Showing posts with label Street cleaning. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Street cleaning. Show all posts
Saturday, July 30, 2011
MALLORCA TODAY - Muro mayor accused of favouring a cousin's company
The opposition PSOE at Muro town hall has denounced the awarding of a contract for street cleaning in Playa de Muro to a company operated by a cousin of the mayor Martí Fornes. The four-year contract, worth over 650,000 euros, was awarded at the end of May. Fornés says that the decision was based on technical reports and that had there been any question of it being incorrect that this should have been raised before the tendering process.
Tuesday, May 05, 2009
Mean Streets
Ever a town hall to provide a good tale or several, Pollensa is now addressing the curious case of the contractless cleaners - street cleaners, that is, the company that has been doing it, some may suggest otherwise, having been for more than a year minus a contract. Step forward, therefore, the chap in charge of finances and news that the authority is looking at doubling the size of the budget for street cleaning and maintenance. Perhaps this is an admission that not enough has been spent up until now. However much is indeed eventually forthcoming for whichever contractor gets the new gig, it will hopefully be sufficient to mean streets without the doo-doo and a general raising of the street tone - a matter that does exercise the concerns of residents and tourists alike.
There aren't streets as such in the weird enclave of Ses Casetes des Capellans on the outer edges of Playa de Muro by Can Picafort. This peculiar area of small holiday homes has registered blog-wise in the past, for example when a flag of Franco-esque connotation was blowing in the wind above one of the residences. It should have had more coverage: it is one of my favourite oddball areas. Anyway, if you have yet to experience Capellans you may be running out of time as the urbanisation is under threat from disappearing. Not from the ingress of sea, though that couldn't be completely ruled out, albeit it might take a few years, but from the edicts of the law for the coasts, about which we haven't heard a great deal for a while now. At a time when there has been a certain relaxation in respect of hotels and what they can do in terms of redevelopments, contrary - the enviros especially would argue - to the rules regarding the coasts, poor old Capellans seems to have a metaphorical demolition ball hanging over it. Basically, it shouldn't be there, so goes an argument. It shouldn't have been there for 30 or 40 years, or so it would seem. But, never fear, because one view from the town hall is that technically it constitutes "urban land". Capellans may be strange, it may be rather low rent, but these are not reasons to get rid of it. Quite the opposite; they should slap a heritage site protection order on it. Culture comes in many different forms, and the odd is often the most interesting.
And coming back to the curious case of the contractless cleaners, it sounds a bit like an Agatha Christie, about which one might ask, whatever happened to the old dame becoming the face of Pollensa. Did they find out it might cost a few bob or centimos more than they'd bargained for in terms of image rights, or did someone say that actually it wasn't much of an idea?
QUIZ
Yesterday's title - The Handsome Family, "Hunter Green" (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IW5e_1jxw2U). Today's title - and who were the main two stars in this?
(PLEASE REPLY TO andrew@thealcudiaguide.com AND NOT VIA THE COMMENTS THINGY HERE.)
There aren't streets as such in the weird enclave of Ses Casetes des Capellans on the outer edges of Playa de Muro by Can Picafort. This peculiar area of small holiday homes has registered blog-wise in the past, for example when a flag of Franco-esque connotation was blowing in the wind above one of the residences. It should have had more coverage: it is one of my favourite oddball areas. Anyway, if you have yet to experience Capellans you may be running out of time as the urbanisation is under threat from disappearing. Not from the ingress of sea, though that couldn't be completely ruled out, albeit it might take a few years, but from the edicts of the law for the coasts, about which we haven't heard a great deal for a while now. At a time when there has been a certain relaxation in respect of hotels and what they can do in terms of redevelopments, contrary - the enviros especially would argue - to the rules regarding the coasts, poor old Capellans seems to have a metaphorical demolition ball hanging over it. Basically, it shouldn't be there, so goes an argument. It shouldn't have been there for 30 or 40 years, or so it would seem. But, never fear, because one view from the town hall is that technically it constitutes "urban land". Capellans may be strange, it may be rather low rent, but these are not reasons to get rid of it. Quite the opposite; they should slap a heritage site protection order on it. Culture comes in many different forms, and the odd is often the most interesting.
