European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - August 23, 1989, Darmstadt, Hesse                                By Edward Cody Washington Post w Ith Mediterranean extravagance Barcel Onais undertaking an Urban Renaissance that i changing the tace of the City and turning its View toward the sea. The City s extensive remodelling undertaken Lor the 1992 olympic games to be held there. Includes a $64 billion array of Urban projects. In a Way the olympics Are a pretext to have All these extra investments and to make Barcelona into a sort of world capital said Allied Bosch publications director of the Barcelona olympic organizing committee. Barcelona s rising ambitions have been fuelled by More than preparation Lor the olympic games. Since Dic Lalor Francisco Franco died in 1975. And the country became a democracy Spain has shed its image As Europe s country Cousin. Currently ruled by Market oriented socialists committed to european integration Spain has acquired Europe s fastest growing Economy at More than 5 percent a year injecting the country with Confidence and Energy. Officials have predicted that Spain s transition into the european Community by 1992, and the Advent of Europe s Border free Market in 1993, will help sustain the Boom and lie the country even More closely to ils neighbors. In addition to the olympic games in Barcelona the country also will Host expo 92, a world s fair in Seville in 1992 the year is the 500th anniversary of Christopher Columbus s discovery of America and of the moors defeat in Granada an event that crowned Spain s emergence As an Independent european nation. Barcelona Wilh 3 million inhabitants is Spain s second largest City. Lying in Catalonia ust South of France it has decided that its Star is on the Rise. Foreign investment in Spain has tripled Over the last five years officials say. Although Madrid is the Center of government Barcelona Cradle of architect Antonio Gaudi and artists Joan Miro and Pablo Picasso has become the Center of publishing style and design. Because of the City s reputation Spanish television advertisers who wan to suggest the stylish Ness of their products have begun to shoot ads with Barcelona s monuments in the background. The City celebrated with Street file photo Antonio Gaudi a Sagrada fam Llla the architect s unfinished Art Nouveau Church la one of the landmarks of old Barcelona. Sprucing up3arce Ona crowds and fireworks when news came in 1986 that it had been chosen for the 1992 olympics. Since then More than 100,000 Barcelo nans have answered a Call for 20,000 Volunteer olympics workers. The Choice of Barcelona As the site for the games has been seen As International recognition of the City s new image and As a catalyst for much needed Urban renovation particularly along the neglected Mediterranean Shoreline. Graced Wilh famous landmarks such As Gaudi s Sagrada Familia modern Barcelona had never embraced its seafront the port was noisy commercial and decayed. Waves washed up on an Industrial dump framed by rotted factories dating from the last Century. Francisco canal Roca a Well known catalonian photographer told friends recently he was 18 before he first saw the sea even though he was born near the Barcelona Cathedral and Only a 20-Minule walk from the Shoreline part of the Waterside problem grew out of metropolitan Spain s first Railroad which was important economically when it opened in 1848. Ii attracted a Row of factories and Cut Oil the City from what became the blighted Shoreline. Because of the renewal now under Way the last train passed Over those tracks May 30. Then the tracks were torn up joining the factories on the scrap Heap to make Way for an olympic Village thai is part of a 2vi mile Shoreline development including apartments office buildings a Marina Parks and new beaches. Bosch of the City s olympic organizing committee said the changes cons it Ute the most important Urban transformation in Barcelona since development of the month Pic hillsides East of the port for a world s fair in 1929. A Barcelona teen Ager said sunbathing on the new beaches already has become very popular. The City also has begun buying land to expand the beaches along several More Miles to the municipal limits said Auloni Llagostera i Fernandez of the municipal Urban development Institute. The Effort is part of the Hygiene Long urged by Oriol Bohigas the Barcelona architect credited Wilh inspiring much of his City s renewal. In the month Pic area the 14-Story Sant Jordi Arena Wilh a dome designed by the japanese architect Arata Itozaki has risen just below the main olympic facility month Pic stadium. The stadium itself built in 1929 when Barcelona had Hopes of hosting the 1936 olympics has been enlarged to 70.000 seats without damage to the original facade. Other olympic facilities have gone up in the Val d Hebron and Diagonal areas North of the City Center. Those Are being connected to month Pic and the seafront by a freeway that will ring the City and it is hoped free downtown traffic. Barcelona taxi Drivers who weave through a shilling pattern of construction caused detours appear to have concluded that the chaos will never turn into completed work by 1992. Mark my words one Driver told a visitor As they waited in a traffic Jam. All this stuff will never be finished in time. All the Money is going Here and there for political interests and for financial  City officials insist the work is on schedule. But even they recall the Fate of visionary plans by la demons Cerda during an expansion of Barcelona a Century ago. Cerda imagined 10,000-Square-Yard City blocks with Large gardens in the Center of each. Instead investors filled the blocks with buildings and skipped the Parks. I be seen it happen. Children grow up and move away from Home and invariably there will be a Mother somewhere running behind the car Wilh a just married sign on it Yelling to her son Waill i m not finished with you yet so mile time. So much to Leach. So Many pearls of Wisdom thai you Are sure fell on deaf ears. The panic sets in. Many mothers have been known to have nightmares for months even years after their children Are grown and on their own. I had a dream of the wedding of my daughter. It was held in St. Patrick s Cathedral and guests filled it to capacity. Everyone was there or. Spock my daughter s old teachers grandparents and All my friends. We watched breathlessly As the couple exchanged vows and rings. Finally the minister said you May kiss the Bride  As the Bride turned her new husband lifted the Page 16 the stars and stripes veil of illusion tulle from her face to reveal my daughter with a pacifier in her Mouth All eyes in the Church turned to me in disgust. I had never weaned her off the pacifier but had taken the easy Road to motherhood. It was a Nightmare. There were other restless nights when the bad dreams persisted. One night i dreamed i was in a great room in Stockholm. My husband was wearing a rented Tuxedo and i was dressed in a tasteful beige dress and Matching coat. My son was summoned to accept the Nobel prize for literature. The audience Rose to their feet and applauded wildly. When they had settled Down Lor his acceptance speech Here was a Long silence. He jus stood there like a Wall. The greatest prize in the world of literature had just been Given to him and he did t know what to say. I dropped on my hands and Knees and crawled along wednesday August 23,1989 the floor until i was within reach of his trousers. I tugged at them and whispered what do you say when someone gives you a Ireal you say thank you i had failed again. The years go by so fast. When my son eats an ice Cream Cone like a Lizard i want to paste a disclaimer on his forehead saying this child s Mother had him eat with a Mirror in front of his plate for three years and is not responsible for what you  when a visit to his apartment is like dropping into the Temple of doom i want him to use a fake name on the lease. We All try. We just never know what Sticks and what does t. Recently when i viewed one of my kids in a shirt that had never seen an Iron he said remember. When i was in a school play and you Only pressed the trouser leg that faced the audience. C t989dmabombecli