A city for all the people

I refer to the letter (September 14) by Joseph Cacopardo from Valletta, entitled Valletta's Neglected Pavements.

May I point out that Mr Cacopardo's concerns for the state of pavements in Valletta are identical to the concerns of the Valletta local council.

In his letter he asks the question: "What has the council done in its term of office?" I cannot answer this question in a short letter of reply as the pro-active commitments of the council to the city are various and numerous. Nevertheless, may I stress that, contrary to what Mr Cacopardo may seem to indicate in his letter, the council does not spend its budget on cultural events, even though these are necessary for the capital. The council endorses these events and has been a successful catalyst for organisers to choose Valletta as their main stage.

Before speculating, Mr Cacopardo should have checked and got confirmation that the council spends less than 1.5 per cent of its budget for culture and close to 40 per cent for infrastructural needs, including pavements and road maintenance. This is due to the unfortunate situation that the city has to spend something like 50 per cent of its budget on cleaning waste generated in Valletta by the public.

During its term of office the council has paved and resurfaced, among others:

Melita Street, Old Wells Street, parts of St Ursula Street, part of St Nicholas Street, parts of Old Bakery Street, Marsamxetto Road, St Anne Street, St Sebastian Street, Battery Street, Merchants Street (from the Jesuits church to St Elmo) and the commonly known Fossa area, in the lower parts Valletta.

Furthermore, the council is currently carrying out works in Mediterranean Street, St Paul Street and the French Curtain area.

For readers' information, the part of Merchants Street indicated in the letter is a national project, committed by the central government, similar to that of Republic Street, and does not fall within the listed projects of the council. Mr Cacopardo conveniently failed to mention the other stretch of the same street due to the fact that this was completely redone by the council in October 2003.

The council, like a senior citizen living on a pension, works on a tight budget. There is no doubt that a senior citizen would like to do more and buy more for himself and his home, with his earned pension. But just as Mr Cacopardo has his own limitations on his daily expenditure according to his pension, unfortunately, the council has extreme limitations on its expenditure according to its tight budget.

I do not agree with Mr Cacopardo's appeal to senior citizens to abstain from voting as a sign of dismay and disgust. The council believes in pro-active and participating citizens who can participate in council affairs with their constructive criticism. This is how we can all instil a sense of belonging. Valletta does not belong to the council alone but to us all irrespective of who we are and where we come from and we all need to give our share to make the city a better place.