And coming back to the curious case of the contractless cleaners, it sounds a bit like an Agatha Christie, about which one might ask, whatever happened to the old dame becoming the face of Pollensa. Did they find out it might cost a few bob or centimos more than they'd bargained for in terms of image rights, or did someone say that actually it wasn't much of an idea?
QUIZ
Yesterday's title - The Handsome Family, "Hunter Green" (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IW5e_1jxw2U). Today's title - and who were the main two stars in this?
(PLEASE REPLY TO andrew@thealcudiaguide.com AND NOT VIA THE COMMENTS THINGY HERE.)
Thursday, November 20, 2008
Shock To The System
Man in bar time again. I ought to start a separate blog, call it something like Derek and Clive and make it a dialogue blog of the kind of views that "man in bar" comes out with. Derek and Clive might be quite apt, given the number of times the f-word tends to cross the lips of "man in bar". But anyway, I explain a bit about the piece from yesterday. Cue man in bar to dismiss the whole thing on the grounds that there is a "system" here (of politics) and that there is no point in wasting time and effort and giving yourself a heart attack over it all.
Ah yes, the "system". There is always a system. Wherever or whenever, there always is and always has been a system. Like that of Franco's time. It is said that a reason for the longevity of his "reign" was the sheer apathy of the people. It was the system, and that was it. Apathy and complacency. I can understand this double-header of inaction; it is usually accompanied by something else - comfortableness - and is expressed as couldn't care less. There is also just keeping your head down and getting on with your business despite the "system", and sod the lot of it.
You will never really capture people's interest in local affairs if they simply don't want their interest taste buds stimulated. But the pedestrianisation case in Puerto Pollensa is an example of how just one issue can make people take notice. Talk to anyone there, and you'll get an opinion. What is intriguing, at least I think so, is that, although the lack of consultation and therefore the imposition of the pedestrianisation was an example of how the "system" works, the system can be seen to be challenged and, moreover, challenged in quite a significant way. Partly this is because it is such a physically obvious change, but also because this is down to the publicity the case has generated, not just in the press but also through the likes of the Gotmar Residents Association. It is as though the cause has to be right for people to become engaged, and to that end, though I may have had the slight joke at their expense, the "alternative" United Left and Greens (EU/EV) in Puerto Pollensa have been and are tapping into an undercurrent of dissatisfaction and bringing this to the surface. The EU/EV, in the guise of Pepe Garcia, is firing at all targets. The pedestrianisation case is one with much popular interest. The latest is the problem of street cleaning and the fact that the contract for the company that is supposed to do this ran out back in March, yet it is still actually working (after a fashion) and receiving payment. Garcia has labelled the town hall administration "incompetent" for its management of something of such importance.
One thing that does raise people's hackles, and their interest, is the state of the streets and of course all the dog shit. And it's not just tourists. Publicising the fact that the contracted company has no contract as such could well make this another pedestrianisation story in Puerto Pollensa.
It's very easy for the man in the bar to ignore everything and put it all down to a system that cannot be brought to task, but there was one thing that Garry said about the impression he has of something stirring, and of people genuinely starting to take an interest in how the system works and how it can be made to work better. It may be wishful thinking on his behalf, but there again it may not. These are interesting times in Puerto Pollensa, so much so that even the man in the bar may get his head out of a copy of "The Sun" and take some notice.
GOING DIGITAL
The UK is going digital and Mallorca is to do likewise. The analogue system for televisions is to be superseded by the new digital system from the start of 2010. Most of the island is already covered to enable this, but Alcúdia and Pollensa have been lagging behind. But a couple of days ago (as reported in "The Diario"), there was the activation of the signal from a receiver on top of the Puig de Sant Martí, the hill (some say mountain) at the back of Bellevue, which has made Alcúdia digital. By the end of the year, coverage across the island should have reached 98 per cent, and Pollensa is next in line to get its signal. I'm sure you'll all be happy to know this.
QUIZ
Yesterday's title - Barry Manilow (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FKPWzLgvgW4). Today's title - a later song from a one-time punk artist.
(PLEASE REPLY TO andrew@thealcudiaguide.com AND NOT VIA THE COMMENTS THINGY HERE.)
