July 11th News

Under Threat
There was disquiet amongst the popular restaurants of ses Salinas and es Cavallet last week as a report called for their demolition. The controversial proposal released by the Environment Ministry concerns the affects over the last few years in the Southern coastal area of the island. The report came as a shock to local restaurant owners as it called for the demolition of six of the most famous beach restaurants on the island. The establishments under threat are Guarana, Malibu, the Jockey Club and Sa Trinxa in ses Salinas and El Chiringuito and Chiringay in es Cavallet.
The report claims that, environmentally, the establishments have a severely negative effect on the coastal area and that all have been partly built on public property, signifying their illegality. The report which began in 2000 aims to assess the environmental damage caused over the last few years within the area, especially to the dunes, and to advise on measures to help the recuperation of the zone in a protection programme that is set to cost 165,000 euros. One of the measures recommended in the report is the demolition of the restaurants.
However to its credit, according to most sources, the report recognises the importance to tourism of the six restaurants, and does not rule out the possibility of re-building all of them on a smaller scale. The restaurants are only allowed to be a maximum of 150 square metres, 100 of which can be enclosed. All of the establishments currently exceed this legislation.
The restaurants immediately found an ally in the manager of Ibifor, who is also the representative of the establishments in the ses Salinas natural park. He said that the project was positive, showing that the Environmental Department of the Central Government were taking seriously their obligations to protect the natural area. However, he said the demolition of the restaurants would be a catastrophe for tourism, and should not even be contemplated. He remained confident that such measures would not be carried out.
The riposte from the restaurants was swift, with the manager of the Malibu restaurant, Ivano Recchia, claiming that the demolition of the restaurants would have an extremely negative effect on tourism. He said that they were just as concerned about the natural environment in the area, and in particular the dunes, but failed to see how buildings that had been there for over thirty years could possibly have an effect.
In a joint project, the restaurants immediately started to collect signatures of support from tourists and residents.

AROUND THE ISLAND

Association Complaints
Complaints continued during the week about the stuttering start to the season. June can normally be considered as part of the high season, but results from the Restaurant and Bar Association show that the tourists are just not spending, according to their president, Pedro Ortiz. He claimed that although there are many people on the island, they do not seem to be spending any money outside of their hotels. He continued by calculating that this season would be just seventy days in length.
His views were backed by Cesar Jerez, whose association is in charge of the sun-beds on the various beaches around the island. He claimed that the situation had become critical, and added that his members could not continue in this vain. He said that he was unsure of who was to blame but that a series of factors, including a lack of cleaning, security and island promotion, were all combining to have a negative effect on results.
However, their complaints were not shared by the president of the Hotel Association, Roberto Hortensius who declared that he was happy with results in June and that they were more or less comparable to last year. He continued by saying that he expected the overall occupancy in 2007 to be very similar to that of last year.
Figures from the airport released on Monday showed that there were 162,866 arrivals and departures this weekend (6/7/8th July), 13.2 per cent more than the same weekend last year.

Hippodrome Disrepair
A damning report has heavily criticised the state of the hippodrome in San Rafael. The survey, carried out by the Consell of Ibiza, was originally done before improvements were made on the electrical installation. However, as well as condemning the dangerous state of the electrics in the stadium, it has also highlighted some general structural deficiencies. These include seventeen of the stables in the north of the hippodrome which were described as unusable due to structural damage.
The work on modernising the electrical installation is due to start next month, and will cost just under 250,000 euros. However the sports department of the Consell has asked for more money to fix the other problems. They have, as yet, had no luck in receiving the additional financing.

Holiday Credit
The German Tour Operator Neckermann, part of the Thomas Cook group, have started to offer "Buy Now, Pay Later" holidays in Germany. The scheme is part of the operators marketing plan to try and boost holidays, especially to the Balearics. According to the promotion, the holidays can be paid for over the course of twelve months, with the first payment starting one month after the holiday has finished. The group confirmed that the pilot scheme would not be offered in any other markets for the moment.

Salary Demands
The president of the medical association in Ibiza, Jose Segador, has called for a rise in doctors salaries to avoid a "professional migration". He claimed that their pay-packets would have to increase by 50 per cent over the next three years, to avoid an emigration to countries such as Portugal and the United Kingdom, where salaries are much higher and their work is more valued. He continued by saying that the population had increased by four million people over the last eight years, but that the number of doctors had remained static. His statements came during a dinner to honour eight members of the medical community on the island, for their hard work and dedication over the last twenty-five years.

