City council told to launch immediate clean up plan

Palma opposition councillors yesterday demanded that the city council launch an immediate “shock” plan in order to clean up the city after residents judged the capital as the fifth dirtiest city in Spain this week. PSOE socialist councillors said yesterday that a shock clean up operation should be mounted as quickly as possible, but not only to include a street clean-up, but also a complete revision of how the city's rubbish collection and disposal is managed and tougher restrictions on dog excrement, something the city council has tried to address but has failed. The Palma Council was yesterday urged to clean up the capital “whatever the cost in order to improve the city's image.” Another suggestion was to increase the number of street cleaners and introduce rubbish and waste inspectors to control areas where heavy construction work is going on, which at the moment accounts for most of Palma. The majority of people agree that the Pla Mirall “beautification” plan has merely served to transform Palma into a giant building site and has caused traffic chaos for the people who live and work in the city. But the PP city council begs to differ with the citizens it represents and is accountable to, claiming that the criticisms have been harsh. The PP interpret the consumer survey as meaning that while Palma is not any cleaner than it was five years ago, it is not any dirtier. Shopkeepers have complained about the dust and rubble from the building works “the shops are dirty all day, every day, clients come in off the street and bring all the dust in with them, it's a vicious circle.” The problem with dog excrement appears to be larger, with more and more dogs in the capital, the streets calle Jesus and the Paseo Mallorca, along with the main parks, pose a constant battle for the council. The Local Police have also admitted that the capital's graffiti artists are proving to be a complete nightmare to keep track of. The city councillor for urbanisation, Joan Bauza, has admitted that the city is dirty, but he blamed the Pla Mirall and the millions of tourists who visit the capital. There are some 200 building projects currently being carried out in Palma but Bauza claims that the OCU consumer organisation carried out the survey at the wrong time had Palma been the only city inspected, his argument would stand, but as Spain's 64 largest cities were all subject to the survey, there are no grounds for victimisation.