The Understandable Exaggerations Of Alcúdia

It did of course make an eye-grabbing headline. "Businesspeople on Dollar Street fear that the area is the new Punta Ballena." This is the headline in translation, as the article was in "Ultima Hora". You could tell that the origin was Spanish, as very few Brits, save for some veterans, now ever refer to Alcúdia's Mile as Dollar Street. Apart from anything else, such as the alternative names that have been acquired over the years, the street ceased to be lined with dollars many years ago.

The headline was an exaggeration. Some of the views expressed by the "businesspeople" were exaggerations. Because Magalluf now has a stronger police presence, the excesses of tourism may be replanted along the Mile. It might make for good copy, but this is not how tourism works, while an allusion to Punta Ballena has become a form of shorthand for any example of bad-behaviour tourism.

Nevertheless, the reference was understandable. Far less understandable was the fact that a very similar article - in English and not in "The Bulletin" - appeared elsewhere without explaining what the businesspeople were referring to. Or perhaps it is understandable when there is a lack of appreciation of the issue and when the only source of information seemed to be an article which, in its body text, didn't explicitly refer to it either.

It was the sub-heading of the "Ultima Hora" piece which offered the explanation. All-inclusives were one, but then we've known about these for years. The other was "estudiantes": students. When the English article spoke, as the original had, of noise, drinking, disturbances from 4pm to 8pm and then again from half eleven until two in the morning (themselves not completely accurate because the disturbances, in effect, last all night and up to seven in the morning), it failed to mention the students. Consequently, it is quite possible - probable in fact - that an uninformed reader would see Punta Ballena and disturbances, put two and two together and come up with the five of British youth out on the lash and on the rampage. The conclusion would be totally wrong. The correct one is Spanish students, those who have taken over a great part of Bellevue for the past two weeks and who have turned the area into a living hell.

Misreporting is one thing, another is the apparent shortsightedness and resignation of others. To give an example. According to one source, the hell of the students is "not a community issue", as in the community of one of the residential apartment buildings most affected. How can it not be a community issue, and not just the community in its administrative sense as applied to a building? It is a community issue for the whole area: the businesspeople might have been exaggerating with their Punta Ballena references but these were, as I say, understandable.

There again, what is community? I'm damned if I know, because I witness precious little of it, just as I witness, hear and read other expressions of shortsightedness and resignation. "Oh well, that's how it is." "It's business." "There'll be backhanders." All the usual shrug-of-the-shoulder nonsense that comes from people of different nationalities - Spanish and others. Yes, it is business, but there are limits, and when blatant disregard to a fundamental of Spanish life, enshrined in the Constitution and laws, that of "co-existence", is practised through the organisation and marketing of holidays to a specific sector which itself shows total disregard to this principle, then limits need to be imposed.

This resignation is, I accept, also understandable, but perhaps there needs to be greater awareness of what - in political terms - is happening at present. Podemos, rather than be berated, should be applauded if only because they have shaken administrations into realising who it is they act on behalf of. Communities. Proper ones. Town halls, regional government, even businesses know that the goalposts have been moved. They are under scrutiny like never before. Transparency, participation, dialogue: these are not mere slogans any longer. But they will be if people fail to act on the opportunity that has been presented. 

It has been quite encouraging to see how Alcúdia town hall - the mayor, Toni Mir, and the local police - have reacted to the students' affair. Mir had already acted swiftly in putting a stop to Red Electrica digging during the summer on account of the God awful racket. He was on to things the day after a meeting I had with him. Subsequently, the police responded rapidly to what was akin to a riot at two o'clock one morning, one that was partly caused because the organisers had failed to adhere to a measure that the town hall and police had insisted upon. But the police can only do so much. To help them, sources of their need to intervene have to be eradicated, which is where the "community" comes in. I'm not holding my breath, though, because the shortsightedness and resignation will doubtless prevail, leading to constant muttered complaints and the perpetuation of inaction that is the consequence of an inability and unwillingness to act and to be seen to act for the greater good of more than just selfishness. Punta Ballena? Maybe.