Points Success
The new points system introduced a year ago this week was said to have started to show positive results, according to the interior minister, Alfredo Rubalcaba. The system entitles drivers to between 9-15 points according to their experience, points being deducted for those drivers who commit any range of offences, including using a mobile phone while at the wheel, not wearing a seatbelt, and speeding.
He unveiled the latest statistics which showed that there had been 467 fewer deaths on the road this year, a decrease of 14.3 per cent. In total 1,300 drivers had had their licence revoked, having lost all their points. They will now be banned from driving for six months and have to complete a twenty-four hour security exam before being given back their licence.
The most interesting statistic revealed that of the 280,000 drivers who lost points, 84 per cent were male - a statistic that shows that males break the law considerably more than females, 39.2 per cent of the infractions were for excessive speed, 11 per cent for using a mobile phone at the wheel, and 9 per cent for driving under the influence of alcohol.
In the Balearics a total of nine drivers lost their licences.

Three Languages
The former education minister for the Govern Balear, Jaime Juan, has confirmed that the three-language format that they started last year in several schools on the island, would continue into next year. The project, which was successfully introduced into the school system, placed a greater emphasis on languages and obliged a number of lessons (including art and physical education) to be taught in a foreign language of the school's choice. Every single school that took part in the project chose their third language as English. This was added to the classes already taught in Catalan (the local dialect) and Castellano (Spanish).
The new PSOE-run Govern had been against the plans when they were in opposition, but Juan confirmed that it would be impossible for them to stop the programme for the up-coming year, saying that agreements with education centres had already been reached, and English teachers contracted. The Govern made no comment as to whether the programme would continue beyond this year.

Hotel Investment
The Balearics made up 40 per cent of the total hotel investment that took place in Spain during 2006. In total there were forty-two transactions made for an estimated total of 1,780 million euros, according to figures released by the commercial property company, Irea. The majority of the hotels which changed hands were establishments of 3 or 4 stars rating (79 per cent), with the highest transaction being the purchase of the Intercontinental Hotel in Madrid.

Wine Increase
The amount of Balearic-produced wine sold in 2006 increased by 23.6 per cent. According to a report from the Agriculture Department at the Consell, home-grown wines are slowly increasing in popularity and importance, with 15.9 million euros worth sold in 2006. In total 30,592 hectares of wine were cultivated - an increase of 13 per cent.

The Navigator Arrives
One of the largest vessels ever to enter Balearic waters arrived last Wednesday. The "Navigator of the Sea" docked in the port of Ibiza with a total of 2,500 passengers. This was slightly down on its capacity of 3,114 passengers. The numbers are actually quite frightening. The boat is an incredible 311 metres long and, as well as 3,114 passengers, will maintain a crew of 1,213 in its 1,557 cabins. Until 2004, it was the largest ship in the Royal Caribbean fleet, and until now has normally cruised around the Caribbean. However it is now based in Southampton and this was its first European cruise. The boat set sail from Southampton arriving at her first stop in the British colony of Gibraltar. Ibiza was her next port of call after twenty hours of cruising. Next, it will be on to Livorno, the Tuscan port of Pisa, and Florence. She will also make a stop in Roma, before moving on to Cadiz and Lisbon before her final stop in Vigo before she heads back to the UK.
Ibiza is described in the brochures of the cruise-liner as a small, but cosmopolitan island that could be found in Paris or Manhattan, with the added tag of a beautiful Mediterranean climate, magnificent beaches and a vibrant nightlife. It reminds passengers that the island has been used for countless photo-shoots and films, depicting Caribbean-style beaches.

GESA Fines
The Govern Balear has fined the electric provider, GESA, 620,000 euros for four power cuts that effected Ibiza and Formetera in 2005 and 2006. The first incident occurred on 1st September 2005 and left all of GESA's 76,000 customers without electricity for nearly two hours. The "short-circuit" in the system left the sub-station number three in Ibiza without power at 8.36a.m. Technicians were quickly at work and by 10.05a.m. the problem had been solved. However three days later at 3.19a.m. there was a similar problem in sub-station four, which this time took a total of five hours to be fixed.
GESA claim that the short-circuits were caused by dust produced from the road-building that was going on at the time near to the sub-stations. The company has several weeks to appeal the decision.
The two other power failures affected the residents of Formentera during February 2006, and were caused by a bolt of lightening damaging power cables.

