Fearful residents in Paceville (1)

I would like to inform Matthew Bezzina (What's Happening To Paceville, May 16) that Paceville is not only the entertainment mecca that it turned out to be but is also the residence of hundreds of people.

These residents, following a locality meeting held at the local council, presented a petition to the council asking it to ensure that there is a greater police presence and effective law enforcement. These residents, and I as a councillor, are fed up with the state of anarchy and lawlessness that prevails in Paceville. It is of no use that laws and regulations are enacted and then not enforced.

It seems that in Paceville everything is permissible with no respect for the rights of the residents. Only recently, three neighbouring families in a particular street woke up to find that the parapets of their homes had been pulled down. This is only one instance of what residents, who are afraid to leave their homes, have to suffer due to the present state of affairs in Paceville.Now that summer is fast approaching, thousands of foreign young students will be left to roam our streets and beaches unsupervised and will, therefore, create further inconvenience for our residents. The local council has started talks with the authorities concerned to ensure that more law and order prevails in Paceville and that the present situation does not spread further out. If the police have instructed all bars and clubs to close their doors at 1 a.m., because that is what the law states, then so be it.

In my humble opinion, the situation is not only a problem of Paceville but it should be considered by the authorities as a national problem as it involves the problem of drugs, consumption of alcohol by minors, violence, rape, lack of respect for the rights of others and their property, drinking from glass containers in the streets etc. etc.