Ah yes, the "system". There is always a system. Wherever or whenever, there always is and always has been a system. Like that of Franco's time. It is said that a reason for the longevity of his "reign" was the sheer apathy of the people. It was the system, and that was it. Apathy and complacency. I can understand this double-header of inaction; it is usually accompanied by something else - comfortableness - and is expressed as couldn't care less. There is also just keeping your head down and getting on with your business despite the "system", and sod the lot of it.
You will never really capture people's interest in local affairs if they simply don't want their interest taste buds stimulated. But the pedestrianisation case in Puerto Pollensa is an example of how just one issue can make people take notice. Talk to anyone there, and you'll get an opinion. What is intriguing, at least I think so, is that, although the lack of consultation and therefore the imposition of the pedestrianisation was an example of how the "system" works, the system can be seen to be challenged and, moreover, challenged in quite a significant way. Partly this is because it is such a physically obvious change, but also because this is down to the publicity the case has generated, not just in the press but also through the likes of the Gotmar Residents Association. It is as though the cause has to be right for people to become engaged, and to that end, though I may have had the slight joke at their expense, the "alternative" United Left and Greens (EU/EV) in Puerto Pollensa have been and are tapping into an undercurrent of dissatisfaction and bringing this to the surface. The EU/EV, in the guise of Pepe Garcia, is firing at all targets. The pedestrianisation case is one with much popular interest. The latest is the problem of street cleaning and the fact that the contract for the company that is supposed to do this ran out back in March, yet it is still actually working (after a fashion) and receiving payment. Garcia has labelled the town hall administration "incompetent" for its management of something of such importance.
One thing that does raise people's hackles, and their interest, is the state of the streets and of course all the dog shit. And it's not just tourists. Publicising the fact that the contracted company has no contract as such could well make this another pedestrianisation story in Puerto Pollensa.
It's very easy for the man in the bar to ignore everything and put it all down to a system that cannot be brought to task, but there was one thing that Garry said about the impression he has of something stirring, and of people genuinely starting to take an interest in how the system works and how it can be made to work better. It may be wishful thinking on his behalf, but there again it may not. These are interesting times in Puerto Pollensa, so much so that even the man in the bar may get his head out of a copy of "The Sun" and take some notice.
GOING DIGITAL
The UK is going digital and Mallorca is to do likewise. The analogue system for televisions is to be superseded by the new digital system from the start of 2010. Most of the island is already covered to enable this, but Alcúdia and Pollensa have been lagging behind. But a couple of days ago (as reported in "The Diario"), there was the activation of the signal from a receiver on top of the Puig de Sant Martí, the hill (some say mountain) at the back of Bellevue, which has made Alcúdia digital. By the end of the year, coverage across the island should have reached 98 per cent, and Pollensa is next in line to get its signal. I'm sure you'll all be happy to know this.
QUIZ
Yesterday's title - Barry Manilow (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FKPWzLgvgW4). Today's title - a later song from a one-time punk artist.
(PLEASE REPLY TO andrew@thealcudiaguide.com AND NOT VIA THE COMMENTS THINGY HERE.)
Thursday, August 28, 2008
Day At The Dog Races
So I happen to pass by the Lluna leather shop in Puerto Pollensa, and Joana is busy swabbing the street. Yes, the street. There ensues a touch of small talk during which I comment, jokingly, that it's good for business to keep the shop front clean. Only thing is, this isn't a joke. What's with the town hall and the rubbish and the streets, asks I. The chap with the street-cleaning machine used to come by three or four times a summer. Not now he doesn't. I look down at the pavement that has yet to be treated with Joana's liquid. And afterwards I walk the streets, my head bowed.
I suppose the thing is that years of Greece, France and Spain have maybe inured me to the pavements or at least to what is on them. I observe much, but the walkways tend to pass me by, or I pass them by and over without much in the way of a glance or more detailed study. Until today. It's only when you really scrutinise what you're walking on that you realise that, yes, it is actually pretty filthy. Dog shit is one thing; the other is the regularity of stains of all sorts. And then I think again of all those nutters who take to the pavements without anything on their feet. You hope to God they don't go jumping into pools straight after without having been treated with industrial disinfectant.