Grand Opening
Saturday finally saw the opening of Amnesia after its closure due to drugs offences several weeks ago. The eagerly awaited opening proved popular and was attended by thousands of party goers. Please see Club Scene for more.
Meanwhile in the courts, a judge in Palma said that it had been unnecessary to order the immediate closure of the club. The Judge in court number 2 said that the club should have been allowed to stay open whilst legal matters were sorted out by the courts, and suspended the original sentence with only a day to complete.

Economic Growth
The economy in Ibiza has continued to grow over the first six months of the year due to strong performances in both the construction and tourism industry. In general terms the economy grew 2.7 per cent until June 2007. The positives included a 15 per cent increase in car sales, 8 per cent increase in the consumption of electricity, a 28 per cent rise in building projects, 49 per cent more air passengers and a 553 per cent increase in the sale of asphalt.
The tourist sector was one of the strongest performers, with 104,000 passengers arriving in the first four months of the year. This sharp rise from the previous year was due in part to a resurgence of national tourism. In total, 73.8 per cent of people that arrived on the island during the first four months of the year were Spanish. However the news was slightly dampened by results from the Hotel Federation, that showed a fall in occupancy during the first four months. This again raised the fear that more and more people were booking private accommodation, the majority of it, illegal.
The building sector was boosted by the many public projects that were undertaken during 2006 and 2007. This helped nullify a fall in private investment in this area.
CRE, the group responsible for the study, said that it was still too early to judge whether the change of leaders in most of the governments on the island would have a positive or a negative effect.

Mobile Problems
A technical problem on Thursday meant that all Movistar customers were left without telephone coverage for around two hours during the morning. The problem occurred in Alicante just before 12p.m. and led to Movistar customers in Valencia, Alicante, Murcia and the Balearics being left with no service. The company claimed that they had no idea how many customers were affected, but apologised for the inconvenience that it may have caused.

Taxi Licences
In one of his last acts as president of the Consell, Pere Palau presented thirty-two of the fifty-nine temporary taxi licences that are to be issued to try and cover the soaring demand during August. This is an increase of twenty-seven on the licences handed out last year. Palau added that all the municipals were in agreement with the issuing of the licences, and he hoped that this would ease the taxi problems that the island has witnessed over the last few years.
However the Town Hall of Ibiza responded immediately, saying that they were not in agreement with the issuing of the licences, and urged the Consell to let the municipalities decide whether and how many licences should be issued each year.
As the photo below shows, taken on Saturday night, not too much has changed at the airport!! To get to the head of this queue took a mere three hours. It will remain to be seen if fifty-nine licences are enough to cover the shortage!

More Courses
A study made by Caeb and distributed last week has underlined the importance of more golf courses in both Ibiza and Minorca. The report states that with one course each, neither island can compete within a market that needs to offer diversity, with golfers keen to play on more than one golf course. In 2006, more than 107,000 golfers came to the Balearics, spending a total of 167 million euros. They stayed a total of 1,028,000 nights on the Islands, an average of ten nights per golfer. 72 per cent stayed in hotels of either four or five stars, confirming this type of tourism as being affluent.

Palau Praise
The ex-president of the Consell Insular of Ibiza, Pere Palau, said that he was happy with his work over the last four years, in a press conference attended by his entire team. Palau, who gave up the presidency this week, announced that he would take up his position as leader of the opposition and that he would try to be both transparent and loyal to his party's beliefs.
He eulogised the work of his government over the last four years, claiming to have spent over fifty-five million euros on various projects that have improved the quality of life of all residents. He also underlined the collaboration between the Consell and the various different Town Halls, pointing out that the financing of many municipal projects had risen from 50 per cent to between 80 - 90 per cent.
He finished off by thanking everyone in the Consell for their hard-work over the last legislation, and promised to represent the nearly fifty per cent of the electorate that voted for him.

