It was good news to hear about the new Master Plan to rehabilitate Paceville. We hope that what is recommended in the report will become a reality.

However, this letter is meant to kindly draw the attention of the authorities to St Julian’s itself. The two most urgent items to tackle are the unacceptably dangerous and unstable road surfaces and pavements and the lack of sensible traffic management which is giving us total gridlock at the top of Ross Street where this meets St George’s Road and also at Spinola Bay on the doorstep of the police station.

Another matter that is deep in the hearts of all the people of St Julian’s is the fate that has fallen on Spinola Palace and its gardens. The palace belongs to the people of St Julian’s but is only accessible to a handful of foreigners who visit Malta two to three times a year and a few Malta employees. The gardens are in total abandonment and as visible through the rusty gates an eyesore and a shameful sight to locals and visitors alike.

With an election well nigh the best electoral present that can be given to St Julianites and visitors is to return this palace to its rightful owners and open up the garden to the public.

The palace can have an interactive museum of modern art which could become a reference point as the Guggenheim Museum of Modern Art in Venice. We sincerely hope that what has not been achieved by many before, will be done by this government. This will be a historical turning point that could change the fate of this once charming fishing village and plant the much needed seeds of culture which are needed in Malta’s centre point for tourism, high-quality shops, restaurants and residential units.

I live in the hope that culture will win in the end.