You Cannot Petition

You might have thought that the decision to take no decision in respect of the rail extension to Alcúdia during the remaining period of the current governmental administration would have been the end of the matter. You would of course have been wrong. One of the more glaring omissions following the no-decision decision was any word from Alcúdia's mayor, he who was so committed to not allowing the northern route. Finally, he has broken his silence and has announced the results of the petition that the town hall launched against the proposed route. There were 1300 signatures against. The mayor believes that these represent a significant expression of local views. Well, he would say that, wouldn't he. The numbers registering their opposition amount to some way short of 10% of the town's population. What of the 90% who didn't sign the petition? (And I know, I know, you have to take account of minors and all that, but you get the point.)

See any photos of the so-called mass protests against the route and it will invariably involve a tractor with a sign strung to the front bearing the legend "Per Son Fé" (and indeed there was such a photo in "The Bulletin" yesterday). It was the area of Son Fé, as one enters Alcúdia along the road from the motorway, that was most affected by the proposed route; the area of the tractor boys. Small wonder that it should create the most vocal opposition. Of those who signed, one could well imagine that the majority had some connection with Son Fé and with the immediate area in the old town where a terminus might have been sited. The rest were probably Luddite fanatics opposed to anything that smacks of a period after around the early twentieth century and political fellow-travellers, ones who are not, though, going to be travelling on a train any time soon; well not one starting from Alcúdia. What about those on the other side of Alcúdia, in the port, in Mal Pas and so on? What also of people in Puerto Pollensa, Playa de Muro and maybe also Can Picafort who might have liked a say? The rail extension was never the sole preserve of Alcúdia, much as the town hall has acted as though it were.

The extension is not a complete dead duck. Of those who placed their signatures against the northern route, 85% were happy for there to be an alternative route, i.e. the southern one favoured by the town hall. No great surprise there. All that NIMBY stuff, as ever, and stuff the fact that the southern route may genuinely not be an environmental plus and that the odd dead duck in Albufera may be the result. The petition is part of a process of objections to be presented to the regional government, despite its decision to take no decision, other than the decision to not go ahead during the current legislature. The railway could still happen, but whether central funds would still be forthcoming, given the debacle this time round, is quite a different matter.


QUIZ
Yesterday's title - "Rio", Mike Nesmith, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GNwj-Z6ig-M. Today's title - well of course you can, and they do. Who was this and who couldn't you petition?

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