Diabetes Figures
Alarming new statistics have revealed that one in ten people in the Balearics suffers from diabetes (11.7 per cent). The dossier from the Coalition of Citizens with Chronic Illness goes on to predict that 23.06 per cent of these sufferers will die due to their illness. The average on the Islands is far higher than the national median, which is currently at 6 per cent, around 2.5 million people in total. It continues by explaining that over 20 per cent of the current population of over seventy-five year olds suffers from this illness.

IBIZA TOWN

Campillo Declares
The former deputy mayor of Ibiza Town, Pedro Campillo, gave evidence last week in the Eivissa Centre "commissions scandal." He was questioned for over two hours by the judge, eventually emerging happy that he had finally cleared his name. He had been accused by the former leader of the FSP, Roque Lopez, of being the main culprit in the scandal that alleges the payment of 1.5 million euros of bribes in return for the Eivissa Centre building contract.
Campillo described how he had been persecuted by Lopez, who began a personal witch-hunt against him, soon after resigning from the party, after not being elected as the Socialist candidate for the mayor of Ibiza Town. Although he descriptively answered all of the judge's questions, he chose to remain silent when questioned by the lawyer of Lopez, claiming that he would not answer the questions of someone who had damaged both his family and him so publicly.
The inquiry is set to continue over the coming weeks, and next to give evidence will be Antonio Pinal, president of Brues S.A., the company that won the contract to carry out the majority of the work in the Eivissa Centre project. It is also going to take time for investigators to trawl through the nearly twelve hours of taped conversations between the various suspects in the case.

Car-park Proposal
The neighbourhood association of Dalt Vila has presented plans to the Town Hall with plans for a five storey car-park within the area. Parking and general traffic are the two main problems within the area, according to neighbours, and with the planned construction and remodelling of several new buildings, it is a problem that is going to get continually worse over the next few years. The project has been designed by the architect, Amelia Molina, and engineer, Eugenio Onate. The idea is not new, and has been bounced around at several neighbourhood meetings. The project hopes to create 450 underground parking spaces, with a conference centre/auditorium with a capacity for 182 people on the ground floor. The new mayor, Lurdes Costa, said that like all new projects presented to the Town Hall, it would be carefully considered.

Mirador Opens
Thursday saw the opening of Ibiza Town's first five-star hotel. El Mirador, in Dalt Vila, is a thirteen bedroom hotel which will offer the ultimate in comfort to its guests. The hotel was designed by the prestigious Ibizencan designers, Vivienda, and blends an original sixteen century design with modern comforts expected from a hotel that in high season will charge over one thousand euros per night for its suite.

SAN ANTONIO

Crematorium on Hold
The mayor of San Antonio said that he would listen to the complaints of the municipalities citizens before going ahead with the planned crematorium. The Town Hall is to go ahead with the building of a new cemetery in can Talaies in the sa Pedrera area. The original project includes the construction of a crematorium including the necessary oven. However there have been numerous complaints from local residents who feel that the installation would produce toxic gases. It is a claim that has been denied by all of the experts questioned. There were also complaints from the local school in the area, who asked the Town Hall for more information on the project.
The crematorium will be the first of its kind in Ibiza, and would be able to be used by all residents on the island. It has been described by the mayor Jose Sala as a social right, and one that would benefit the island greatly. At the moment anyone who wants a body to be cremated has to send it to Palma, via Barcelona. It is both a long, and expensive, trip. It is calculated that a crematorium on the island would result in a saving of between 1,000 to 1,800 euros per body.

Ban on Glass
San Antonio is to ban the consumption of drinks from glass bottles in public areas. Tired of sweeping up broken glasses and bottles from the street and the beach, the Town Hall has decided to act. The legislation will be passed over the next few days and will mean on-the-spot fines of up to 30 euros for those caught breaking the new law. Councillor Jose Ramon Serra Pilot, said that the bar owners and tour operators have been warned of the changes, that will be strictly adhered to.
He also announced a crackdown on noise levels within the centre of town, to try and improve the co-existence between tourists and local residents. He explained that there were already two bars that had had their music equipment sealed by the police for repeated offences.

