Is the administration in Palma totally bats? Collectively, they have been intimating that they are, as with the ludicrous terraces' referendum, so when they come along with something sensible and worthy, i.e. the greening of parts of the city, they immediately undo this by dragging up the city's name thing once more.
For those of you with reasonable memories, you will recall that we went through all this palaver with Matty Isern's mob. It decided to officially make the capital Palma de Mallorca, a reason for this being that it helps to distinguish the name from other places that can be easily confused with it: La Palma, Las Palmas, Parma. The adding of "de Mallorca" may not have done the trick with Google and other search engines, but the thinking was perfectly reasonable. Moreover, Palma de Mallorca is used by airlines and others in order to make the distinction.
The problem is, however, not a practical one: that would be far too simple. Palma, minus "de Mallorca", will see a reversion to name-place normality. Or so says the councillor for ecology, agriculture and animal welfare, who appears to be the one behind this reclaiming of normality. What, pray, does it have to do with her anyway? There's nothing about toponymy among her various responsibilities.
The normality, such as it is possible for this to exist in Palma political land, lies with the arguments of the "no to the de Mallorca" camp last time round. Adding "de Mallorca" was too foreign. Yes, seriously, this was an argument. Palma de Mallorca is how Palma is known abroad, it was said. Personally, I have never heard a foreigner ever refer to anything other than just Palma.
There was also the fact that Isern's lot had objected to the previous government of the left shortening the name without, apparently, having gone through the correct procedures - whatever they are. So, the city's name is firmly an issue of left and right. For the left, there is no "de Mallorca". For the right, there is. So there you have it. Normality.
Whether with or without its "of Mallorca" suffix, the city has an image problem. There we were, thinking that Palma (de Mallorca) is in fashion, and Duran Duran, the PP spokesperson at the town hall, goes and insists that it is not fashionable for the streets of the city to be piled high with discarded washing-machines and dirty old mattresses. For the president of the services agency, the very same councillor for ecology, etc., such a state of affairs is doubtless one of normality.
Showing posts with label Town hall. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Town hall. Show all posts
Sunday, January 03, 2016
Friday, October 23, 2015
The Toy Soldiers Of Manacor
Marta Marrero, better known as Martika, was responsible for a rather good pop song a generation ago. The lyric went: "It wasn't my intention to mislead you. It never should have been this way. It's true, I did extend the invitation. I never knew how long you'd stay". For reasons of inexplicable association, her "Toy Soldiers" came to mind when learning about matters in Manacor. It just popped into my head, as these things do. Maybe it was something to do with the lyric later in the song lurking in the subconscious: "all fall down like toy soldiers".
They're falling down in Manacor: the town hall administration that is. Have they misled anyone? Not necessarily once in office, but perhaps the misleading came when they said they could form a pact and work together. Marching into the new age of politics came the combined might (or not) of Més, PSOE and Volem (inspired by the spirit of Podemos, meaning that they are Podemos with a different name). The toy soldiers of Manacor won the battle and reversed years of right-leaning domination, but they have discovered that the war is not over. There is to be a vote of censure (no confidence, in effect), and the mayor and his friends will be removed. The right - the PP, El Pi and the AIPC independents of Porto Cristo - are having their revenge. The invitation isn't to be extended. It might have been expected that they would have stayed for longer than four months or so. It shouldn't be this way, but it is.
And it's a shame in a way. I had Manacor's administration marked down as one to watch because it appeared to be ever so slightly bats. This was the one that made such an enormous ballyhoo over the virgin coves of the municipality that rather than deterring beachgoers heading to Cala Varques and spoiling it, ever more came, and did so in their droves. It should have been obvious, but wasn't.
Still, you can't blame them for trying to keep beaches nice and clean or at least herding the municipality's tourists onto beaches where the cleaning equipment can gain better access: it's Calas de Mallorca for you, friendly tourist, and not the rustic charm of Cala Varques.
