Photos: Javier Fuentes.- José Antonio Levas's house, built in '85 a few meters from Hospiten Lanzarote, was reduced to rubble two hours after the Local Police of Tías showed him this Friday the eviction and release notification from the Tías City Council and the Order from the Contentious-Administrative Court Number Two of Las Palmas, which authorized the procedure. The affected party had no choice but to take out his belongings and watch the demolition of his house. "This is an injustice and the people responsible are the mayor of Tías and Mr. Juan Francisco Rosa," he said between sobs. "I hope that one day the law will also fall on them," added Levas, who is awaiting the result of an appeal for protection filed with the courts.
Confusion in the procedure
The operative part of the Order states that the eviction and release should be carried out within the month following the notification of the resolution to the City Council, which occurred on January 3, 2006. This generated doubts because Levas argued that it would be from February 3 when the eviction could be carried out, while the legal services of Tías gave the green light to the action, arguing that February 3 is when the deadline to do so expired. Beyond the doubts of interpretation, the neighbor is on the street and the construction of the golf course continues on its way. For now, Levas' belongings are in a warehouse of the City Council and he is still not clear where he is going to sleep.
They offer him a derisory sum
The neighbor's land has an area of more than six thousand square meters, for which he demands 480,000 euros. However, the Compensation Board of the Tías Golf Course Partial Plan offers him 27,000 euros. María Emilia Morales, spokesperson for Citizen Alternative in the Tías City Council, said that it would have been logical to wait for the ruling of the Provincial Expropriation Jury because the fair price that it determines could be much higher than the sum offered by the promoters of the golf course. "The difference between what the neighbor is going to receive and the business that is going to be done per square meter on the land is very large," she said. For Alternativa, the attitude of the City Council has been to benefit speculation at all times without looking at the interests of the 38 owners affected by the urbanization that is currently being developed.
The mayor speaks
The socialist José Juan Cruz Saavedra indicated that many years ago the City Council declared the construction of a golf course to be of municipal interest. According to Cruz, the City Council has only complied with the subsidiary regulations, respected the General Urban Planning Plan and abided by the decisions that have been taken in the plenary session of the Corporation. The mayor indicated that by carrying out the eviction, a resolution of the Court has been complied with, which authorizes the Compensation Board to take possession of the neighbor's land. "The value of the land has been deposited in his current account or in the courts," commented Cruz Saavedra. The mayor described the demolished house as a "shack".
Alternative's doubts
Alternativa believes that the mayor has always intended to favor the interests of the owners of the golf course, confirming this behavior, according to María Emilia Morales, in the decision to sell to the same promoters 10 percent of the land use that corresponds to the City Council on the total project to be executed, which in its entirety occupies more than 800,000 square meters between the golf course, a 700-bed hotel and 100 residential villas.