New Guide
The Association of Shopkeepers in San Antonio has produced a guidebook to let tourists know the whereabouts of all manner of shops, in an attempt to get the tourist to spend more money around town. The 20,000 guide books published contain 115 establishments which are ready to help the tourists spend their money.
The President of the Association, Joan Torres, explained that his members had been suffering a great deal over the last few years due to the increase in all-inclusive properties. He added that fewer tourists than ever were leaving their hotels to explore the shops. The guidebook is an attempt to show the tourist just what there is on offer in San Antonio.
In the guide there is a street map full of different colourful symbols. The dark blue symbol for instance signifies clothes shops, the round symbol is for women, square for men.
You can pick up the guidebook in various shops in San Antonio, the tourist information centre in the town, as well as the bus station and the port.

Youth Centre
Lidia Prats, the popular Councillor in charge of social care and issues concerning youngsters within the municipality, spoke last week of her desire to transform the old "co-operativa" building in San Antonio into a youth centre, which is to include an auditorium, music and meeting rooms, and a cafeteria. She also highlighted some of the projects that were mentioned in the run up to the elections, and said that subsidised housing for youngsters would be high on her list of priorities.

Better Communication
The Councillor, Vicent Costa, said that the Town Hall would do everything possible to try and be more open with the citizens than in previous years. His party came under criticism during the last legislation for concentrating on the urban centre of San Antonio, and forgetting about the other districts within the municipality. He said that they were studying the possibility of a 24-hour helpline, as well as the distribution of several suggestion boxes around the area. He also promised a radical overhaul of the current website, to, firstly, make it more user friendly, but also to make available far more information and the possibility of following the progress of petitions made within the Town Hall.

SAN JOSE

Police Clampdown
The police in San Jose have promised to clampdown on illegal parties during the summer, as part of the zero-tolerance policy of the new mayor Josep Mari Ribas Agustinet. Authorities said that the situation last year spiralled out of control and that illegal parties, especially in the Playa den Bossa area, caused serious damage to public health. They also promised to stamp out the petty crime that has become commonplace over the last few years.

Pay Rises
In one of their first meetings since taking power, the new PSOE-run Town Hall in San Jose has agreed pay rises for the mayor and all the new Councillors. This means that the wage bill at the Town Hall has swelled to 342,800 euros per year. The mayor will receive a gross salary of 54,000 euros per year. His second and third in commands will receive 45,000 and 35,000 respectively, with the rest of the Councillors receiving between 23,000 - 35,000 euros depending on their responsibilities. The rises were heavily criticised by the opposition party, who claimed that they were much higher than those received in the Town Hall of San Antonio.

Building Closures
The Town Hall of San Jose has closed a building site of seventy apartments in Cala Vadella, after it was discovered that the complex was bigger than had been originally agreed in the plans. The promoters of the residence now have two months to make the necessary changes, or justify the new measurements.
In a separate incident on Thursday, a building site in Cala Tarida was ordered to stop work after it was judged that they were too close to a hotel complex, and should have stopped work on 1st May due to the commencement of the tourist season. The two closures are evidence of the much tougher stance that the new Town Hall is taking on building projects.

SANTA EULALIA

New Offices
Further to his electoral promise, the new mayor of Santa Eulalie, Vicent Mari, announced the opening of two new municipal offices in San Carlos and Santa Gertrudis. The offices will help him fulfil his pledge of a more inclusive municipality that is aware of its responsibilities outside the urban centre. The offices will be in addition to the two that have already been set up in Puig den Valls, and Jesus.
It is hoped that the offices will be in operation by this year, and will mean that citizens will be saved the long journey to the Town Hall for simple municipal operations. The building in San Carlos has already been chosen, whilst the election of a suitable establishment in Santa Gertrudis is imminent. The announcement comes a week after the naming of two city Councillors for every district.
Later in the week, the mayor also announced his intention of building a civic centre in Santa Gertrudis, a project that includes the building of a nursery and a sports centre. Mari said that, although the Town Hall already had land that they intended to use for the project, they were open to ideas from the public about whereabouts the centre should be located.

Dolphin Rescue
Surprised bathers got a close-up view of one of the seas most beautiful mammals, as a young dolphin beached itself in Santa Eulalia on Thursday morning. As thousands looked on, the Natural Protection Unit of the Guardia Civil along with lifeguards, kept the animal hydrated as a plan was hatched. The animal was then lifted between eight people, and helped back into the sea where he was coaxed to safety. It was a rare opportunity for bathers to get close up to this magnificent mammal, and fortunately the story had a happy ending.