The beach thing is not what is making the toy soldiers fall down: nor really is a programme of righteousness and self-righteousness from the manual of consensual togetherness of Més, PSOE and Podemos. It's because they have failed to get to grips with the urban plan for the municipality and present the initial draft. Does this sound like a reason for no confidence? Maybe not, but the opposition clearly believe that it is, and the toy soldiers, ruling in minority, are finding themselves outgunned: the opposition have already divvied up the posts without even having passed the motion.
If it seems as though being slow with the urban plan is not grounds for giving them the sack, this may be because the urban plan sounds like an incredibly dull subject. It is. Just as it is also important and complicated. And herein may be a reason for the toy soldiers being knocked over. Do they understand the plan? You couldn't really blame them for not, as very few do understand them.
But it's all well and good the toy soldiers marching towards a political new age, throwing social largesse around and attempting to keep tourists away from virgin beaches; they have to do so with a pretty firm appreciation of the tedious, complex stuff of public administration. Sure, there are those who can and do advise, but how many of the newcomers to public office have a real grounding in such matters? Some will, even if they have not held office before. One thinks of Miquel March in Pollensa, mayor of another minority administration of the left. As the former main man (person) of the environmentalists GOB, you can be assured that he knows all these plans off by heart.
Even if they do understand them, is Manacor in fact the manifestation of what was feared? The instability of pacts formed from leftist groupings and their potential for fracture and rupture that leads to their inevitable downfall? It doesn't have to follow that this should or will be so. There are minority administrations of the right as well as the left, and Pollensa was a right-leaning minority before a left one got in. Somehow it managed to survive a whole term, and March's administration may well do so too. But lest it be forgotten, the regional government operates in minority. Podemos support PSOE and Més, but the support can be withdrawn and has been on two occasions now.
The toy soldiers are falling down, but there's a sour taste. Is this just vengefulness by the opposition? And what might they actually do with or want from the urban plan?
They're falling down in Manacor: the town hall administration that is. Have they misled anyone? Not necessarily once in office, but perhaps the misleading came when they said they could form a pact and work together. Marching into the new age of politics came the combined might (or not) of Més, PSOE and Volem (inspired by the spirit of Podemos, meaning that they are Podemos with a different name). The toy soldiers of Manacor won the battle and reversed years of right-leaning domination, but they have discovered that the war is not over. There is to be a vote of censure (no confidence, in effect), and the mayor and his friends will be removed. The right - the PP, El Pi and the AIPC independents of Porto Cristo - are having their revenge. The invitation isn't to be extended. It might have been expected that they would have stayed for longer than four months or so. It shouldn't be this way, but it is.
And it's a shame in a way. I had Manacor's administration marked down as one to watch because it appeared to be ever so slightly bats. This was the one that made such an enormous ballyhoo over the virgin coves of the municipality that rather than deterring beachgoers heading to Cala Varques and spoiling it, ever more came, and did so in their droves. It should have been obvious, but wasn't.
Still, you can't blame them for trying to keep beaches nice and clean or at least herding the municipality's tourists onto beaches where the cleaning equipment can gain better access: it's Calas de Mallorca for you, friendly tourist, and not the rustic charm of Cala Varques.
The beach thing is not what is making the toy soldiers fall down: nor really is a programme of righteousness and self-righteousness from the manual of consensual togetherness of Més, PSOE and Podemos. It's because they have failed to get to grips with the urban plan for the municipality and present the initial draft. Does this sound like a reason for no confidence? Maybe not, but the opposition clearly believe that it is, and the toy soldiers, ruling in minority, are finding themselves outgunned: the opposition have already divvied up the posts without even having passed the motion.
If it seems as though being slow with the urban plan is not grounds for giving them the sack, this may be because the urban plan sounds like an incredibly dull subject. It is. Just as it is also important and complicated. And herein may be a reason for the toy soldiers being knocked over. Do they understand the plan? You couldn't really blame them for not, as very few do understand them.
But it's all well and good the toy soldiers marching towards a political new age, throwing social largesse around and attempting to keep tourists away from virgin beaches; they have to do so with a pretty firm appreciation of the tedious, complex stuff of public administration. Sure, there are those who can and do advise, but how many of the newcomers to public office have a real grounding in such matters? Some will, even if they have not held office before. One thinks of Miquel March in Pollensa, mayor of another minority administration of the left. As the former main man (person) of the environmentalists GOB, you can be assured that he knows all these plans off by heart.
