Getting flak, no cake

After Sliema, is St Julian's risking becoming a permanent construction site? Then where next Swieqi? San Gwann?

Aesop was a famous storyteller. He wrote numerous fables and each tale conveyed a profound insight. One fable was about a cottager who owned a goose that laid a golden egg every day. Dreaming of becoming instantly rich, he foolishly demanded that the production of eggs be doubled. In his greediness he did not accept the goose’s limitations. He wanted more. When this was not possible, he strangled the goose! In doing so he lost his only source of wealth.

Can St Julian’s be considered our ‘goose’ that lays golden eggs? In the same way as the goose could only lay one golden egg a day, St Julian’s also has its limitations. Is it that in our quest for more we are risking ruining it all together?

Over the years St Julian’s has transformed itself from a quiet fishing village to a cosmopolitan centre. Many consider St Julian’s as a mecca of entertainment and deem it our local version of Ibiza. It is a sought-out destination by locals and foreigners. It offers a wide range of restaurants and bars and also a good number of high-quality hotels and other promising enterprises. Social life is good.

But St Julian’s is more than this. It is also a residential area. People do live there! Our community is made up of various types of families and backgrounds. We have a growing number of elderly who opt to retire there. Residents have not only duties towards their community but also rights, one of which is to freely enjoy their life and property. Unfortunately, this is not always the case. Life for our residents is becoming more of a nightmare.

This is St Julian’s dark side.

On a daily basis, residents have to make up for the irresponsibility of the many rowdy and unrestrained visitors who throng the streets screaming till the early hours. Residents have also to live with the arrogance of particular businessmen who make hay while the sun shines. Vandalism, graffiti and theft are on the increase. Driving and parking is problematic.

To make matters worse, several parking spaces are being taken up for outside catering, while a residential parking scheme was halted by Transport Malta. Even pavements are being commercialised. Our shoreline has become one whole private beach concession. Open spaces are limited, except for the promenade. Garbage is put outside collection hours, in particular by short-term tenants. Lewd and drunken behaviour is a common occurrence too.

Our elderly are increasingly feeling insecure, ending up barricaded in their homes. The physical and social infrastructure is lacking on many fronts. Although tourist police were recently introduced, something the local council had long lobbied for, enforcement is still much to be desired, especially when dealing with certain commercial outlets that play their loud music till morning breaks.

Added to all this, the skyline is dotted with not less than 15 huge construction cranes. Several high-rise developments are being planned. Among other on-going construction developments in Spinola Bay and other areas, the following are being proposed: the 25- and 40-storey Mercury Towers; Pender Gardens’ 18- and 16-floor towers; a 36-storey tower for the Villa Rose site; the 23- and 29-storey high-rises on the Institute of Tourism Studies site; a 44- storey skyscraper and other high rises at St. George’s Park; a 29-floor five-star hotel near the InterContinental Hotel and what appear to be two skyscrapers and a number of high-rises.

After Sliema, is St Julian’s risking becoming a permanent construction site? Then where next? Swieqi? San Gwann? I am aware that it not an easy task to balance between the interests of the commercial community and the rights of residents. It is a fine balancing act. But we need to strike a balance. If we fail, then we are risking strangling our ‘golden goose’.

It is in the interest of all stakeholders – the commercial community, the central government and residents – to come together and draw a holistic master plan. The degeneration and uglification of our locality serve no one good.

If our locality continues to deteriorate no one will benefit. If we really want St Julian’s to be a high-end destination, then all the surrounding areas must follow. Although the local council is overwhelmed and our resources are stretched to the limit, we are doing our best against the odds. Although we can do better, it would be unjust to hold the council responsible for the irresponsibility and the greed of others.

It is not acceptable that others shove it upon the council to clear their mess. A general glance at our accounts gives an idea of our working limitations. Annually, the central government allocates €194, 321 to the council for street cleaning, garbage and bulk/glass collection, etc. The current expenditure is €267,215. This means a shortfall of €72,894.

It is evident that on its own the local council is unable to deliver a high-end destination as requested. Is the council then the scapegoat for government’s shortcomings? To add insult to injury, revenue from traffic contraventions which used to be managed by the regional council in which the surplus used to passed to the council, has been stopped.

It is within this context that prior to the local council elections I had proposed that one way of securing more funds is by having tourists give a financial contribution. It is good to see that the current government took up this proposal. Some €6 million a year is expected to be collected.

As a leading tourist contributor we are not asking for any ‘charity’ but strongly demanding that the Ministry of Tourism allocates a percentage of this fund. With such income we will be in position to introduce green wardens, have more garbage collection days/hours, install more cctv cameras and carry out embellishments. It would be unjust and insulting that St Julian’s gets the flak but not the cake.

The moral behind the fable of the golden goose is that short-sightedness and greed lead only to negative outcomes. Greed is destructive. Greed does not care. The yearning of wanting more and more is stronger than the need to be considerate. Greed’s signature leaves its mark in many forms. Overdevelopment, unsustainable projects, maximising profits at the expense of lack of solid physical and social infrastructure is just one aspect.

Institutions, such as the PA, MTA, TM, the police, LESA, NGOs and all political forces need to stand with the people. It would be ironic if such institutions, which were set up to defend the interest of citizens, end up being subservient to fat cats. How can citizens express faith in such institutions when these entities are being perceived as being more concerned to defend the turf of the greedy?

At the end, the cottager who strangled the goose was just an idiot.

Let us not follow suit. If we do, then we truly are idiots.

(This article was published on Times of Malta – 12 August, 2016)