As stated in yesterday's Bulletin, there are worries that Palma town hall's new public behaviour bylaw, which includes illegal street selling, will not come into effect by the summer. Although the bylaw is scheduled for initial approval by the full council meeting on 31 May, there is an earlier deadline - Monday. The governing board at the town hall is meant to give its approval.
The bylaw addresses various aspects of behaviour. Illegal street selling is just one of them. Drunkenness, anti-social behavior (both resident and tourist) and the so-called "bikini law" on the wearing of tops away from the beach frontline are some of the issues covered.
Faced with the possibility that the bylaw might not be introduced, residents and businesses in Playa de Palma are considering staging protests. A view expressed in the resort is that Playa de Palma "is worse than ever". There is more illegal selling, there is more poor behaviour. There is more crime, some of it organised crime operated by "mafias".
The city's police force, the Playa de Palma representatives believe, are being hampered by not having sufficient legal means to tackle issues. The bylaw is designed to give the police greater powers. But obtaining approval is proving difficult, it is said, because of the differences between the three parties which make up the "pact" that governs Palma - PSOE, Més, Podemos. Of the three, or so it has appeared, PSOE have their hands tied by the demands of the other two parties. The public behaviour bylaw is an initiative of the public safety councillor, Angelica Pastor of PSOE, who has town hall responsibility for the police.
Leaders of opposition parties are pleading for the pact parties to put their differences to one side. Marga Duran of the Partido Popular says that the city, and Playa de Palma especially, needs the new bylaw urgently. She has offered PSOE the PP's backing in terms of votes at the council meeting in order to pass the bylaw.
Josep Lluís Bauzá of Cuidadanos is demanding that the pact "removes all obstacles that are preventing the bylaw coming into effect".