Why town halls’ projects are never that simple
The rehabilitation of Playa de Palma was state-funded, and the town hall was firmly in the frame as part of a consortium that was supposed to have overseen this.
You are the mayor of a municipality in Mallorca. You have a project or two that you fancy undertaking. You would quite like someone other than yourself (your town hall, that is) to pay for these projects. To your delight, the European Union wishes to make all your Christmases come true one or two, anyway.
Next Generation funds are flowing out of Brussels and landing in the Balearic government treasury via the Spanish government, ready for eager town halls to take advantage and undertake the projects of their dreams. All you, as mayor, have to do is draft the necessary specifications, ensuring there are plenty of regeneration, sustainability, efficiency references allied to a spot of vision of the future. The specs duly drawn up, you can sit back and think job well done and look forward to the moment when a Next Generation deposit pops up in the town hall bank account. How much? Depends on the project. But let’s say 600 grand. This wouldn’t go amiss.
In Pollensa, the current town hall administration finds itself between a rock and a hard place, a rocky project on the periphery of the Plaça Major. The one-time Cine Capitol, unused for years and a place with great nostalgic value - the nostalgia mainly seeming to be felt by town hall councillors past and present - has been the subject of a restoration project since 2014. This was when it was agreed to acquire the old cinema.
For what purpose? A cultural space, it has been said down the years, an obstacle once encountered having been insufficient room to, for instance, accommodate an entire orchestra on a stage. Currently, the talk appears to be about it being used again as a cinema, a purpose which hadn’t really featured when the acquisition was first set in motion. Whatever the purpose, the Cine Capitol project has, according to the current mayor, Martí March, increased in cost by ten times, this cost not solely beWhy ing related to the building itself.
Into the equation come the Next Generation funds; six hundred thousand euros worth of funds. And it is these funds that have placed the administration in the precarious rock-hard place situation. The money has to be spent by the end of this year, or else. Don’t spend the cash and it will have to be repaid, with interest. That would create a substantial hole in the municipal budget - 26.4 million for the current year.
Mayor for less than a year, Martí March, a former education minister, doesn’t wish to have a tough lesson in matters of municipal budgeting. The opposition naturally blame him for the precariousness, not accepting that it may have had anything to do with them when they were in office. And the opposition will be milking local businesses’ concerns for all their worth. Which are? Well, this is really the point about the rock and the hard place. The EU cash has to be spent pronto, and this will mean work being carried out during the tourism season - noise and dust reverberating and drifting across the Plaça Major, driving tourists off terraces and seeking refuge elsewhere.
But, so businesses claim, there cannot be this sort of work during the tourism season. It’s prohibited. True, it is, but not if you are a town hall. There are such things as municipal regulations for works that are a matter of general interest, meaning that they are of interest to town halls, especially if they are at risk of kissing goodbye to a European windfall (or one from any other source). And in particular because of the incalculable nostalgic value of an old cinema.
Projects come with strings attached in terms of when they have to commence and be executed. These strings aren’t always attached to someone else’s cash. It can be town halls’ own money that’s at stake. This is the case with four million euros or so in Alcudia for the renewal of the six beach bars (balnearios). As in Pollensa, blame for delay to this project has been apportioned in equal measure by political groups but can’t obscure the fact that there is a deadline for the work to be completed - this November. This has been set by the Costas Authority, and so in order to be certain that the work is done in time, it has to be during the tourism season (at least part of it).
are the Costas so interested in the schedule of works? Because they can be by law, or were, as this state body has now transferred responsibilities to the Balearic government. A period for work, a concession for work is established, and that’s all there is to it.
These two examples are current ones, Pollensa’s having come to light over the past few days. Meanwhile, the cost of Alcudia’s project is dwarfed by investment in what was one of the most spectacular project failures ever. The rehabilitation of Playa de Palma was state-funded, and the town hall was firmly in the frame as part of a consortium that was supposed to have overseen this. Given ‘urgent’ status by the Spanish government in 2007 and finally approved by the Balearic government in 2010, seven years later it was accepted that the whole thing had been a fiasco; the government was demanding repayment of 17 million euros.
There had been schedules for various individual projects within the grand scheme for Playa de Palma. These weren’t adhered to. And now, the mayor of Palma is demanding new funds for the rehabilitation. If there are, he’ll be fully aware that he might also lose them.
Only 1 or possibly 2 of all those players will actually make it as a professional player. The ones that fall by the wayside will be replaced by more aspiring players and the same thing will happen again and again.
he photo above is of all the kids that are currently playing for Real Mallorca at youth level and all the coaches that are looking after them. The hashtag basically reads “our future”. In one way it’s an inspiring photo, if you look closely at their faces they are all smiling and dreaming of becoming a professional footballer. The truth however is somewhat different. Only 1 or possibly 2 of all those players will actually make it as a professional player. The ones that fall by the wayside will be replaced by more aspiring players and the same thing will happen again and again.
In my opinion more must be done to help these youngsters cope with rejection. Remember this is just one club, there are many more that will feed players into Mallorca meaning that many more will fall by the wayside.
Professional Clubs the World over will hoover up the best talent and promise them the World, and sometimes it isn’t the best choice for the player. At such a young age, kids just want to and should be able to just play. If you’re good enough, you will be spotted and possibly asked if you’d like to move to a so-called better team. It happened to both of my boys, who started playing for a local team, CD Calvia and were scouted by CD San Francisco in Palma. At that point you have to make a decision whether it’s not only right for your child but right for you as a parent. Now I’m not called “Dad Taxi” for nothing, driving to Calvia village twice or three times a week is very different from driving to Palma, sometimes five times a week.
In the case of my youngest, Jude, he has goalkeeper practice twice a week and then training with his team three times a week plus a game over the weekend. It’s a big undertaking and not a decision that should be taken lightly. I get asked by quite a lot by parents, what do I think is best for their child who’s been asked to move to another club. I will give my advice as I see it, but at the end of the day, it’s down to the parents and the child to make the final decision.
As I said above, the most important thing is that they are playing regularly and not part of a big squad getting the odd appearance every now and again. Another big part of all this is to encourage them to work hard at school. I know a lot of clubs encourage this, which is good, but it does need to be reiterated by the parents too.
Even if a child is rejected, they should be encouraged to look for another club, go back into further education, or if they are old enough to get into the job market. That doesn’t necessarily mean the end of their football dream, there are many examples of players that have been rejected and still made it as a professional.
Probably one of the best players Real Mallorca has produced is Marco Asensio. He started at a local club, Plates de Calvia, followed by Real Mallorca. He then moved to Real Madrid and is now plying his trade at Paris Saint Germain.
I think the feel good factor from Real Mallorca’s journey in the Copa del Rey will be positive for youth football here on the island. I’ve said lots of times that a successful Real Mallorca football team will not only be good for tourism but good for youth football here too. It is important that they remain a La Liga team and with seven games to go they are currently six points clear of relegation.
I lost count last week the amount of people that asked me where to buy Real Mallorca v Real Madrid tickets.
I’ve also said it before, buy a season ticket, as the Real Madrid and Barcelona games alone will pretty much cover the cost of the whole season.
Whilst Mallorca lost to Madrid, a record crowd of 23,244 were at the Son Moix stadium, which was good to see.
Hopefully a similar crowd will be at their next home game against Atlético Madrid on Saturday, May 4th and by that time they will have avoided relegation.