Pleno 28th December
Todays Pleno followed the usual routine. Turn up at 12 noon but noone has the keys to the new Town Hall so we then have to wait 10 minutes until Diego arrives with keys.
The first point was the official population, on the padron, at the 1st Jaunary 2007. I think they said it was 2,680.
The next two points were the agreement to allocate funds for Tourism, Commerce, Sport and authorising other expenditure.
Finally they went through all the different commissions again. I am not sure quite why and I didn't have time after the meeting to find out. It does appear though that I am still Concejale de Seguridadand and on the Commission de Medio Ambiente. Although no meeting of these commissions has yet taken place. I expect that to be in the New Year.
I thought that this would be the quickest Pleno so far with so few items on the list however, item 5 of the agenda was for questions and it became apparent that this was the opportunity for the opposition to have a go - which they tried to.
A number of questions were posed and the first was from the PP candidate directed to me and asking me what I knew about local crime and the Guardia Civil. Before I could answer Candido took the question and answered for me. Probably worried that with my poor command of the language I would make a mistake.
One thing which struck me as strange, from my understanding of what was said, was the naivety of the PSOE candidates, as it took Candido some time to convince them of what the Junta were actually doing to Zurgena. They did not believe the differing ways in which the Junta were dealing with the non PSOE councils.
Many other questions were posed, including what the Town Hall was doing about the Correos. It was explained to the council that we have been doing everything in our power with meetings in Madrid and Almeria but the Correos is just doing nothing to help the situation. When all the streets are named there will be nothing left that we can do to improve the situation.
The incorporated list of street names was attached to the agenda and, to my horror, I saw it still had a list of english places such as Manchester, Gillingham, Bromwich etc. I spoke to Salvatore and Candido and made sure they knew that the vast majority of expats living in the area would, in no way, wish to live on Calle Manchester etc. They agreed not to use any of the British place names. I hope they live up to their promise. The other lists of street names included Spanish writers, painters, scuptors, architects, scientists, provinces of Almeria, Provinces, European countries. illustrious Andalucian people, Natural Places of Andalucia, and Flowers.
So that is it for 2007. In summary I do not feel I have achieved much at all, so far. I have been able to convey what actions and feelings there are within the Town Hall and, what has been discussed at Pleno meetings, for the benefit of the ex pat community. I have also managed to take a few individuals issues forward but not many and I feel I should be able to do more.
I will be looking forward to the New Year when we will have our 3 new Police officers back and trained (expected February) and hope that I can have some input. I am also going to consider having a clinic like they do in the UK. But I am only going to do that if I feel I can take issues forward. They have helped me a few times lately so might be able to take that forward. The council has appointed a Spanish teacher for me, so I will have to try much harder with the language. My first lesson is to be on the 7th January..
So lets see what can be achieved in 2008!! Hopefully a Plan General!!
Comments
Hi Jim.
I am writing this on behalf of Liam, the proprietor of Allbites in La Alfoquia. Unfortunately there have been more problems which have emanated from the " Corner bar". On Sunday night at about 10pm one of the "Corner bar's" drunken customers was seen to smash up the very large and newly appointed flower pots that Liam ( in tune with his business neighbours) had placed outside his establishment in an effort to make the area a little more attractive. A witness to the incident states that several of the bars customers stood by and watched the incident and then all parties including the suspect went back inside the bar and carried on drinking. No-one, including the bar's customers nor the bar's proprietors or other members of the public deemed it necessary to telephone the police.The suspect has been identified and denounced. Alas he was seen to still be drinking in the Corner Bar on New Years Eve. This incident follows on from another incident within the past couple of weeks when the electric cable supplying power to the illuminated sign outside "Allbites" was cut overnight. That incident was not reported to the police but enough is enough. It is somewhat ironic that Liam should be the victim of such mindless vandalism when you consider that he is one of the more helpful members of the village's business commmunity and would be the first to report similar incidents if he were to witness such events.
One of your earlier blog entries contains a sub-paragraph headed ' problems with the corner bar' it goes on to say that the police do not have sufficient numbers to deal with the problems, and were awaiting the current tranch of police officers under tuition to complete their training. It is my understanding that those officers are due for posting in January 2008. Would it be too much to ask that for the police to consider giving this matter priority status.
I am informed that within the past few months there have been numerous incidents in and around the licenced premises in the village, e.g. fights/assaults, vandalism, thefts, drugs and unruly behaviour. Such incidents are not confined to persons any particular nationallity. This behaviour does nothing to enhance the image of the village and serves only to deter decent people from visiting the villages eateries and drinking establishments, which in turn will bring about drop in revenue.
In my capacity as the business watch co-ordinator I have been asked to consider trying to set up some form of " Pub Watch" within our catchment area. The primary object being that all the licenced premises adopt a "ring round system" to inform one another of persons ejected from an establishment ( for whatever reason) and who are likely to move on to the next licenced premises. It is also muted that constant trouble makers be barred from all licenced premises by the individual licencees. This would obviously entail a great deal of co-operation but is something that may well be worth considering. The long term benefit being that the majority of local residents would again start to use the village's establishments without the fear on being harassed or intimidated.
I would welcome your comments