Tradition has it that the mayor of Palma delivers a speech for the celebrations of the Festival of the Standard, so on Tuesday Jaime Martínez itemised priorities for the town hall - citizen security, cleanliness, mobility, the environment, housing, cultural excellence, tourism and transformative projects.
The festival commemorates the taking of Madina Mayurqa by King Jaume I and his troops on December 31, 1229. The first citizens of the conquered city, which was renamed Ciutat de Mallorca, demonstrated "courage and ambition", the mayor saying that these guide "each and every one of the projects" now being worked on.
The 2025 budgets, he stated, "are the most important in the history of Palma, and not only because of their amount". "These budgets will allow us to build a more social and supportive Palma, capable of meeting the needs of the most vulnerable sectors of the population, providing more means and resources to all actions related to the protection of people and families with the worst financial situations and to groups that are a priority, such as women who have suffered or are suffering gender violence."
Martínez went on to emphasise "the improvement of the cleanliness and maintenance of the streets and squares of Palma" and "zero tolerance towards behaviour that is detrimental to peaceful coexistence." "I will not rest until Palma returns to being the city it was in other times: a clean city." He will not be taking a step back in making Palma "a peaceful and sustainable city in terms of mobility".
The mayor referred to new civic ordinance as "pioneering and transformative", a regulatory framework "to guarantee public order".
On housing, he insisted that his administration is moving from "inaction (of the previous administration) to action" with initiatives that, among others, are aimed at the construction of 1,200 social housing units and at supporting Balearic Government initiatives "to speed up the possibility of providing housing and carrying out transformative projects".
Tourism, he stressed, is the city's "main economic driver". Above all, there is the importance of having "quality tourism, respectful of customs and committed to the environment". And Martínez referred to Palma's candidacy to be the European Capital of Culture in 2031, a goal that requires "economic investment" and "action that considers culture to be the heritage of all". "Palma deserves - not only deserves but also needs - to move towards cultural excellence."
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In PalmaPlease tell me which areas of Palma have improved in the last year. I've lived here for over 30 years and travel all over Palma and I've seen no improvements at all.
There has been a clear improvement with less destruction of properties, cultural and historical heritage with graffiti. But still more to be done.
'Martínez went on to emphasise "the improvement of the cleanliness and maintenance of the streets and squares of Palma" ' Is this a joke? The streets and squares of Palma are definitely worse since he got into power. His administration has done jack**** to clean up Palma.