26/09/2001 00:00
TW
0

Dear Sir,
Further to your article by Ann MacDonald it is with sadness that I have to agree with everthing she writes and point out that the problem is even greater than described. Look at the horrific traffic congestion daily to enter or leave Pto. Pollensa, the disgusting smell of sewerage at distinct areas of the Port, in particular at the taxi rank, La Gola and half way along the once pretty pine walk!! Ask the residents and its visitors about the salt water which comes out of the taps damaging our cutlery, washing machines etc. etc. and finally look at the sad faces who now have to queue to make a police report after the huge increase in petty crime.

The mayoress actually lives in the Port yet this has done nothing to assist the situation which is noted with sadness by the many people who choose to live here and who have been visiting the area for 10 or 20 years.

Lastly, with a ruling of no building works so as not to disturb the tourists during the summer season it is amazing that building work has sprung up on every corner and piece of waste land in the Port providing great disappointment to many people who came here for a rest and yet are awoken at 07.30hrs by cranes, cement mixers, drilling etc. etc. The rules are obviously ‘flexible' when needed!! Is this my opinion – yes, but also of many of the 4'000 clients who have traveled to Pto. Pollensa with the tour operator I work for. Kind regards

(Name and address supplied)

Fight against crime

Dear Sir,
Not for the first time, I read in your columns of multiple crimes committed by foreigners on the island, no doubt ‘resident' but highly unlikely to be legal. Such people have either been arrested for a series of offences, or have a long history of previous crime (or both). I look in vain to see in the conclusion of such reports, “And they have been/will be deported”. Why not? Also, why is it we read so often that an arrested criminal has “52 previous convictions”. If he/she is a national or legal resident, why do we not implement the US system of “three strikes and out”, i.e. life imprisonment after so many offences? What chance is there of combating terrorism, when we continue to be so lenient with lesser anti–social beings?

R.M. Gilbert.Santa Ponça

You must be mad

The Government plans to expand Palma airport defy logic. Already the Island's utilities struggle to cope in peak holiday weeks. Water is short, power is cut, refuse and litter line the roads. Traffic congestion is also a problem. If the number of tourists almost doubles, it doesn't take an Einstein to realise that Mallorca will reach crisis point. Standards will drop and eventually tourists will look elsewhere for their holidays. The money used on the airport expansion would be better spent on improving the Island's facilities – before it's too late!

O.J. Jellinek