the area that is no longer “dark and complicated” but still collapses when Boca plays

“These places they gave life to the neighborhood, it is much better. It’s a very quite zone. The only problem occurs when Boca playsbecause being close to the field the streets of the neighborhood are complicated by traffic, trash, and there may be the occasional outburstespecially tourists,” explains Miguel, a neighbor who lives on the border between San Telmo and Barracas, a few meters from the historic Lezama Park, precisely on the block where the Caseros Boulevard a few years ago.

This gastronomic pole – which extends from Peru to Defensa, and which has around 15 locations on Caseros Avenue It never stopped growing, even in a pandemic. For Miguel, as for other neighbors, with the arrival of the boulevard the lights also appeared in a neighborhood that many define as “dark and complicated”especially when there is a game.

More than a decade ago, a handful of gastronomic entrepreneurs discovered that there was potential and was installed in the premises on the ground floor, which in other times used to be, for example, naval workshops. From there, an interesting gourmet proposal was built, which in the pandemic the street also won on weekends, expanding the offer.

This measure that was implemented in 2020 for many gastronomic spaces in the City of Buenos Aires is still preserved on this boulevard: all the establishments have tables outside and occupy a lane on both sides on Caseros Avenue. They coexist with buses that have obligatory stops on this section.

“We are happy, most of us, with the presence of the locals. We see that there is a positive change, that attracts even tourists. And the nights are safer, but precisely because of the lights, because with these bars there is necessarily more security on the weekends. I see it when I come down from my building, which is on Defensa and Caseros. The only thing that can mean a problem are the days when people move around a lot towards the Bombonera. There everything is summed up in heavy traffic, dirty clothes, and alcohol everywhere,” Miguel describes.

Those days the stretch of the boulevard is filled with people looking for a table to eat and drink in groups, while they wait to go to the field. With this type of massive events, as Miguel says, parking becomes an odyssey: The blocks surrounding the area quickly fill up with cars that, in most cases, will have to pay a car caretaker for the hours of stay.

“It happened to me that one day when I was playing Boca I had my niece downstairs with the car and I couldn’t find parking. Bolívar and Caseros. We waited a while for some space to become available. On the street the rag charges you 4,000 or 5,000 pesos. On those days, especially, what happens is that there is much more alcohol circulating and it is more common than I know of some robberybecause they are all eating outdoors,” adds another neighbor.

From the City Government they explain that “these cases of massive events are always supported by traffic agents who are in the area and who are even willing to make traffic light times more fluid; “So they stop on the corners as if to give priority to the arteries that need it most.”

“On those occasions, there will be more people on the streets reorganizing traffic, but that is something that happens spontaneously, and it depends on where people enter and where. they will try to generate detours. But it is the security agents who have a comprehensive view of how to carry out these events,” they add.

Regarding parking, they explain that, whether or not there is an event such as a match“the infraction for leaving the car in improper places is in force and there is even hauling when the situation warrants it.” (for example, when a ramp or space reserved for people with disabilities, or a bus stop, is obstructed).” They say that, per day, they receive 500 complaints due to bad parking.

Regarding the security operations around the presence of car guards in this area, the City states: “Whenever there is a massive event, this issue is worked on. In these cases, as it is a party, the police work on the problems of illegal sales but also of rags. It does this in conjunction with Transit and the Government Control Agency (AGC)”, the Contraventions and Misdemeanors Division joins them.

“When there is a game, There is much more security than on a normal day. All control has a radio. The kid is taken to a judicial office and his details are taken to try to discourage him from doing that. Many times, if you find him doing that same activity again, he ends up delaying it,” they conclude.