The mayor of Teguise, Oswaldo Betancort, presented this Wednesday the balance of the first year of the current legislature, in which he governs for the first time with an absolute majority. "This has given even greater responsibility to our team," said the mayor during the presentation, in which he stressed that this "new stage marked by greater responsibility required in turn greater leadership and commitment to the citizens who once again trusted the Coalición Canaria project in Teguise." The mayor stressed his interest in achieving a municipal government "of all and for all, counting on all people and groups to carry out the best possible project for Teguise."
In addition, he referred to the previous legislature, in which he governed together with the PSOE. "Our work was very hard, in large part, due to the inherited economic debt." In that sense, he argued that in recent years "we have been able to define a policy in which public services are more efficient and in which we have achieved sufficient economic strength to say that today our accounts are in good health, despite the stones in the road. It has not been easy, but the citizens have put us here to do decent and responsible politics, and for and for the people of each of our towns."
Next, the mayor had words for the councilors of his government group "From La Graciosa, with Alicia Páez at the foot of the dock, passing through Nori Machín, at the head of Social Welfare, with absolute dedication to all social segments, especially our elders, or Antonio Callero in Tourism, with important support for the tourism sector and the promotion of a unique destination of sensations and a considerable investment in sports tourism," or Eugenio Robayna, coordinating Works and Security and "attending to the neighbors 24 hours a day," "until reaching the transversality of the area of Economy and Finance, which is directed by Miguel Ángel Jiménez, with two major challenges behind him: reducing debt without raising taxes and allowing development and investment, complying daily with payments to suppliers."
New councilors and new projects
The mayor of Teguise highlighted each of the projects that his team carries out, with special mention to the new additions at the head of Agriculture, with Agustín Méndez, and "his commitment to the future of the primary sector," and Mari Paz Cabrera, "with new projects that affect commerce, responsible animal ownership or the positioning of the best Market in Spain, which is the Teguise Market."
He also highlighted the work of the young councilor Javier Díaz at the head of Education, with a new extracurricular support plan, works in schools and unitary networks, and summer schools, as well as in the Municipal Radio, "a tool available to residents with new programming and information available to all"; and with the Transparency Portal and "a new, more intuitive and user-friendly website, promoted from the New Technologies area."
In addition, he referred to the councilor José Alberto Umpiérrez, who "with a budget of more than half a million euros" has managed his area "for the 1,300 children of the Teguise sports schools, and to position the elite sports events that take place in the municipality, to which are added own initiatives such as the Famara Total."
"We have overcome the stones in the road"
"The stones that we have been able to find along the way, we have overcome despite the economic situation and the poisoned gift that may not allow us to do great works from here to the end of the legislature, but above the great projects, we will continue to support the people of the municipality, the young, the old, the primary sector, the commercial, the tourist, the sports, those who need it most, as we have always done," Betancort defended.
"A year ago we started with our batteries fully charged, and so we will continue, on the move for those who demand the most from us and who have placed their trust in us." "Many already know the day-to-day in the City Council, there is a task that we have present, and that is to attend first to our responsibilities with the neighbors, but without forgetting our cultural plan and our historical legacy."
Regarding culture, the mayor recalled that "we have started a unique celebration in all the Canary Islands, since we will be the first municipality to experience a centenary anniversary such as the 600 years that the Villa will celebrate in 2018. And for this commemoration we have drawn up a program, led by our councilor Olivia Duque, based on the rescue of our history, our heritage, with works such as the restoration of the tower, with conferences with the best professors and researchers, and with due recognition to the illustrious figures of Teguise and the Canary Islands, as well as to our written documentation, as we reflected a few days ago with the signing of the agreement with the Center for Conservation and Restoration of Documents of La Palma or a few weeks ago with the Archive of the Indies of Seville."
Teguise, "cultural embassy of the Canary Islands" according to the mayor
Betancort has defended that "thanks to the work of Olivia Duque and her entire Culture team, we have gone from being the cultural capital of Lanzarote to the cultural embassy of the Canary Islands, positioning the culture of the timple in the Casa Museo, our pirate history with the Castle Museum, a magical festival such as the White Night, and new town festivals for Costa Teguise and a performing arts festival; in addition to a cultural plan that welcomes more than 900 people, thanks to the work of the Federation of Cultural Associations, which have nothing to do with politics."
"While we are committed to valuing our own, we have an extensive municipality to attend to, with its customs, its traditions, and its vital industry, the most primary in the case of Famara, La Graciosa and our fields, and the tourism industry with a very powerful destination such as Costa Teguise, which has not let its guard down in terms of renovation and to which we have supported with modernization plans, economic revitalization and unconditional support to the sector, with which we collaborate closely in each promotional action and in each sporting event," he insisted.
The proposals for the Teguise football field, in "a few days"
Regarding the challenges that lie ahead, Betancort referred to the need to "provide sports infrastructure to Costa Teguise." In this regard, he announced that "in a few days" they will receive "the design proposals for what will be the Costa Teguise Football Field."
The mayor of Teguise recalled that the Teguise City Council ended 2015 presenting budgets in which it increased its amount by almost 6 percent, a total of 27,685,000 euros, after a year "that ended with 10 million in payments to suppliers and then in 2016 reducing bank debt by 23%."
In short, according to Betancort, "an arduous task to provide a fair economic allocation and greater dedication to all municipal demands, with a common denominator, that of good governance, and with firm ethical principles: to be rigorous and transparent."
In addition, he assured that "with special concern, the government group dedicates all its efforts to respond to the employment demands of citizens, allocating more than 350,000 a year in agreements that rescue the largest number of people possible from unemployment, while public services are attended to with the hiring of the same." At the head of this area is the new councilor Myriam Jorge Camejo, who also manages Classified Activities, the Local Development Agency, Industry, Personnel and Internal Regulations.
"The management that has been carried out has a realistic and social character, and we will continue to demonstrate this until the end of the year, once the projects that are underway and scheduled for the coming months have been completed and profiled, in which we hope to be more agile for procedures and any movement that needs technical and legal reports to be able to respond to what the neighbors demand of us every day, and the towns in each round of neighborhood meetings that we carry out," the mayor promised.
