Rubbish tips

In response to some of the comments on other forums, I would like to draw the attention to the following: On the 9th of August 2010 I submitted a report on behalf of the Citizens Advice Group that myself and a couple of others formed, to the Coastrider Newspaper. The following article was printed:

What a load of Rubbish

Written by Contributor

Monday, 09 August 2010 12:53

No this is not about the England football team's performance in South Africa. This is more serious than that. Just over a month ago, the Council of San Fulgencio started to enforce a local by-law, regarding the leaving of Garden Rubbish and Domestic Appliances and Building Rubble next to the waste bins provided for normal household rubbish. The Council, designated areas where the residents of La Marina, could take their rubbish. Where were these tips located? In the middle of the Urbanisations. There are at least five of these tips dotted throughout the area and the largest of these being on the south west corner of the Urbanisation of La Marina. It borders the Camino Convenio, one of the main thoroughfares through “San Fulgencio North”. This site is less than one hundred and twenty metres from the nearest dwelling house. It is approximately two hundred metres south of a children’s play area. Since its creation there have been increasing piles of garden rubbish, being dumped. In many places more than two metres high. Also at this site, there are old sofas, chairs, mattresses and household appliances. An interview with one of the Spanish residents, proved fruitless as she denied living in the house and claiming she was only a cleaner. Despite the fact that our correspondent witnessed her coming out of the swimming pool to answer the door. However, in nearby Calle Helsinki, a young German resident was more forthcoming. She stated that the stench some nights was unbearable and that since the creation of this site she has been plagued by rats and cockroaches. They are climbing into her washing machine during the night and she sometimes only discovers them after doing a washing, resulting in bits of cockroaches through her washed clothes. She stated that a few weeks ago, her two year child woke up screaming, with a cockroach on his face. She has spent a small fortune on bug sprays and rat traps but is concerned about using poisons, in case her two year old should ingest them. When asked if she had lodged a complaint, she stated “What is the point? The council don't consult anyone, so why would they listen to a lone voice”. Perhaps there should not be a lone voice. The Citizens Advice Group, who meet every Tuesday morning at the La Marina Sports Complex, between 10.00 am and 12.00 noon, are collecting names for a petition, to have these eyesores and vermin pits removed from the urbanisations and re-sited, in an area where they can do less environmental damage. Shortly after this article was published I contacted a Mr Peter Wessman at European Commission in Brussels. He replied stating that the EU Commission would be in contact with The Town Hall. A short time later the main Refuse Tip on the Camino Convenio was closed. However, following on from this, the Citizens Advice Group was contacted by other residents concerning another of the so called Punto de Limpios.  Atteached is the letter that I sent to the English Language papers in our area. Thought you might like to read this letter I wrote to the RTN and Coastrider way back in Sept 2010.   Letter to the Editor Dear Editor, A few weeks ago, we at the Citizens Advice Group, campaigned to have a rubbish site situated on the Camino Convenio, closed due to infestation by vermin, cockroaches and other unpleasant animals, insects and reptiles. After an article and letter in the English language papers, the site was cleared within a few days. The nearby residents and the Citizens Advice Group were delighted. Particularly as San Fulgencio Council appeared to be taking notice of the desires of the people. As well as following the regulations on the disposal and placing of rubbish tips, in accordance with DIRECTIVE 2006/12/EC OF THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT AND OF THE COUNCIL of 5 April 2006, on waste.   However, having just returned from holiday, I discovered an e mail from a resident of C/ Francisco de Quevedo, requesting the assistance of the CAG in reference to the Waste Point sited on their door step. This site, is situated 50 metres south of a Baranca, designed to carry flood waters, caused by the heavy down pours, away from the area. The biggest problem, according to locals, is that when it does rain, it cascades over the defence wall and washes away ground around it. Proving that the defences are inadequate. Photograph attached. Also since the closure of the site at the Camino Convenio, this site is being used more and is now overflowing. It is definitely not being monitored, as at the time of visiting, there was evidence of builders rubbish, household goods and general waste. As evidenced by the photos that I have attached. While I was taking the photographs, I was approached by four separate individuals, who complained about the increased traffic to this waste point. The alleged dumping of waste by local garden centres and according to one gentleman, he witnessed council workers removing diseased palms, from what is known locally as the “Satellite Roundabout”, and later dumping the diseased trees on this waste point. Again, the attached photograph proves the point to be probably true. I understand that some of the residents have already tried to get something done by having discussions with Councillor Juan Antonio Palanca and others on 14th July. But it would appear that they have, pardon the pun, been palmed off, with inadequate excuses. It is my understanding from the EU directive, it is the responsibility of the Town Council for the disposal of waste , “The essential objective of all provisions relating to waste management should be the protection of human health and the environment against harmful effects caused by the collection, transport, treatment, storage and tipping of waste.” ( Opinion of the European Parliament of 9 March 2004 (OJC 102 E, 28.4.2004, p. 106) and Council Decision of 30 January 2006.) Please note that a copy of this letter and photographs have been sent to the following individual, who is basically the EU watchdog on the Environment. Peter Wessman, European Commission, Directorate-General Environment, Unit G.4, BU-5 5/178 , B-1049 Brussels, BELGIUM Yours faithfully, Jeff Wiszniewski, Citizens Advice Group, La Marina Jeff Wiszniewski   Bringing us up to date. I was extremely concerned when the Town Hall re opened the Punto de Limpio. The company charged with keeping this area appeared to be very lax in how it was being used. This resulted in other areas brining their cuttings, etc. to our Urbanisation, for disposal. I have since being lobbying the Town Hall to have matters rectified and we are having a meeting with the concerned neighbours on Tuesday afternoon, 2nd October. We hope that an agreement will be reached that will be suitable to all concerned.

