View of the North

Everyone loves figures and statistics, especially the local authorities in Majorca. So, in honouring the statistical - the important but the mostly trivial - this is a year’s review with a difference. The view from the north as seen through numbers (just some of them).
0: The number of people (females) who had been denounced in Sa Pobla since the introduction of a ban on the wearing of the burka. 0: The number of sanctions applied following 40 simultaneous inspections for illegal taxis in the four towns of Alcudia, Pollensa, Muro and Santa Margalida one morning in July. 2.50 euros: The cost of hiring a barbecue from Santa Margalida town hall. 3.49: The time at which the clock on Sa Pobla’s town hall was stuck. (150 was the clock’s anniversary this year.) 10: The number of aircraft (seacraft) which took part in the second Seaplane Splash-In in Puerto Pollensa in May.
15 euros: The charge to moor the smallest type of boat in the Punta Avançada off Formentor, a new charge against which boat owners staged a flotilla protest. The regional environment minister later accepted that the charge was excessive. 18: The age of Fabián Leon from Can Picafort who came third in the Spanish “MasterChef”. 19: The age of Sergi Gómez, who was the first to climb the soapy pine of Ternelles at Pollensa’s annual Sant Antoni event. 21 metres: The height of the tree. 25: The years since Albufera was declared to be a nature park. 25: The number of Alcudia fairs there have now been; the 25th was celebrated at the start of October. 40%: The loss of business taxi-drivers argued they had suffered since the reintroduction of tourist trains in Puerto Alcudia. (1,329 was the number of signatures on a petition against the trains that was handed into the town hall.)
100: The anniversary of electricity having first come to Alcudia. 100 euros: The daily fine imposed on Pollensa’s mayor Tomeu Cifre because the town hall had failed to comply with a court instruction to demolish a house on the Calvari steps. It was later reduced by 50%. 150 euros: The fine handed out to a supporter of the bullfight who insulted a protester against the Alcudia bullfight in July 2012. 150: The anniversary of the lighthouse at Formentor. (210 is the height in metres that the lighthouse is raised above the sea, making it the most elevated in the Balearics.) 160 metres: The distance from the shore that a floating waterpark in Playa de Muro will be (as from next summer). 173 kilos: The weight of the largest pumpkin at Muro autumn fair’s annual pumpkin-growing contest.
200 euros: The cost of getting married in a municipal building in Pollensa if neither partner is a resident in the town. It was doubled from 100 euros. 322%: The increase in the cost to restaurants on Puerto Alcudia’s Paseo Marítimo for occupying “public land”, i.e. having terraces on the promenade. The cost hadn’t risen since 1987. 840: The passenger capacity of the “Prinsendam” cruise ship. It docked in Puerto Alcudia in September and was the largest cruise ship to have done so (there have only been two others). 900 euros: The annual amount demanded - in advance - of Puerto Pollensa’s fishermen for storage. (13 square metres was the size of the storage and 140 euros was the annual amount demanded - not in advance - of Puerto Alcudia’s fishermen for the same size of storage. Puerto Pollensa’s fishermen benefited from the first second-hand boat fair to be staged in the port in October to help raise funds for this demand. Other fishermen had given up.)
1878: The year that the first train arrived in Sa Pobla. (135 was the anniversary therefore.) 1965: The year that the cross on top of Alcudia’s Sant Jaume church was destroyed by a lightning strike. This year a replica of the previous cross was finally placed on the church roof. 1982: The year in which a social centre had first been planned for Can Picafort’s yacht club. It had taken 31 years of mismanagement, arguments and litigation for it become a reality. 3,514: The number of actions in which lifeguards in Playa de Muro were involved over the summer season. (Many of them were minor, as in first aid for jellyfish or other fish bites.)
13,000 euros: The investment in windbreaks on Puerto Pollensa’s Tamarells beach to try and prevent loss of sand during winter storms. 19,586: The population of Alcudia (according to figures for 2012 issued in January), making Alcudia the largest town in the northern area. (6,320 was the number of foreigners in Alcudia. Also the largest number in the north.) 24,234 euros: Outstanding payments owed to Alcudia town hall by market traders. 30,000 euros: The amount that was needed to undertake emergency repairs to a roof at Sa Pobla’s football stadium that was in danger of collapsing.
253,000 euros: The budget for improvements to the Mile in Puerto Alcudia. The works involved new street lights, some benches, better pavements and a lick of paint for the railings on the bridge. No one really noticed. 260,000 euros: The increase in the annual charge that the Puerto Pollensa yacht club was expected to pay. (It had been 22,000 euros.)
422,254 euros: The cost of renewing the beach path in Puerto Alcudia. No one knew quite what it entailed. When it became evident what it did entail - blue asphalt over the previous stones - not everyone was happy. 568,126 euros: The value placed on the building along Puerto Pollensa’s pinewalk that had included Katy’s Bar. The building was donated to the town hall in the will of Catalina Martí Adrover.
1,070,000 euros: The budget for infrastructure improvements in tourist areas on the bay of Alcudia. 1,500,000 euros: The cost to semi-pedestrianise the coast road in Puerto Pollensa. It rose by 200,000 and 600,000 was required of the tourism ministry, which ultimately said it didn’t have the money, so the project was put on hold. Or was it? 17,000,000 euros: The size of Alcudia town hall’s surplus.