Van Plunges to Beach
There was a miraculous escape in Cala Nova, Santa Eulalie, on Saturday after a van plunged five metres onto the beach below. The vehicle, driven by a Spanish man, arrived at the beach just after 4.30p.m. He parked on the cliffs above the bay, but forgot to secure the hand-brake of the car. Moments later the empty van rolled forward and fell to the beach, landing on the towel of a man who was fortunately at the time, in the sea. There were no other sunbathers around. A tow-truck was immediately called to remove the vehicle from the sand.

CRIME & INCIDENTS

Pool Explosion
A swimming pool maintenance man was seriously injured on Tuesday, after an explosion caused by a mixture of chemicals. The 61 year old man was preparing chemicals for the daily pool clean at the Poseidon complex in Ibiza Town, when a bottle of chlorine exploded, badly injuring his eyes, face and hands. He was immediately rushed to hospital where he remains in a stable condition. It is not known exactly what happened, but it is presumed that the explosion was caused by the mixture of chlorine with a liquid to control the PH of the water. These products, when mixed, give off gases and should always be done so in open containers.

Fire Scare
There was a lucky escape on Tuesday for three people after a fire in their apartment during the morning. The three Germans were woken by friends as their apartment caught fire, just after 09.30a.m. The Florida Apartments in Calle Lugo in Cala de Bou were evacuated by police, who were quickly on the scene. One of the three occupants, a woman of 35, had to receive medical attention outside the building after inhaling smoke. A German Shepherd puppy was also safely rescued from the apartment. In total twenty people were evacuated from the building in the early hours, as a precaution. By the time the Fire Service arrived the room where the fire had started had been completely destroyed. The cause of the fire remained a mystery.

Two Arrested
Two men were arrested at the airport on Wednesday, as they tried to board a plane to Frankfurt. The detentions were made after police discovered six exclusive watches, several mobile phones and a host of designer clothing in their suitcase. The police then continued the search in the car of the two men, where they found several more phones, and a small quantity of drugs. The two men were arrested for the alleged robbery of two houses on the island. They both have a long criminal record in Spain, dating back several years.

Man Rescued
An Irish tourist remained in hospital over the weekend, after he was rescued from the sea in Port des Torrent. For reasons that are still unknown, the man ran into difficulty during the morning, and had to be pulled out by tourists. The lifeguards of the Red Cross were quickly on the scene, and managed to revive the man at the poolside. He was immediately rushed to hospital where he remains in a stable condition.

Gang Arrest
A joint police operation in Palma and Ibiza ended with the arrest of eight Italian citizens, all accused of being part of the famed "Rolex gang." Since 31st May of this year twenty-seven people have fallen victim to the gang. They strike at traffic lights or zebra crossings, when the driver, in his stationary car, has his arm resting against the window. Two gang members, on mopeds, race pass the drivers window and expertly unclip his expensive, designer watch. The gang are reported to have ties with the Neapolitan Mafia and were recently in the headlines after a gun-battle in their home town, between rival groups ended with the death of two gang members.
Police made the arrests after a surveillance operation on a group of Italian men last week. Unfortunately, the police are not hopeful of a conviction, as the stolen watches could not be located in their rented accommodation, in the Jet Apartments in Playa den Bossa. Also only one of the victims could positively identify, one hundred per cent, any of the gang members. The other line ups resulted in confusion and police described their chances of a conviction as slim.

Car Overturns
A Swiss driver was rushed to hospital on Friday, after the car that she was driving veered off the road and into a tree in ses Salinas. The woman, who is paraplegic and was driving a specially adapted car, was trapped inside after the vehicle overturned after the impact. The car was adapted to her wheelchair, which due to its weight, hampered rescue attempts. Fire crews eventually had to cut through the car to release the driver. She was immediately rushed to hospital with two fractured legs and a fractured arm.

Couple Robbed
A Danish couple, who had 12,000 euros worth of objects stolen from them at the airport, have hit out at the lack of security on the island. The husband (71 years old) had arrived at the airport on Wednesday to pick up his wife (66 years old), who had recently arrived on a flight from Denmark. As they put their bags down to open the boot of their vehicle, a man, having received a signal from his accomplice, ran past grabbing the bag. In it there were several items of gold jewellery, as well as 3,000 euros in cash. The couple called out for help, but at the time there were no officers in the area.

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