Explain or resign

I live in Marsascala, where no council election is being held this year. I support the Labour Party but I am disappointed by the local council. I am behind them as far as their campaign to remove the waste recycling plant from our locality is concerned, but that's as far as it goes.

I happen to live in Triq il-Lampuka, part of a newly developed area that in fact falls under the responsibility of the central government as far as the building and surfacing of streets is concerned - and they are in a truly disastrous state. So I am not expecting any miracles from the local council.

But at least, I expect some information as to what kind of programme is envisaged for the newly built zones in Marsascala and the roads which have been waiting for resurfacing for years. It is the duty of the local council to obtain such a list from the central government and see to it that what is promised or planned is delivered.

In the street where I live, a contractor decided to dump some truckloads of stones, to give the impression that a boundary wall was at last being built around the property he was developing and so stop it from being turned into a rubbish dump.

For weeks, not to say months, these stones were left right in the middle of the road. Finally, after some political pressure, part of it was removed and so the cars can manoeuvre better. The trouble is that we never know when this wall is going to be completed. Where's the local council authority?

I found out that MEPA are happy that at least the wall was started and the building stones are no longer such an inconvenience to us residents. But now it is up to the residents to take the legal action required for the contractor to finish the wall.

But my main disappointment with the local council is on the way Triq in-Nadur has been neglected. It is full of potholes and it is the local council's responsibility to resurface it, as it has done in a number of roads. What's keeping the council from resurfacing Triq in-Nadur, when it is used by hundreds of cars?

Traffic going towards Zejtun or further down Triq il-Gardiel, at the centre of Marsascala, near a well-known restaurant, comes across a blind corner, which previously had been remedied by having a mirror installed. I admit that vandals have smashed this mirror to pieces many times, but is it possible that the local council and the Malta Transport Authority will not find a solution and replace the street mirror which has been missing for years, causing so many hazards to drivers?

Senior citizens and families with young children who reside near the HSBC Bank in St Anne Street find it very difficult to cross this street. It comprises four carriageways and so you can imagine the hazard it poses to elderly people who wish to cross to do some shopping or otherwise on the other side.

What's keeping the local council from taking the necessary action to at least have a zebra crossing? If some other authority is ignoring any such request, we should know. How can we rally behind our local council and give it our support, if such communication with the residents is lacking?

These are small things. It is a pity that the local council is such a failure. As far as I know the media never stopped any council from airing its views on certain matters. The council should use the media to show us what is really being done. But on such petty things we are being left in the dark.

Had Marsascala been one of the localities where local council elections are being held next month, I would surely abstain. There is a general feeling that the mayor, Charlot Mifsud, and the Labour councillors are letting us down.

Admittedly, they did embark on the recycling plant isssue, but this is no excuse for them to neglect other matters.

It seems that most MLP supporters in Marsascala have forgotten who were those elected to implement the Labour manifesto they boasted about so much in the last local election in 2003.

They are never there when we want them, and unfortunately this applies also to the Labour MPs in the third district. What about home visits?

Action, please. Or else, explain or resign. I am not saying so because I intend to contest the next local council election. I cannot do so for personal reasons. But in a democratic country and as voters we all have the right to express our views.