Policing

Protection Civil are Volunteers, who show an interest in helping to protect their area. They are not Police Officers. The Protection Civil is open to Spanish and Extranjero residents. Training will be given in First Aid and all aspects of Security.
Strangely enough all the volunteers in San Fulgencio are Spanish residents.
However any person, over the age of 18 years can apply to join. This will always look good on a persons C.V.
They are there, to be utilised in cases of emergency and to release the Policia Local, from some of the mundane duties that they were required to do. Our own Protection Civil operate both here and in San Fulgencio village. In extreme cases they could be called upon to assist in emergencies in other areas.

Plans are in the pipeline to collate crime statistics and utilise them for the purposes of Crime Pattern Analysis. The results will be made available to the general public and be used by the Policia Local to pinpoint areas and times when properties and vehicles are most vulnerable. This will require the cooperation of the general public to report crimes, attempted crimes and suspicious incidents.
More information on the CPA will be released in due course.

Fiesta Patronales San Fulgencio 6th October 2012

After last years Fiesta, with floats etc in San Fulgencio Pueblo, many residents stated that they would have attended had they known about it and others who said that the problem was transportation to and from the village. So we hope that we have solved this issue and in order to promote integration of the Community, we would like to inform everyone of the following:
The main parade of floats will commence around 8.30pm.
There will be  free "Shuttle Bus" in operation leaving at 7pm, 7.30 pm and 8 pm from in front of Super Valu on Calle Amsterdam (Opposite the health centre ) It will go via Plaza Sierra Castilla, then on to Avda. Londres in front of Commercial Zone 4, ( The Grey Area ) arriving in San Fulgencio at La Avda. de San Isidro.
The bus will be available to return passengers to the Urbanisation at 23.30 pm, Midnight and at 00.30 hrs.
We hope that as many residents take advantage of this service in order to take part in and enjoy this Fiesta along with our neighbours in the village.

News from the front.

Well Summer is almost over and most permanent residents have returned from their holidays. That includes myself. I spent a nice week at home with family from Poland, then a few days aways in Jerez. Returned to my desk yesterday, feeling refreshed.
So what has been happening?
Well, we see that the figures relating to the savings that the Council made since taking Office, have been released. A saving of more the €600,000.
We have had the first open day with Help Vega Baja and we are restarting the Conversational Spanish Classes. The new details of how to register for the Sports School, which includes, Football, Basketball, Tennis, Taekwando and Ballet are available from the Council Offices.
We are assisting in promoting a mini fiesta outside Serafinas, Ave. Londres, on Thursday  of next week from 8pm until midnight.
 The Village Fiesta in October has been approved and our offices are hoping to arrange a shuttle bus to take Urb residents to and from the village.
Arrangements are underway for this years 10K run on 14th October. The route has yet to be confirmed, but it is hoped to cause as little disruption to the area as possible.
Registration for Adult Education Classes are available at our office. They commence with the first meeting on Monday 17th at the Social Centre at 6pm.
 We have discovered that although we have a new company dealing with the cleaning and weeding of the garden areas, a couple of streets seem to have been overlooked. If your street is one of those, please contact our office.
If you wish to recieve regular newsletters from our office, please call in and leave your email address for our Data Base.

