Mayor of Palma under fire for lack of action

PSIB-PSOE socialist spokesperson Antoni Roig, said yesterday that 2004 was a “poor” year marked by “tension and scandal” for the mayor.
Further criticism came from the United Left/Green coalition which called on Cirer to approve and enforce a new policy to stamp out the growing problem of weekend binge drinking in public places, in particular along the Paseo Maritimo.

Coalition spokesperson Eberhard Grosske yesterday accused the city council of having done next to nothing to deal with one of the biggest complaints from city residents.

Grosske said that binge drinking is not only killing more people in the developed world than drugs but also causing serious inconvenience and discomfort for people living in the area frequented weekend after weekend by the hundreds of binge drinkers in the city.

Every Friday and Saturday morning, a small army of street cleaners is needed to deal with the mess along the sea front which provides visitors staying at the four and five star hotels along the sea front a very poor image of the capital. “The council already has sufficient powers to crack down on binge drinking,” he said “the problem is that the council does not have the necessary manpower and resources to enforce the law. “The fact that only two percent of fines handed out has been collected is proof of that,” he added.
Grosske said that not only are more resources needed on patrol in the areas popular with binge drinkers, but more effort needs to be made to stop the sale of alcohol to under age drinkers. “There is no control at the moment and eventually it will start affecting people's lives,” he proclaimed. “The council has been over the anti-binge drinking legislation over and over again, but we've got nowhere and a very dangerous drinking culture is developing in Palma,” he said.