A meeting at which it was hoped that details of the “referendum” regarding the terraces on Palma’s Born avenue would be determined got so bogged down in considering the system and requisites for voting that the different sides will meet again on Friday.
It became a very tense affair because the restaurant owners and the president of Palma’s federation of residents’ associations, Joan Forteza, demanded that participation in the consultation not be limited to users of the city’s citizen’s card.
The town hall wouldn’t budge on this, and so at the end of the meeting Forteza announced that the federation would be withdrawing from the discussions. It has asked, with the support of the restaurants’ association, for there to be a vote in person that would require the presentation of the ID card. This is because, it claims, “the citizen’s card does not give democratic guarantees and nor does it grant participation to make the consultation serious and measurable, as anyone could vote via the internet using someone else’s card”. The federation has called on the town hall to withdraw its consultation and to “position itself politically” in favour of the proposal the town hall has advanced - which is supported by the federation - of moving the terraces to the side road.