Even if they do understand them, is Manacor in fact the manifestation of what was feared? The instability of pacts formed from leftist groupings and their potential for fracture and rupture that leads to their inevitable downfall? It doesn't have to follow that this should or will be so. There are minority administrations of the right as well as the left, and Pollensa was a right-leaning minority before a left one got in. Somehow it managed to survive a whole term, and March's administration may well do so too. But lest it be forgotten, the regional government operates in minority. Podemos support PSOE and Més, but the support can be withdrawn and has been on two occasions now.
The toy soldiers are falling down, but there's a sour taste. Is this just vengefulness by the opposition? And what might they actually do with or want from the urban plan?
Friday, April 04, 2014
De-Greasing The Greasy Mile
I was recently earholed by a certain lady bar owner from Puerto Pollensa who had been enjoying the hospitality at an inauguration and who demanded to know of me why - in essence - Pollensa town hall was rubbish and Alcúdia town hall wasn't. Far be it for me to rush to the defence of Pollensa's mayor, Tomeu Cifre, but I felt the necessity to defend him. The dysfunctionality of the town hall isn't really his fault. It is in part the consequence of the fragmented nature of the political organisation on the council. This said, though, I also felt it necessary to point out that Alcúdia (which has a generally harmonious political organisation) is typically proactive and progressive in ways that Pollensa tends not to be.
No one is suggesting, least of all me, that everything is perfect in Alcúdia, because it isn't, but the town hall, under Coloma Terrasa and also (because one fancies he has been highly influential) the deputy mayor Juan González, has been impressive in certain ways, and one of these is the way that the town hall communicates. Its information is really quite good, and an example of this is the posting of the town's tourism development plan on the municipal website. Stretching to fifty pages, this is a mightily detailed document.
A chief concern for those who have businesses in or who work in the complementary sector of the town's tourism industry is, of course, the proliferation of the all-inclusive offer. The plan will disappoint anyone looking for proposals to tackle AI. There aren't any, but why would there be? The town hall has no control over the type of board which hotels provide. But among the various projects that the town hall wishes to effect as part of its plan is one for Alcúdia's main tourism centre and specifically a "revitalisation" of the area around the Avenida Pedro Mas y Reus, otherwise and variously known as Dollar Street, the Greasy Mile or simply The Mile.
Though any plan for The Mile would not necessarily take account of what hotels do, it would be difficult to divorce hotel operations from general improvements (whatever these might be and which might be more than the underwhelming improvements that were undertaken last year). And these hotel operations mean overwhelmingly all-inclusive and all-inclusive at one specific hotel complex - Bellevue.
The fortunes of bar, restaurant and shop owners along The Mile have always been inextricably linked to Bellevue. At peak capacity the complex can accommodate at least 5,000 people. It has always catered for an essentially economy-class tourist, but now this is an economy-class tourist who - in 80% or more of cases - is staying all-inclusive.
There are plenty of other hotels around The Mile, but Bellevue - physically, visually and economically - dominates. A revitalisation of The Mile, I would suggest, cannot hope to be effective unless something were to happen to Bellevue, the question being - what?
The construction of Bellevue started in the early years of the '70s. It took several years for it to become a hotel complex, as the original plan (sale of time share apartments) was a flop, one not helped by legal and financial wrangles. And such wrangles have dogged the complex for much of its existence. They still do. At present, the former boss of the bankrupted Grupo Marsans and the head of Possibilitum, both companies linked to the ownership of Bellevue, are facing hefty prison sentences. Both have been detained, unable to pay bail amounts in the region of 50 million euros.
The management company does its best, but a prevailing atmosphere of uncertainty offers little hope that a genuine plan might be put in place to revamp a complex that is in bad need of a total overhaul. Until such a time as the private sector can work its way through the complexities that surround Bellevue (even if it was inclined to do so), little, one imagines, will happen. Meantime, the town hall wants to revitalise the area which Bellevue dominates. I wish them luck.
