A special fund for the locality

St Julian's needs more resources and financial assistance to have a sustainable infrastructure.

St Julian’s has evolved over the past 50 years. From a small fishing village, it is now Malta’s truly main cosmopolitan centre. St Julian’s is made up of various areas and all have their own particularities and needs. Our community has reached way above 10,000 residents.

Various Maltese and non-Maltese came to reside in St Julian’s for a number of reasons. The area is also sought out by many tourists who specifically choose their accommodation there for their stay.

Over the weekends and on other days too, many locals and tourists choose to enjoy themselves in various recreational establishments located there. Paceville and the surrounding areas are still considered as the mecca of entertainment. Patrons are truly spoiled for choice.

In a nutshell, St Julian’s is truly a cosmopolitan centre. People from different cultures, social and economic backgrounds come together to reside, live, work and enjoy themselves.

Although being a cosmopolitan centre has many advantages, especially in this small island of ours, it also offers great challenges to the community as a whole. The core challenge is that, to respond well to the influx of people, we need a strong, robust and sustainable infrastructure in place. By infrastructure I mainly understand we need to take note of the following.

The physical infrastructure: the upkeep, maintenance and cleanliness of the roads, adequate lighting, waste management, traffic management, parking facilities, air pollution, pleasant architecture, accessibility and others issues.

The social infrastructure: law enforcement, unlawful behaviour, vandalism, security issues, substance abuse, crowd management, sound pollution, safety and a caring environment for senior citizens. Within this context, I question the sustainability of the current infrastructure. Is our infrastructure robust enough to deal with all these issues? Unfortunately, my assessment is that, most of the time, this is not the case.

Although the outgoing council has worked hard along the years, our physical and social infrastructure is still found to be wanting on various fronts. To make matters more complicated, the right of residents to live in peace versus the right of patrons coming to enjoy themselves is not always sought out and respected. While visiting families, I found various frustrated residents who feel a sense of hopelessness and abandonment. It is time to take note to their frustrations and take action with the necessary determination. To this end, the incoming local council should hold regular meetings with residents, seek their feedback and act upon it.

A better customer care service will be appreciated by all. The incoming local council members must also give utmost importance to law enforcement and cleanliness. It is unacceptable that residents have to bear the brunt of people being drunk or out of control right on their doorstep.

If elected, I would closely work with residents and with the commercial community to lobby the central government to set up a social contribution fund. St Julian’s needs more resources and financial assistance to have a sustainable infrastructure.

The financial formula used to grant financial support has to take into consideration all the above-mentioned factors.

Through the proposed fund, green enforcement officers will be introduced, upgrading and embellishments works will be undertaken and initiatives launched aimed at the well-being of senior citizens and young people encouraged.

One of the ways to reach this goal and secure the required funds is by working closely with all stakeholders involved and tourists in holiday accommodation units will be asked to pay €1 per night for the duration of their stay.

Various other countries have decided to put such systems in place. Tourists willing to stay in a 5-star hotel for five nights will not think €5 will make any difference on their budget. Neither will such an initiative dent the commercial competitiveness of our tourist industry.

However, to the local community it does make a significant difference. The generated revenue will be channelled to maintain and upgrade the surrounding areas and to maintain order and security, which will also benefit the commercial community.

This is only one way in which to secure the necessary funds. There are other initiatives that can be proposed of course.

I encourage all residents within the community to vote on April 11. We are all called to take an active role in our community. We are all encouraged to give our contribution to make our society a better place to live in and a more just society. We are called to be protagonists of our present and builders of our future.

It is within this context that I have entered the political scene as a candidate for the next round of local council elections in St Julian’s. Through my candidacy, I want to be part of the present and a promoter of tomorrow. I will honour your trust and do my very utmost, as always, to make a difference in the life of the community.

(This article was published on The Sunday Times of Malta – 28 March, 2015)