There was this thing today in the press about a push to improve ever more the quality of hotels as part of a drive to attract more tourism. Which is all very fine. But you worry that there is an ever widening gap between the splendrous facades of tourism and the untreated splatters on the streets and sidewalks. And they want more pedestrianisation. Let's hope they find someone to clean it. Personally, it doesn't really bother me; it's that inurement, though I am as hacked off as anyone by crap or chewing-gum on the soles. But that's only me. There are plenty who are far more sensitive, and not without reason.
Maybe it's just all this "bloody country". Those aren't my words. They are the words of a bar-owner in Puerto Pollensa. The bar in question was closed today. Very unusual. Want to know why? They'd had the electricity cut off. Not that they hadn't paid bills; they had. It was just that they'd paid the wrong bills; someone else's. It was all a bit of an electricity company admin mistake - cock-up in other words. And so they were left with a day's loss of revenue and having to pay their bills before being credited for the ones that they had paid. I mention this because it's not the first time these particular people have had an issue with electricity bills. They used to rent a villa; quite a nice villa. Quiet area, with just a smaller place neighbouring; a smaller place belonging to the owner. Except that smaller place shouldn't, strictly speaking, have been there. The questionable legality of its presence didn't appear to deter the owner too much; not when it came to some jiggery-pokery with the electricity metering. They, it came to pass, discovered that they were paying for the other place's electricity consumption as well.
So having seen the street swabbing and heard the saga of the bills, I wandered off, examining the paths of Puerto Pollensa and mulling over lines about who let the dogs out or having gone to the dogs being quite literally the case what with the on-street dog powdering of the nose; lines about dog day afternoon as it is now past noon, or day at the dog races because of perambulation but with obstacles of a canine faecal variety. And then there's this noise as I'm staring down at the physical representation of the name Carrer Metge Llopis. I look up and it's this apartments development. Why are they working on this? Is this a tourist area or what? Is this August or have I been transported to November? What happened to suspension of works? So I'm looking up and I walk away and it's a sixth sense that makes me focus again on the pavement. It would have completely ruined my afternoon, had I stood in it.
KITESURFERS FACE FINES
Following on from the piece of 26 August, comes news, as noted in the "Diario", that kitesurfers who act with "imprudence" could cop fines of up to 3000 euros. Essentially what this refers to is if kitesurfing is practised in areas that are strictly for swimming. One of the reasons for the concentration of kitesurfers at La Marina in Pollensa bay is that the beach there is "free" in that there is no demarcation of a swim zone.
The kities are asking for an increase in the number of beaches that are designated for what is a fast-growing sport. They are also saying that their own diligence, when it comes to safety and training, reduces the risk of accidents. And one does detect a definite increase in responsibility, whether this has been out of personal choice or enforced. As an example, back of me in Playa de Muro there used to be kitesurfers in what is a swim area. Not now there aren't. I did wonder last year why the Guardia used to turn up now and then. Perhaps this was the reason. There was once an almighty set-to when a kite came down close to some kids in the water.
But kitesurfing is not the only thing that is banned from the beaches. Boats are also forbidden. Yet there is a guy here who these past couple of weeks has turned up every afternoon with his Laser and launched it off the local beach. The beach sign is quite clear. No boats. One wonders why the lifeguards don't say anything; they patrol up and down the beach regularly. It's not a case of spoiling people's fun, just that the beach and the sea have become potentially more dangerous since the advent of all the various bits of kit that nowadays manifest themselves. This is why there are "sports areas" off beaches. Let the sea be a free-for-all, and it would be chaos.
QUIZ
Yesterday's title - "Nightswimming" (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3Z8sr4oCS94). Today's title - one of the great American bands, though you'd be doing well to get this.
(PLEASE REPLY TO andrew@thealcudiaguide.com AND NOT VIA THE COMMENTS THINGY HERE.)
