The Arrecife assembly of Alternativa Ciudadana 25 de Mayo (AC-25M) calculates that the debt contracted to date by the Arrecife City Council already exceeds 42 million euros (about 7,000 million of the old pesetas).
This was stated this Tuesday by the spokesperson for the assembly formation in the capital of Lanzarote, Andrés Barreto, who announced the allegations of Alternativa to the budgets for this year of the Arrecife City Council, which are already in the 15-day period of public exposure.
According to Barreto, the financial debt amounts to about 28,826,688 euros (4,463 million pesetas), while the debt contracted with suppliers and with companies such as Urbaser is estimated at around 18 million euros (3,000 million pesetas). "The City Council is bankrupt and hence the lack of investments, and there are still more issues to discover and that they are trying to hide," he said.
Alternativa Ciudadana has asked in its allegations that it be clarified why 22 new hires were made in 2006, when the City Council's Economic Sanitation Plan, agreed in Plenary, states "that the staff would not be increased".
AC25M wants the salaries of the released councilors to be updated in the budgets, since the "2,789.46 euros per month correspond to the 2003 financial year". They also ask that the inclusion of 396,969 euros in salaries of Urbaser employees be clarified, "which already has 81,000 euros assigned, and that everything to be disposed of by the Corporation, before being written off and unless it is altruistically donated, be auctioned among the citizens.
Alternativa Ciudadana criticized that the governing group only invests in "pharaonic but empty works", such as the Arrecife Sports Center and a new civic center that, endowed with 1,110,000 euros, they consider unnecessary.
Less telephone and more attention to the neighborhoods
Among the allegations listed by Barreto, they also ask that 25,000 of the 81,000 euros dedicated to Urbaser and the cleaning of the municipality be deducted, and that they be invested in the neighborhoods. Similarly, the assembly members ask that 70,000 of the 220,000 euros destined to pay telephone bills be deducted, and that this money be invested in the improvement of the neighborhoods, whose item would go from 25,000 to 95,000 euros.
Alternativa Ciudadana intends that 190,000 of the no less than 790,000 euros that the City Council allocates to Festivities activities only in Carnivals and San Ginés, be dedicated to the decentralization of the City Council's dependencies, to reinforce the civil liability insurance of the City Council, in sports and cultural activities and in new neighborhood centers such as the one in Titerroy. In said neighborhood, by the way, Barreto denounced that the City Council still has to sell certain homes that in principle it was going to dispose of.
In addition, Barreto asked that items be included for the rehabilitation project of the Arrecife Marina, the definitive start-up of a children's nursery in Titerroy or the completion of the Argana Alta sports center, "which has not been paralyzed for eight months because the materials are brought from Madrid, but because the City Council has not yet paid the suppliers".
According to Barreto, with the 15 million of the loan requested in December 2002 and "still missing", the City Council could have already completed the stormwater works that are creating so much controversy and discomfort, and that, he predicted, would not be finished until three years from now.
La Bufona and the antennas
The members of Alternativa Ciudadana in Arrecife also touched on other issues, such as the transfer to the City Council of 10 percent of the La Bufona urbanization, of which they insisted is owned by precisely a City Council official, "Mr. Carmona who", despite the three motions of AC demanding it, has not yet delivered the land that corresponds to the Corporation nor its equivalence", of 1,021,000 euros (about 170 million pesetas).
Barreto hinted that the governing group could have committed prevarication, as in the case of the mobile antenna installed "illegally" in José Pereyra Galyván street, where the government team, "with an open file, has consciously allowed to expire" the possible legal actions that could be carried out.
On the other hand, Alternativa, which announced that meetings with neighbors would continue soon, denounced the state of the Charco San Ginés. According to Barreto, the non-payment by the City Council of about 300,000 euros (50 million pesetas) is the cause of the paralysis of the transfer of the pumping station on Portugal street, which has caused discomfort for residents due to the presence of residual waters.
AC announces that it will appear before the Agency for the Protection of the Urban and Natural Environment since an analysis proves the existence of detergent, oil and fecal remains in the water, so the assembly members ask that the City Council place signs to prohibit bathing and fishing in the area. Even the Beaches report that the General Directorate of Public Health issues monthly recognizes that the Charco is the only beach in Lanzarote not suitable for bathing.
