THIRD COUNCILLOR IN CALPE’S RULING GOVERNMENT TO BE DENOUNCED FOR MISDEMEANERS.

Alfons Padillo reported in the newspaper “Informacion” that the British Councillor, Linda Townsend, will be the third Councillor in the ruling coalition local Government that has been accused of misdemeanours and is facing a court case because of it. Juan Rosello, the Partido Popular Councillor for Commerce and Tourism, has been accused of illegal dealings in the contracts dealing with the renovation of the Town’s water pipes. This is called the “Aguas de Calpe” case. Juan Rosello is being prosecuted for signing, along with the then PP Mayor Javier Morato, an agreement to pay what is claimed to be over one and a half million euros more than needed for the renovation of the Town’s mains water pipes. The contract was given to the brother-in-law of Juan Rosello who then had a small business posting hoardings. When Juan Rosello’s brother-in-law was called to the first court hearing of the case, he and his partner could not be found as they were said to be out sailing there luxury yachts. At the time Juan Rosello’s brother-in-law was given the contract his business had collateral of approximately 3,000 euros. He subcontracted the work to a company that charged a considerable amount less than the money paid to him. The ex Mayor, Javier Morato, is claimed to have said he signed the contract without even looking at it. The Second Lieutenant, Antonio Romera, of the Social Democrats, has been accused of misuse of his Party funds. Once elected, Spanish Councillors are allowed by Law to employ a “Person of Confidence” from outside the Town Hall Staff. Antonio Romera gave the job to a lady who was at the top of his list of candidates during the local elections. This lady has accused him of misuse of the Calpe branch of the SDP’s funds. One of her claims is that she paid to Antonio Romera her political party subscriptions and that they never appeared in the party’s bank account. Linda Townsend has been denounced, by the Calpe Socialist Party, of illegally renting an apartment to the Town Hall. Councillors are not allowed to have business dealings in any way with their Town Halls. Linda Townsend has been denounced for renting an apartment to the Town Hall and hiding the fact by using a friend of hers as an intermediary. The case was accepted in the Denia courts on the 28th of January. Ms. Townsend allegedly rented one of her properties in Cala Manzanera in June of 2005 to a friend who a month a later sublet it to the Town Hall. The reason being the Town had to find somewhere for the Health Centre’s Locums to stay. Many of the Partido Popular Councillors were aware of the illegal contract. Whether this is true or not remains to be seen. The amount involved was 600€ a month. In May of last year the ruling coalition agreed to continue to pay the rent during a Town Council meeting. In total Ms. Townsend has apparently received over 21,600 euros of the taxpayers money. A report from the Town Hall now admits that the agreement, that had no legally binding documentation, was indeed illegal. It may be hard to prove who received the money as the payments were apparently made with a cheque made to the bearer. The Socialist say it is however very suspicious that there have been regular payments for 600 euros to Linda Townsend from her friend who has been cited in the case. Though the BLOC Nationalist Mayor, Ximo Tur, fought against Linda Townsend’s influence over the foreign vote in the last elections, and was indeed accused by her during the elections of being in a political party with communist links, he has defended Ms Townsend during all the recent accusations. There is also a possibility that the ex Partido Popular Mayor, Javier Morato, another Second Lieutenant to the BLOC Nationalist Mayor, will be brought to court. He is being investigated into the alleged reclassification of the land at the proposed Town’s Fair ground area, Recinto Ferial, at Rafol, where the family who own the land are friends of Javier Morato and are claiming up to 5,000,000 euros in compensation for the land

To see the March issue of the Calpe Grapevine go

http://grapevinespain.com/Calpe_Grapevine_March_2010/index.html

Javea Arenal For Sale

Javea Arenal, once described as the Jewel in the resort tourist crown with its blue flag beach, is in danger of plunging into a downward spiral of economic disaster. Many of the once bustling and fashionable array of shops whose windows displayed exciting and colourful ranges of merchandise, now reflect nothing but dark, dank, empty interiors displaying remnants of their past lives, such as the odd shoe, empty cosmetic standstill promising instant beauty, broken clothes hangers and the inevitable roughly discarded photographs of dream properties being offered for sale at knock-down prices. The only message now dominating the vast expanses of dirty glass is: Se Vende o Aquiler.

This disastrous situation is of course not exclusive to Javea. Most of Spain’s coastal towns are suffering similar problems with huge shop vacancy rates wiping millions of euros off property values and sending the unemployment rate sky high. However a Grapevine survey conducted amongst existing and former shop owners in the town, showed that whilst agreeing the problem is universal, most condemned greedy landlords for their total disregard of tenants survival needs. One irate shop owner said that, “Most of the landlords are so filthy rich, they would rather sit on empty premises rather than negotiate affordable rates in line with the current situation.” He added, “ Much of the property is owned by a small handful of connected local families, who made their millions during the heyday of the expat spending boom and are quite content to sit on their investments until the economic tides turns either for themselves or their heirs.”

So what are the town hall doing to help stabablize the situation? The answer nothing, just the opposite. They have ordered the demolition of the President bar terrace, reinforcing a disputed regulation dating back to the 1990 General Plan, part of a pet project of the then Partido Popular mayor Juan Moragues. The plan was abandoned as there was no legal agreement as to the exact lines between private and public ownership of the terraces. so Apart from high taxes and no government investment in the Arenal itself, the remaining bars are also threatened with demolition orders in the near future. This apparent blatant lack of concern is a direct snub to Arenal bar owners who have invested thousands in upgrading and modernising premises to international standards in order to maintain a viable all year round business. This of course provides much needed employment, as well as creating a valuable attraction for tourists and residents alike. As a point of interest, at least 35% of the businesses in the old town have also closed, many as a direct result of the catastrophic old town modernisation works and banned street parking in support of the white elephant underground car parks. Will the Arenal fight back? Inside sources confirm a definite YES

 
To access the March issue of the Javea Grapevine go to http://grapevinespain.com/javea_march_2010/index.html

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