As volunteers are continually forced to clean and to man the Orihuela Costa reading point, because of a lack of council staff, CLARO have once again denounced the Ayuntamiento management of the building, which was magically pulled from the hat of the socialist councillors during their 2013 legislature.
They say that the building, which cost almost 3 million euros to construct, was little more than a gesture to the nearly 50,000 residents of the Orihuela Costa, that it was built in completely the wrong area and it totally fails to meet the resident’s needs.
CLARO also state that the few volunteers who turn up to man the library on its one opening day a week, are left completely to their own devices. There is no management provided to the centre whatsoever and the man cultural events that were promised when it first opened have failed to materialise. “The Reading Point is dying thanks to the disastrous management carried out by the coordinators of the Coast and one of their advisers,” the party said in a press release issue last week.
Even insurance cover for the volunteers was abandoned when the new government team came into power with unfulfilled promises of support, which led to the resignation of the 9 volunteers who, less than 12 months ago, were opening it 3 times a week.
But they were presented with obstacle after obstacle. They were not provided with basic office supplies such as pencils, paper etc which the volunteers had to purchase themselves, they had to use their own mobile phones, Wi-Fi, forms for bookkeeping and general administration and of the 14ooo books in their possession they only have space to display 8,000 with the other 6,ooo still lying in boxes, which remain unpacked due to lack of space.
Recently, in light of complaints from the volunteers, the adviser to the Coastal Coordinator inappropriately told them that there is no money for the centre, nor for its cleaning, and if you want the centre cleaned they will have to buy the products and clean the centre themselves. At the time of writing it is understood that the current team of volunteers are considering their position at the centre. All the more absurd considering that the Orihuela budget for culture is understood to be in excess of 1 million euro per year.
A spokesman for CLARO said that the party are now in the process of approaching the Consell Valencià of Culture, an advisory institution of the Generalitat which oversees the promotion of cultural values within the Communidad. They hope that the organisation will provide assistance that will put a stop to the cultural gap that exists between the Coast, with absolutely no cultural infrastructure whatsoever, and the City, with its 3 libraries, theatre, and bullring which is about to be redeveloped into yet another cultural centre.
