The candidacy of Juntos Pelo Povo (JPP) for the Funchal City Council (CMF), Fátima Aveiro considers it unacceptable the visible loss of quality with urban cleaning, the lack of care for public space, gardens, litter in the intermediate and high areas of the parishes, piles up rubbish, and selective collection, in a municipality that practically doubled tax revenue with the application of the tourist tax.”
Visiting different parishers ahead of the 12th of October elections, she appealed to local populations to have the courage to make a change and to vote differently this time. “Vote for ideas and programmes that can help the people and not believe in rhetoric and vague ideas.”
“If we want to live in a green, pleasant city, where there is quality of life, a city that takes better care of our own, that presents solutions for those who live and work in Funchal, this change is only possible with the JPP and not with a candidate who during the 10 years that coordinated the Government’s policy did not contribute to solving the lack of public housing, to reduce the number of people at risk of poverty, which are more than 70 thousand, and the only idea he has for the problems with traffic is to continue to fill Funchal with cars. You all have a chance to make our lives better, but only you, the people, can set this in motion.”
Fátima Aveiro further added that in the 1990s, Funchal was internationally recognised as the ‘greenest city in Europe.’ Today, it is nothing more than a ragtag of disorganised urban sprawl due to a lack of planning, private interests, and monopolies. Now the city is eaten with decay due to lack of cleanliness within the city and loss of hope for many of its residents.”
“It is not acceptable that there is a doubling of revenues from the application of fees and fines, including the tourist tax on overnight stays, which the City Council has planned to collect by the end of the year. Yet these revenues do not appear to be used for urban cleaning, garden and public space maintenance, or promoting recycling and selective collection. The people of Funchal have the right to enjoy the city that belongs to them, with acceptable conditions and levels of quality. We cannot have a city that takes good care of tourists and treats residents like trash.”
Fátima Aveiro says that it is necessary to bring Funchal to the levels of recycling and selective collection recommended by the European Union, proposes to provide Funchal with more green spaces, to plan the city based on good environmental and ecological practices, to strengthen environmental education actions, and to create incentives for those who maintain good levels of waste separation. “It is necessary to reinforce regular cleaning, with a calendar and days that people know so as not to pile up rubbish on the streets, and not to do, as we have seen, an increase of rubbish collection on the eve of the elections.”
Samantha Gannon
info at madeira-weekly.com
