Independence of Floriana

There seems to be an enduring hostility towards Floriana which has lately grown to ridiculous proportions and has prompted me to voice my opinion and to hope that it someday may stop. This has grown far from the "healthy" rivalry which was evident in football between Floriana and Valletta.

In response to our fellow neighbour and gentleman's letter on December 2, I say full marks on the observation that Floriana is a suburban town. Its main function was defence of the land side of Valletta, and secondly, it was housing. But, since the day it was built, it has developed an independent identity which did not start this century. This started from the days of Grand Master Vilhena himself who embellished Floriana and allowed it to flourish. Whatever people may wish or think, in the modern day, Floriana is an independent town, with its own local government and boundaries.

I agree with the fact that Valletta is far more important than Floriana. In fact, Valletta is the most important city in Malta and I am very proud to call it my capital city. However, I am hurt to see the amount of hostility and discrimination directed from its inhabitants towards their neighbours. What is worse is that we are seeing more and more discrimination from the local media and authorities when mentioning recent developments in the Floriana territory.

I have seen countless acts of violence (and not always related to football) such as vandalism on the lion fountain, the Portes des Bombes, and on residential houses, witnessed first hand a senseless beating, not to mention the recent attack on the band club after the regatta (by the way...was anybody ever charged for that I wonder?), and what shocked me most was hearing a Valletta gentleman proudly saying that "the first things he gave his new-born son were the usual health vaccines and hate for Floriana".

On the boundary matter, I do not think Floriana needs to defend its boundaries; we do not live in the Middle Ages anymore. After some simple research, I easily obtained an official boundary map of Floriana from the local council and, lo and behold, I was surprised to see that the Valletta Waterfront is in Floriana not in Valletta, the Park and Ride is in Floriana not Blata l-Bajda, along with the Phoenicia, Excelsior, Sa Maison gardens and Pinetum and countless other areas evident on black and white on the official government map.

When Pinto Wharf was a shambles, nobody had trouble saying it's in Floriana, but ever since its excellent rehabilitation and name change to "the Valletta Waterfront", the word Floriana is being discretely avoided whenever it is mentioned by the authorities and media. Even a simple car park (the new Park and Ride), which obviously lies in Floriana territory, is being described as in Blata l-Bajda!

I find this large amount of misinformation on the part of the media and authorities regarding these newly developed areas very troublesome. It facilitates the senseless hostility we continuously witness from our gentlemanly neighbours.