SUMMARY
Town Hall meeting.
Next Wednesday, September 13, we have a meeting with Councilors Mr. Mayo and Mrs. Ogáyar to address three specific issues:
a) Noisy parties.
The noise level is unbearable, prevents the rest of children and adults, there are neighbors affected by insomnia, anxiety, headaches. Some have medical records. Since firecrackers and even fireworks are often used, and given the location of these houses in areas surrounded by brush, there is also a risk of fires.
A denuncia has been filed with the Guardia Civil, which declared that it was not within its competence as it was not a citizen security problem.
The calls to the local police are fruitless, they came once and never again despite the numerous calls made to them. We’ve filed three signed complaints with 39 affected neighbors.
By letter lodged with the City Council on 27 July, we have requested that these activities be sanctioned and prohibited immediately and that the appropriate procedure be put in place to declare Costa Esuri as a quiet area in the open, under existing legislation. Activities have continued throughout the month of August.
We discussed this issue at length, both from the point of view of the Association’s involvement and the alleged illegality of the activity.
Taking into consideration our statutes, there is no doubt that the Association must get involved and the CERA Committee, as its governing body, must defend the interests of the residents, that although today the affected area is not all Costa Esuri, it does affects the community and certainly the image of Costa Esuri.
There is also discussion of the inactivity of the City Council and the local police to date, and the measures that should be taken by the City Council, which is responsible for such actions that disturb coexistence and harm health.
After much debate, it is concluded that members of the Committee, supported by some affected neighbors, will demand that the City Council put an end to these activities immediately and inform us of the measures it will adopt so that they do not recur in a few weeks. They will not be able to claim that it is a house rent and that the owners are not responsible for what they do, because there is no doubt that it is a business and therefore must have a municipal license. In any case, we should not be sympathetic with explanations and excuses, we need to be given specific actions that will be carried out. If these measures are not implemented, in two weeks we will call a demonstration before the City Council, prior the appropriate permits.
b) Security at the Lomas commercial center.
We all know, and the City Council has also been informed, both in writing and at meetings, of the risk of accidents that exist in front of the Lomas de Esuri shopping centre. They have been asked for more surveillance, traffic signs and means to slow down traffic. At the request of the Councilman for Citizen Security, Mr. Mayo, we have sent an email specifying the measures we believe necessary to solve or reduce this problem.
The street Miguel de Unamuno makes a curve in that area, there are cars parked on the sidewalk and often goods trucks, which makes visibility very difficult. There are children who must cross the street to take the bus, and also the neighbors of Lomas de Esuri to use the garbage cans. There is no signal, no sleeping policemen, no zebra crossing to prevent cars and motorcycles from moving at high speed.
The fact that the City Council has not done anything to date, despite knowing the situation, makes it responsible for what may happen, so again we must insist on preventive measures implemented immediately and avoid to prevent accidents.
c) Fire prevention.
Again this year, and it is the third in a row, there has been a great fire in Costa Esuri, which has again reached homes.
Another issue that the Association has been denouncing year after year, the plots remain uncleaned, not even the City itself cleans the bonded area that surrounds the golf course and adjoined houses.
Mr. Tapia has studied the current legislation and the obligations of the City Council, so he is well prepared to expose this problem at the meeting and will do so.
We will properly report on this meeting on 13 September on our website.
Committee meetings and activities
We have been offered the possibility to make temporary use of a space in the shopping center of Lomas de Esuri for meetings of the Association. Messrs. Kelly and Cuevas will contact the owner to see their suitability.
On the other hand, a monitor of socio-cultural activities has raised the possibility of doing a skating course on the S1 plot, as well as other activities in the future. Mr. Cuevas will contact her to learn more about this approach and see if it can materialize in activities that Costa Esuri is in great need of.
Defibrillators in Communities.
Mr. McGuire spoke of the need for defibrillators in Costa Esuri, given that there was a large elderly population.
We believe that it is an important issue for our Community, whose health we must seek to protect, although given the very configuration of our Urbanization, it is not easy to locate a defibrillator that is operational for all the residents. Instead, we will make an informative campaign to promote that one is installed in each Residential Complex.
Mr. McGuire will prepare a note in this sense.
The complete minutes will be sent to any CERA member who requests them.
The reaction from the town hall regarding noisy parties, is true to form. They simply pay lip service to us and do nothing.
There must be a commercial reason for these, so money is being made by ‘someone’. I recall Jags/19H were effectively shut down via the denunciation process. Here there was no licence to provide a public restaurant, bar, entertainment etc. Whilst not exactly the same, there are some parallels. But Jags/19h was hugely popular and made far less noise and closed earlier than these crazy house-parties. Where, possibly, we have drug use, under age drinking, public urination etc etc. Without doubt, there is anti-social behaviour and I find it perplexing that Spain has no enforceable rules on anti-social enfraction.
Is there anything we can learn from what was, frankly, a very successful campaign by those who used the denunciation process against Jags/19h? Perhaps even invite the lead person to lunch to discuss, in a friendly respectful way, to seek his/her advice on going forward? It may also be a way to bury any hatchet, that may exist.
I’d contribute a share personally to try this out, if a few people agree. So I’ll be happy to consider any proposal on this.