Neglected Paceville

Thanks to the article in The Times last week, the eight-day-old rubbish which lay in the middle of St George's Road, was collected at 7 p.m. on Friday, just before the night crowds started gathering.

I would like to point out that it was unwise and unfair for St Julian's local council to accuse the Paceville bar owners of disposing of their garbage in the streets. Mayor Peter Bonello rushed to the conclusion that, because there were some receipts in the opened garbage bags, the rubbish was coming from bar owners.

May I remind Mr Bonello that this happens every year around the Santa Marija peak season. The scavengers sweep the streets only to collect their garbage in large bags and impolitely dump them on the pavement awaiting collection. There is no collection for this week, as the driver takes his vacation leave and garbage keeps accumulating. It was confirmed by the council that there was no truck or driver available for some time. Who got the blame? The bar owners. Thanks.

Here are some important points for whoever may be interested.

Some four years ago, due to a new building being constructed in the area, a street lamp was removed. Despite the numerous phone calls and personal reminders to Mayor Bonello this was never replaced. I was told that this would be installed when the Paceville project was taken in hand.

Where are the public toilets? Here again I have been told that these will be taken care of in the project. Years have passed now and locals and tourists have to use the toilets we have in our premises during opening hours - boys use our walls if we are closed. Provision of mobile toilets is forbidden in the area.

The stairs leading to Bay Street are a trap. Thanks to the hotels in the area, they were somewhat roughly repaired, although they need to be redone in a proper way (height/depth of each step are all different in measurements). For the elderly, sorry but there is no hand rail, just be careful and may God help you.

Mr Bonello said that there were hardly any residents in St George's Road. If Mr Bonello was referring to permanent residents, he is right, but he is either forgetting or he does not know that in this area there are over 50 apartments and in summer these apartments are full of temporary residents. These have nowhere where to dump their garbage. I am sure these people buy food and drinks like permanent residents would do and so they need some sort of skip or something where to throw away their litter.

Mr Bonello should thank the bar owners and their cleaners for washing the road in the morning. In other tourist spots abroad the council will first sweep the road and then wash it with disinfectant. Here in the morning, it is a quick sweep and the smell of beer and all the rest remains all day for the enjoyment of passers-by. Come on, it is the Year 2003, a small machine can do a better job than this primitive system. Especially in the summer months, sweeping and cleaning should be on a 24-hour, seven days a week basis. After all this is our tourist's showcase.

Some weeks ago we had been finally treated with a few ashtrays for the use of the public. What a laugh! Should these be our new project litter bins? With the volume of people around these are full by 10 a.m. Can you imagine till the next morning when they come to sweep the road what a mount of litter there will be underneath these bins. Here we need large bins. Some temporary ones could have solved some of the litter problem but it seems we need to wait for the project to commence to have bins installed.

Ouch. I was bitten by a wasp or I have cut my foot on a piece of glass, I am sick I need a doctor. Bad luck. You either go to the Gzira polyclinic, St Luke's Hospital's emergency department or wait till the morning. Is it not time to provide a polyclinic? With all these thousands of people out on Paceville's streets we should provide for eventualities.

A bag got snatched, a fight broke out. The police are not around or they are on another mission. Compared to the number of patrons, there is a lack of police and we do not expect miracles from the few around. A small police station will solve or prevent a lot of problems.

These are but a few suggestions; I am sure there are more improvements that can be done. Now we have this long awaited project coming by, hopefully some of this will be attended to.

Mr Bonello and his people should please stop pointing fingers and if he does not really know the place he should ask the people who work, live and spend practically almost 24 hours a day there. Let us together try to improve matters.

We get embarrassed when tourists photograph and comment regarding the cleanliness in our country and are rather uncomplimentary. Here we have a gem; many tourists want to come and spend their holidays here. Some of them are envious because not so many countries have a spot like this.

Also please do not forget that many Maltese entrepreneurs have forked out millions of liri in building these marvellous establishments and landmarks and on an equal scale tourists spend a lot of money, especially if they are staying in five-star resorts. Let us not get a bad name and ruin our image.

In a few months we will be joining the EU, let us change our mentality and try to be more professional. Thousands of people earn their living (directly or indirectly) out of this entertainment spot. Let us give it some importance and be proud of it.