You can twist the skein as much as you want (in fact, the Yaiza Town Hall has always had special mastery in that), but the thread it contains will always be the same. And no matter how you look at it, what is...
You can twist the skein as much as you want (in fact, the Yaiza Town Hall has always had special mastery in that), but the thread it contains will always be the same. And no matter how you look at it, what is happening with the project that aims to promote the Paradise Island apart-hotel in Playa Blanca is too reminiscent of what has already been experienced in this municipality.
Now, after the public complaint made by Coalición Canaria, which has announced that it will take this issue to the Prosecutor's Office, the government group has finally deigned to give some explanation about this project, which was actually taken to plenary three months ago.
At the time, an operation of this caliber was not even worth a press release to explain to the residents what is intended to be done. Only, lost in a statement in which they highlighted other minor issues of that plenary session, they added a paragraph in which they explained that they had "approved the initiative presented by a hotel of the HL chain in Playa Blanca, which foresees the conditioning of a green area adjacent to an accommodation complex located on the plot of the Montaña Roja Urbanization. It will be a recreational and sports area outdoors, as if it were a small theme park".
That is all they said then, although they forgot to add that a part of the plot in question is owned by the Town Hall. In reality, of all the residents of Yaiza, who at least would have the right to know what is being done. Because no matter how much the government group tries to entangle reality, the concrete thing is that approving that project, as they said then they had done, means giving the green light to the transfer of land to a private company.
Now, and after three months without giving any explanation in this regard, the government group has felt like talking about the issue. They have even sent a two-page statement to respond to Coalición Canaria, which believes that the plenary session could have incurred in a crime of malfeasance, since it understands that the agreement was adopted without the relevant reports.
Basically, the mayor, Gladys Acuña, responds that in that plenary session, "in no case was it agreed to transfer the plot annexed to the Apartotel Paradise Island for its recreational and sports conditioning". According to her, what was approved was "the initiative to condition a recreational and sports area" (an initiative that they recognize was proposed by that hotel), "and now the concession procedure must be processed, in accordance with the regulations of assets of the Local Entities". That said, a simple entanglement to twist the skein, or to try to reverse a procedure that began on July 28, 2011.
The facts, in the end, are much simpler. The company, which already benefited from the generosity of the Yaiza Town Hall and occupies public land with part of its facilities (specifically, a mini-golf, a tennis court and a soccer field), presented a new project to the Town Hall.
Apparently, the complex was becoming too small again and demanded again land from all the residents of Yaiza, to build a kind of aquapark, as well as other leisure and sports areas. The benefit, according to the hotel, was in the need to compete with other tourist destinations, since tour operators demand that the "hotels in Lanzarote offer the same leisure complements that many of the hotels in those destinations have".
The project, entered the Yaiza Town Hall on July 27 at 10:52 a.m. That same day, a report was issued (almost empty of content and without a clear pronouncement) and the mayor called an extraordinary and urgent plenary session. Less than 24 hours later, at 9 a.m. on the 28th, the plenary session was held and the project was approved. Of course, a record to compete with those that José Francisco Reyes and his team set at the time, granting lightning licenses. Of that speed, by the way, the mayor has said absolutely nothing, and has limited herself to stating that the Consistory already knew about this initiative, because it was presented in the previous legislature. But according to her, what has been done now is to "legally channel the proposal". And she failed to say that in an express way.
However, despite the surprising haste with which this process began, nothing has been heard again during this time, and now they have not explained what has been done in these three months either. The mayor has limited herself to emphasizing that the Town Hall will call a public tender so that "the companies that wish to" execute the project can present themselves "on equal terms". It would be an understatement. The opposite would be a textbook crime without disguises, since the law requires compliance with that procedure.
But what should not be lost sight of in that skein is that what was approved in the plenary session is not a proposal from the Town Hall to promote a work on a municipal plot, but a specific project of a company, which intends to expand its facilities, using a part of land of its property and another of public land. Come on, either they end up doing something totally different from what Paradise Island proposed, and that was approved in the plenary session, or it will be difficult for someone to be interested in participating in that possible contest. That's what skeins have.
