Bashing Baroque (1)

As an American resident interested in architecture and preservation, I've been following in the press the various struggles over development in Sliema. It saddens me but does not surprise me that the developers appear to be winning. Sliema is looking increasingly like some bland American suburb.

Nonetheless, I was stunned to read in a Saturday article (January 28) the rant against a concerned Sliema citizen by a developer who wants to yank down one of the last remaining vernacular Baroque houses in Sliema. Why? For space to build yet another hunk of flats and garages?

Not only does developer Edwin Camilleri spew denunciations, he announced filing a judicial protest against the concerned objector, Astrid Vella. His accusations run the gamut but basically he contends that she has intimidated the authorities into making him justify his application to the Malta Environment and Planning Authority. How dare she? What cheek!

In point of fact, he's the intimidator. With threats and legal action, is he hoping to scare off any criticism from her or others now and in the future? A not-so-subtle warning to anyone with the temerity to question what these days passes for progress?

A major attraction of Malta for people like me is precisely what Mr Camilleri intends to erase: the last vestiges of the old beauty that once was Sliema. Today, when attracting more visitors to Malta is a national concern, it needs to be noted that attraction lies not in expensive new building projects, but the sight of those beauties that have survived from the past. Every effort should be made to preserve them.