|
Matthew Vella
Saviour Balzan
It’s a warm and sunny day on Saturday, as signs of the abating wintry weather are evident. Qui-Si-Sana’s gardens are alive with the bustle of its residents, congregated in opposition against the massive development yet to come over the quaint neighbourhood by the Sliema promenade.
The plans are too have the gardens replaced by a car park. Residents are fearing an enormous increase in traffic, not least due to the amended brief which allows the car park to include numerous commercial establishments. The area was never earmarked for the full-blown mall that is planned here. It was only added to the brief when the car park alone attracted no offers.
But Qui-Si-Sana’s residents are rightly more cynical about the plans. Further down the road, the MIDI project at Tigné will be attracting even more traffic with its tunnel that will lead to the Sliema ferries, and with a car park of its own. Added to that is the car park to be built over the former site of the Union Club, and one at the Fort Cambridge site within the Crowne Plaza grounds.
“This is our breathing space,” Mrs Attard Montalto says. Her husband John works at night, but he is making a morning appearance for the gathering of Qui-Si-Sana residents organised by MaltaToday.
Mary Gatt says the residents have a right to speak up: “we will express our feelings with a vote,” she says, with March 11 marking the day of truth for the Nationalist-led council in Sliema.
The plans, met with fierce opposition by the Alternattiva Demokratika and Labour councillors, have alienated these residents from a party they would otherwise support. A few yards by the promenade, a PN election poster stands side by side of another, handwritten notice: “No votes”. For such a show of opposition in a Nationalist stronghold, this is the faint smell of an unthinkable middle-class revolt.
Many are rightfully suspicious of the reasons behind the car park, which will come along with a massive mall. “If the original objective was to resolve the parking question, then why create retail outlets that will increase the demand for parking?”
Many talk about how public land is given away to big developers for a pittance. “It has to be said the lease of the whole area is equivalent to what one coffee shop pays on the Strand,” Chris Vassallo says. Michael Gialanze, a relatively recent newcomer to the area, says public land should not be given away “just like that.”
There are a few kids in the crowd made up of mainly elderly residents. Like much of the rest of Sliema, it is an ageing population that lives here. “It is a very tranquil area which is also appreciated by tourists,” Colin Tabone says. “This is a place of recreation that should be maintained and embellished.”
“There has to be a space for the children,” Catherine Galea says. “Everyone in Sliema today lives in apartments, and we need these open spaces. There’s just not enough space for youths. This is a point of democracy. We were not properly consulted, and if they do it here they will do it everywhere.”
Eileen Alden says this is not a matter of nimbyism, as so many letter writers in the press have derided the Sliema residents for defending their turf. “Every available piece of land cannot be given away by the government.”
Carmel Gatt, resident here for the past 17 years, says Edwin Vassallo, the Nationalist junior minister who presented government’s case on Smash TV had “at least been honest: he didn’t deny the project would hold retail outlets, and that the car park was not viable without the outlets.”
It was yet another slap in the face for Sliema residents to have Edwin Vassallo, a man from Mosta, to defend government’s plans. “We’re annoyed that other ministers were sent instead of George Pullicino or Jesmond Mugliett,” Albert Edward Vella said. “Some 22,000 cars will be passing from here, and the pollution is going to be enormous. We already have problems with our asthmatic children. And yet we are powerless, because the developers employ hundreds and the government easily gives in to them.”
Residents here question the need for more commercial outlets. Chris Dunkerly says the car park is an excuse for the creation of more retail outlets. “I have been living here 52 years, and we wish to have an open space next to our homes. There are enough parking lots with the other car parks.”
Terry Camilleri, who has been living in Qui-Si-Sana for the past 48 years says the car park will only be rendered redundant by the presence of three other car parks. “They can’t understand that nobody will park here. They just want to service MIDI,” she says about the high-rise development at Tigné Point.
Suzanne Bonello says the residents have suffered enough. “When we complain with the local council, they answer, ‘what can we do, sinjura?’. All they care for about is MIDI.”
|
