Letters to the Editor

To the Authorities, Sirs, Through reading the newspapers, it came to my attention on the 8th of this month that after 16 years of struggle, the Inca ringroad project will now be put into action. I think it is a disgrace that those who will be affected by the construction of the roadway have not been informed personally in writing and that the information in the press was published in August, when many of those who may wish to protest are away on holiday. Doesn't Spain have any more respect than this for human dignity?. It was by means of the newspaper, that 413 finca owners, 77 of whom own very large properties, learned that their lives' work and their long-established circles of friendships were to be snuffed out as if they had never existed. I should like to pass my thanks on to you, the drawing board theorists, who whimsically sketch lines across the years of our lives without giving a thought to the consequences that will be felt by us. I know that it is easy to put in a line a little higher or a little lower, I am an architect, but I have never deprived anyone of their home. Where are the morals and the ethics in this scenario? Ah, I almost forgot. Money doesn't recognisze such values.
Thank you also for the planned destruction of 30'000 square metres of green belt land. Oh, sorry, it escaped me that Majorca has a surplus of such territory. I am grateful to you that now I don't know where to go with my horses because there will be nowhere suitable left.
In the name of Majorca, you should be thanked for providing something which the island least needs or deserves, an ugly motorway where a widening of the Palma to Alcudia roadway would have been sufficient without having to steamroll over so many homes. Do you really think that you will be heightening the quality of life by destroying so much irreplaceable natural habitat?
I have great admiration for the Majorcans who are affected by the project but are totally exhausted and demoralised by the attitude of you, the politicians. I have nothing but contempt for the originators of this scheme. Any public act which doesn't have the support of the citizens cannot be considered democratic.
Well, I hope it goes well for you politicians. Perhaps I should have become a politican as well, but then I would have had to have sold my conscience.
Cornelia U. Kudszus
Dipl.Ing. Innenarchitektur
Son Bennassar
What a mess! Sir, WHILST the current power failure on the US Eastern seaboard may not be due to a terrorist action, just inefficiency, it will give the 50 million Americans (and Canadians) an idea, if only for a few days, of what a large part of the population of Iraq has been experiencing since the US-led invasion some 3 to 4 months past. The North Americans can look forward to “service as normal” after the weekend, but the Iraqis, with temperatures of 40 degrees or more, will probably have many more months of suffering.
What a mess! Graham Phillips
Palma de Mallorca
The rubbish dump in Alcudia
Sir, I refer to “The Daily Bulletin”, 26 July, 2003, “The Problems of the Cala Bona Beach”, where we are now, I can see that this is a major problem on certain beaches. The one I know of is Sa Marina de Alcudia.
We have been on holiday to this once beautiful place and have found mountains of seaweed on the whole of the beach at Sa Marina and also in the sea, making it impossible to bathe not one single day. We have been coming here for ten years and in previous years, the area has always been clean and looked after.
The smell of the seaweed and dead jellyfish is terrible. The area is without street lighting at night and there are no footpaths.
The neighbours are expecting that the new govenment will take the necessary action to rectify the above problems in this particular area which at the moment is very degraded.
Martin Mills
Manchester