I suppose the thing is that years of Greece, France and Spain have maybe inured me to the pavements or at least to what is on them. I observe much, but the walkways tend to pass me by, or I pass them by and over without much in the way of a glance or more detailed study. Until today. It's only when you really scrutinise what you're walking on that you realise that, yes, it is actually pretty filthy. Dog shit is one thing; the other is the regularity of stains of all sorts. And then I think again of all those nutters who take to the pavements without anything on their feet. You hope to God they don't go jumping into pools straight after without having been treated with industrial disinfectant.
There was this thing today in the press about a push to improve ever more the quality of hotels as part of a drive to attract more tourism. Which is all very fine. But you worry that there is an ever widening gap between the splendrous facades of tourism and the untreated splatters on the streets and sidewalks. And they want more pedestrianisation. Let's hope they find someone to clean it. Personally, it doesn't really bother me; it's that inurement, though I am as hacked off as anyone by crap or chewing-gum on the soles. But that's only me. There are plenty who are far more sensitive, and not without reason.
Maybe it's just all this "bloody country". Those aren't my words. They are the words of a bar-owner in Puerto Pollensa. The bar in question was closed today. Very unusual. Want to know why? They'd had the electricity cut off. Not that they hadn't paid bills; they had. It was just that they'd paid the wrong bills; someone else's. It was all a bit of an electricity company admin mistake - cock-up in other words. And so they were left with a day's loss of revenue and having to pay their bills before being credited for the ones that they had paid. I mention this because it's not the first time these particular people have had an issue with electricity bills. They used to rent a villa; quite a nice villa. Quiet area, with just a smaller place neighbouring; a smaller place belonging to the owner. Except that smaller place shouldn't, strictly speaking, have been there. The questionable legality of its presence didn't appear to deter the owner too much; not when it came to some jiggery-pokery with the electricity metering. They, it came to pass, discovered that they were paying for the other place's electricity consumption as well.
So having seen the street swabbing and heard the saga of the bills, I wandered off, examining the paths of Puerto Pollensa and mulling over lines about who let the dogs out or having gone to the dogs being quite literally the case what with the on-street dog powdering of the nose; lines about dog day afternoon as it is now past noon, or day at the dog races because of perambulation but with obstacles of a canine faecal variety. And then there's this noise as I'm staring down at the physical representation of the name Carrer Metge Llopis. I look up and it's this apartments development. Why are they working on this? Is this a tourist area or what? Is this August or have I been transported to November? What happened to suspension of works? So I'm looking up and I walk away and it's a sixth sense that makes me focus again on the pavement. It would have completely ruined my afternoon, had I stood in it.
KITESURFERS FACE FINES
Following on from the piece of 26 August, comes news, as noted in the "Diario", that kitesurfers who act with "imprudence" could cop fines of up to 3000 euros. Essentially what this refers to is if kitesurfing is practised in areas that are strictly for swimming. One of the reasons for the concentration of kitesurfers at La Marina in Pollensa bay is that the beach there is "free" in that there is no demarcation of a swim zone.
The kities are asking for an increase in the number of beaches that are designated for what is a fast-growing sport. They are also saying that their own diligence, when it comes to safety and training, reduces the risk of accidents. And one does detect a definite increase in responsibility, whether this has been out of personal choice or enforced. As an example, back of me in Playa de Muro there used to be kitesurfers in what is a swim area. Not now there aren't. I did wonder last year why the Guardia used to turn up now and then. Perhaps this was the reason. There was once an almighty set-to when a kite came down close to some kids in the water.
But kitesurfing is not the only thing that is banned from the beaches. Boats are also forbidden. Yet there is a guy here who these past couple of weeks has turned up every afternoon with his Laser and launched it off the local beach. The beach sign is quite clear. No boats. One wonders why the lifeguards don't say anything; they patrol up and down the beach regularly. It's not a case of spoiling people's fun, just that the beach and the sea have become potentially more dangerous since the advent of all the various bits of kit that nowadays manifest themselves. This is why there are "sports areas" off beaches. Let the sea be a free-for-all, and it would be chaos.
QUIZ
Yesterday's title - "Nightswimming" (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3Z8sr4oCS94). Today's title - one of the great American bands, though you'd be doing well to get this.
(PLEASE REPLY TO andrew@thealcudiaguide.com AND NOT VIA THE COMMENTS THINGY HERE.)
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