May), the popular festivals of Rivas-Urbanizaciones (second weekend of September) and the festivals of the Urbanisation La Partija on the 15 June.

Education

Locally there are 15 kindergartens (6 public and 9 private), 14 public primary education schools, 5 secondary education institutions and two private schools.

Sports

The city has three teams playing at the top level in their respective sports, Rivas Osos in american football since 2000;Rivas Ecópolis plays in the women's basketball top division, the Liga Femenina de Baloncesto and Dridma Rivas Softball club plays in the Liga Nacional Sófbol Femenino División de Honor, the highest division of softball in Spain

References

  1. Web site: Cifras oficiales de población resultantes de la revisión del Padrón municipal a 1 de enero . 15 January 2020 . . es . 2019.
  2. News: ¿Qué municipios españoles tienen las mayores tasas de riesgo de pobreza? . 16 September 2015 . 15 January 2020 . . es . Editorial Ecoprensa.
  3. Web site: Madrid community local election results . 15 January 2020. es . Instituto de Estadística . https://web.archive.org/web/20160109184050/http://www.madrid.org/iestadis/fijas/estructu/general/otros/eleccionescm_locales.htm . 9 January 2016.
  4. In coalition with Equo (Somos Rivas).
  5. Revisión del Plan de Movilidad Urbana Sostenible . Ayuntamiento de Rivas Vaciamadrid . 20 April 2016 . 15 January 2020 . es . 1.

External links