Anyway, if you are interested in finding out more about the tourism development plan, it can be downloaded from the town hall website. It is in Castellano, which might be considered another plus mark for the town hall.
No one is suggesting, least of all me, that everything is perfect in Alcúdia, because it isn't, but the town hall, under Coloma Terrasa and also (because one fancies he has been highly influential) the deputy mayor Juan González, has been impressive in certain ways, and one of these is the way that the town hall communicates. Its information is really quite good, and an example of this is the posting of the town's tourism development plan on the municipal website. Stretching to fifty pages, this is a mightily detailed document.
A chief concern for those who have businesses in or who work in the complementary sector of the town's tourism industry is, of course, the proliferation of the all-inclusive offer. The plan will disappoint anyone looking for proposals to tackle AI. There aren't any, but why would there be? The town hall has no control over the type of board which hotels provide. But among the various projects that the town hall wishes to effect as part of its plan is one for Alcúdia's main tourism centre and specifically a "revitalisation" of the area around the Avenida Pedro Mas y Reus, otherwise and variously known as Dollar Street, the Greasy Mile or simply The Mile.
Though any plan for The Mile would not necessarily take account of what hotels do, it would be difficult to divorce hotel operations from general improvements (whatever these might be and which might be more than the underwhelming improvements that were undertaken last year). And these hotel operations mean overwhelmingly all-inclusive and all-inclusive at one specific hotel complex - Bellevue.
The fortunes of bar, restaurant and shop owners along The Mile have always been inextricably linked to Bellevue. At peak capacity the complex can accommodate at least 5,000 people. It has always catered for an essentially economy-class tourist, but now this is an economy-class tourist who - in 80% or more of cases - is staying all-inclusive.
There are plenty of other hotels around The Mile, but Bellevue - physically, visually and economically - dominates. A revitalisation of The Mile, I would suggest, cannot hope to be effective unless something were to happen to Bellevue, the question being - what?
The construction of Bellevue started in the early years of the '70s. It took several years for it to become a hotel complex, as the original plan (sale of time share apartments) was a flop, one not helped by legal and financial wrangles. And such wrangles have dogged the complex for much of its existence. They still do. At present, the former boss of the bankrupted Grupo Marsans and the head of Possibilitum, both companies linked to the ownership of Bellevue, are facing hefty prison sentences. Both have been detained, unable to pay bail amounts in the region of 50 million euros.
The management company does its best, but a prevailing atmosphere of uncertainty offers little hope that a genuine plan might be put in place to revamp a complex that is in bad need of a total overhaul. Until such a time as the private sector can work its way through the complexities that surround Bellevue (even if it was inclined to do so), little, one imagines, will happen. Meantime, the town hall wants to revitalise the area which Bellevue dominates. I wish them luck.
Anyway, if you are interested in finding out more about the tourism development plan, it can be downloaded from the town hall website. It is in Castellano, which might be considered another plus mark for the town hall.
Monday, January 07, 2013
MALLORCA TODAY - The Three Kings of Pollensa
The Alternativa per Pollença has issued a message for Three Kings. As the Kings are also the Magi, the party reckons that magic will be required in Pollensa in order to meet obligations for various projects. The card shows Malena Estrany, the deputy mayor (formerly of La Lliga), the mayor Tomeu Cifre, and Martí Roca of La Lliga and in charge of council services with whom Estrany has fallen out over his support for the new El Pi party. The three councillors are shown to favour cuts and piles of euros.
Wednesday, June 20, 2012
MALLORCA TODAY - Complaints about Pollensa markets' public area occupation
Pollensa town hall's by-law regarding the occupation of the "public way" has now created an argument over the control of market pitches in both Pollensa and Puerto Pollensa. A complainant is demanding damages from the town hall for loss of trade caused by what are said to be "negligent" acts by town hall representatives in, for example, allowing traders without licences and forcing other traders to have to move their regular pitches.
See more: Diario de Mallorca
See more: Diario de Mallorca
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