Seeing to Valletta's needs

Regular articles and letters are featured in newspapers to emphasise the needs of Valletta as our capital city. Most are quite right but, unfortunately, they are all repetitions of arguments, ideas and promises that I have been hearing and reading about for the last 21 years. Yes, that is how long I have been living here and the situation has not improved.

The editorial in The Times (September 16) again tried to take the bull by the horns. It referred to the broken pavements, abuse by certain shop owners, City Gate, Fort St Elmo and other focal points that require serious attention.

The Times is right but these problems have been with us for decades and no one seems to want to lift a finger! The situation at City Gate was well described and to it I add the two caricatures by Nalizperla in The Sunday Times, regarding the steps leading to the ditch or the "Yellow Garage area", as it is better known. Unfortunately, our cartoonist friend had failed to notice those urinating and, even worse, were still doing their business at the other stairway leading up to the City Gate apartments!

This stairway is a haven for such abuses and, although weak attempts were made to keep it clean, it had always resulted in the abusers winning the game. I urge the government to close these stairs and instead to introduce an open, spiral staircase on the corner of the square leading to the terrace above. This way, both the residents and the public will still have access to and from the square. Maybe the stairway can then be turned into latrines that open for at least 18 hours a day.

The area occupied by the former Royal Opera House needs to be utilised. Although I have my own opinion on the site, I will never accept that what remains of the former theatre will be demolished. The hard stone stairs and terrace, minus the balustrades and a few other ornaments have practically remained intact in their original state. So why should they be destroyed? Is this the solution to progress?

The author hit the mark when stating that there is hardly a pavement in Valletta that is not broken, damaged or difficult to walk on safely. But whose fault is this? In many of the streets, cars are allowed to park with two wheels on the pavements and, apart from breaking the pavements, these same cars are blocking the entrances to residences and establishments at most times. And when streets are too narrow due to parking on one side, trucks and heavy vehicles mount the pavement on the opposite side.

However, it seems that maintenance for these pavements is unheard of. I stand to be corrected but there is hardly a pavement, extending from one corner to another of any block in Valletta, that is either not damaged or has been rendered dangerous! Must it be some project like the one in Melita Street to have pavements replaced or restored? So if no projects are in mind or implemented for the next 10 - 15 years, must a pavement remain broken until then?

A case in point is Old Mint Street where I live and a section that extends from St Mark Street to Old Theatre Street. In the years when Valletta had its first local council, someone had decided to "patch the felt with pumpkin", to use a literal translation of a Maltese saying, and had authorised a layer of tarmac on top of the existing surface all along this stretch. The result was that, on one side of the street, the surface is just a few centimetres below the pavement while on the opposite side, and which slopes downhill, the tarmac is higher than the pavement. So you can imagine the years of suffering endured with every rainfall as water cascades down the iron grills into basements and garages along these fronts. Recently, the owner of a small business here could not stand the damage and inconvenience any longer and had the section of pavement abutting his premises raised in order to avoid further hardships. And this is just one case that is identical to many here in Valletta.

Somehow, the existing rainwater grills and culverts have proved that they are no match for the recent heavy downpours but this does not seem restricted only to when it rains heavily. Although I have personally seen that a number of the previously blocked grills and culverts have been finally attended to, Melita Street and St John Street become torrents and a danger to pedestrians whenever it rains. I happened to be walking along one of these streets when I found myself looking straight at the reason why. When Republic Street was resurfaced, water culverts were placed at regular intervals in order for water not to hold and move off quickly. Their drains seem to interconnect and somewhere they connect to two grills, one in each of these streets, just a few metres downhill from Republic Street. However, these grills either have their drains blocked or they do not have any continuation at all, as water rises heavily from among the iron bars and descends forcefully down these streets. Whatever the reason is, they require urgent attention, or must it be another future project to see it done?

The needs of our capital are many. Somehow, most writers or speakers refer to the problems facing City Gate, the Royal Opera House area, Fort St Elmo and other focal public areas but hardly anyone ever bothers to refer to the dangers, problems and inconveniences being constantly faced by residents. The first of two in particular is the ever increasing pigeon population and the health hazard of their droppings.

The other concerns the emissions from chimneys of the various bakeries we have here. Due to the height discrepancies in buildings, the fumes from wood or oil fires are discharged at the levels of many of the residents' windows and balconies. When are protective filters to be installed? Is it not enough that we inhale poisonous vehicular exhausts from the ever increasing number of vehicles that are being licensed to enter Valletta?

This is our capital and any country's capital is considered the mirror of the nation!