The Board of Directors of the FAOC (The Federación de Asociaciones de Orihuela Costa) has written another strongly worded document to the Orihuela Mayor Emilio Bascuñana in which they state that residents of the coast are being largely ignored when the Ayuntamiento plans leisure activities and festivals.
Whilst they applaud the celebrations enjoyed last week by the city of Orihuela with their commemoration of Easter, which they say truly observes the important historical and cultural heritage of the municipality, they also state that the lack of such commemorations on the Orihuela Costa seriously reflects the discriminatory treatment that coastal residents receive.
In supporting their complaint the FAOC note that from the budget allocated to Festivals and Festivities of 1,222,985.53 euros, over 900,000 euros has been spent in the city on the Medieval Market, Carnival, Holy Week, Moors and Christians Reconquista, Migo Christmas application, Three Kings Cavalcade and Christmas, leaving little more than 200,000 euros for the Orihuela Costa and the Pedenias.
The FAOC denounced this situation to the City Council, as this distribution of expenditure, between the city, districts and the coast, yields a ratio per inhabitant which is very unfavourable for the more than 30,000 residents of the coast, who believe that they too have a right to enjoy their own festivities and events.
The Association were a little more complimentary, however, about the efforts put in by Councillor Luisa Bone and her team with regard to the clean-up and repair of the beaches in readiness for the arrival of Easter holiday visitors.
On Saturday evening the FAOC issued an internal memorandum to their members in which they stated that representatives had visited 7 of the 11 Orihuela Costa beaches at which they assessed up to 6,000 holidaymakers enjoying the temperatures and the fine holiday weather.
They said that the state of the beaches on the Orihuela Costa is satisfactory, as a result of the recent cleaning, the correct operation of the footbaths, the collection of waste, the newly opened access to La Glea and the collection of algae, except of the small beach at Aguamarina.
The memorandum said “We believe that the Department of Beaches has done a good job of recovering the state of the beaches, after repeated severe weather in recent past months, and we expect that, in the next two months, the council maintains its level of service to complete the remaining work necessary to improve the Beach furniture, the repair of walls, improvement and access to some beaches as well as other necessary works.”
Meanwhile, if you have a grievance about the state of things on the Orihuela Costa, why not follow the example of the FAOC and go direct to the mayor himself. Perhaps then, when he sees the weight of complaints emanating from those residents who actually live on the coast he might start considering our situation a little more seriously. Email the mayor direct at: alcaldia@orihuela.es