Fiesta report

So here we go again, the rumour mills has started once again,without the perpetrators having a clue what the truth is. So if you don't know the truth,why not just make it up, that seems to be the level of some people.
Point 1. The power cuts on Saturday night. This urb. Is served by 4 main power lines, coming off the national grid. Apparently,due to the heat, one of these lines snapped. This put undue extra pressure on the remaining three. This resulted in the power going on and off as the system struggled to cope. This did not affect the fiesta performances as the stage, lighting and sound were working from two large generators. I managed to get a message through to Iberdrola and they sent out 4 engineers to rectify the problem.
Point 2. The story about me  forcing the bar owners to up their prices or I would cancel the Fiesta is absolute Rot.
Suffice to say, the company that ran the bars at the side of the stage was the same company that were contracted to book the acts for Friday and Saturday . They also were responsible for the stage,sound and lighting. If you really want to know who was being held over a barrel, go ask Chris or Allan at J,s and Temptations.
Or, here is a quirky suggestion, why not come and see me instead of posting rumours
 or lies.
Point 3. Overall, I thought that the acts were fantastic, the sound and stage and lighting were superb and for me Sunday was the best day of all. So I would like to say a big thanks to all the back room boys and girls who helped put this together. I would also like to thank all those who came along and went away with positive thoughts about the Fiesta.
On behalf of the Town Hall, I would like to apologise for the failure of the second half of the firework display. This was totally out with our control. But it did not dampen the spirit of the majority of the Fiesta goers . Even with the few hiccups, many thought it was better than last years and last year's was great.

Budgets

Please let me try to explain how I understand this works.
Like any Council or Government, we have to supply certain services to the population. We have to pay for these services, however certain things have to be capped because of the austerity measures.
Services such as Water, Sewerage, Lighting, Education, Sports, Social Services, Police and Emergency services, Rubbish Collection, Healthy Services,Transport, Youth, Tourism, Fiesta, employment, Council wages and more.
There are two side to the Balance Sheet: Money coming in from Taxes, Suma, works licences etc. and the outgoings are for such as the services listed above.
The Money that comes into the coffers is about half of that which is required, therefore the Grants and other payments come from Alicante, Valencia and Central Government to make up the shortfall.
If the individual budgets are not used by these departments, then when it comes to the next budget, we either get a reduced amount or it is cut completely, resulting in cuts in that particular service. How that budget is used, is dependent on the Councillor for that department.
What I dont understand is that when we have a Plenary meeting, there is always time set aside for questions. If the question of the cost of Rock Arena was so important, this was the time to put the question to the Councillor for Youth and Tourism. As no questions were asked by any of the Councillors, we have to assume they had no problems with the proposal for the Rock Arena Concert.

Setting the record straight

First, re the Rock Arena, I attended this event as did SEVEN of the NINE ruling Councillors .
It was not my taste in music, but then again I am not a great fan of country music either. I stayed for around 2 hours and had to leave for a quieter and more musical venue.
Second, the Rock Band that are playing this evening is absolutely nothing to do with our office being 1 year old. This is a private venture, put on by Dos Mas....They obviously see something in Heavy Metal Rock.They did have the concession for the Rock Arena Festival bar and they asked the Town Hall for permission to put on a mini rock concert, between 10pm and midnight and that's just about where our involvement ends.
I can assure the general public that the type of entertainment we have planned for the main Fiesta next month, is far more in keeping with what the public want. Again as far as money being spent on the Rock Arena last Saturday, this came from the budget for youth and tourism. Whether or not this was the best way of spending the money, only time will tell. It must be pointed out that that if the money is not spent on youth or tourism, we would lose part of the grant from Central government. If it was not for these grants, we would have virtually no services. The SUMA only covers about half of the requirements needed to ensure that the services provided are maintained.
For the person who is obviously jealous of the fact that I and one other councillor changed our cars, it is no business of his, but our previous vehicles no longer fitted our needs. For me a seven year warranty from Kia swung the deal. This same person seems to think that I only appear at a council meeting once a week and pick up a fat cheque, they are mistaken, for as many people know, I am in the office every day from 09.00 until 15.00, dealing with all types of enquiries. I receive requests for assistance at home and some even call at my door. Between that and other council duties I put in, between fifty and sixty hours a week. After taxes and deductions I receive the princely sum of €540 a week, (€2200 per month). I can show my bank statements to whoever does not believe me. Yes better than some,but certainly not the €3900 as was quoted by another individual, who apparently was earning quite a bit more, when he was councillor.