Stallholders at the Almuñécar Municipal Market were stunned to be presented with a demand for fee payment on their stalls corresponding to November and December – the Town Hall had promised that they would not be charged.
The Town Council approved a motion that would waiver the fees levied on stallholders at the municipal market, in recognition of the adverse affect the closure of the public car park beneath the market would have on business. Shoppers would park there and do their shopping in the market, but with no parking, customers are liable to go elsewhere.
The chief opposition party, the CA, accuses the Mayor, Trinidad Herrera, of deceiving the stallholders and says that these businesses could not believe their eyes when the Town Hall collector came around with the bills.
The Town Hall says that the waiver will eventually come into being, but that there is a legal period before they can take effect.
The CA is not convinced however, claiming that first the Mayor paralyzed the repair work on the car park, only to then close it 18 months later. Since that time, the CA claims, nothing has been done to complete the repairs. The CA also considers that the reasons for closing the car park were false; i.e., no danger exists.
Editorial Comment: We at the Gazette agree that the reasons for the car park closure do not correspond to reality. However, it is also a bit steep that when the CA were in power they closed down the installations themselves, throwing out the existing company that ran it, together with all the car owners that had contracts with them, right at the beginning of summer.
As to the reasons given by the Municipal Surveyor; i.e., that the vibrations caused by heavy 4×4 vehicles could bring the lot down, he obviously ignores the fact that Almuñécar sits on a fault line and is subject to constant seismic movement, which obviously creates more shocks to the installations than a parking a 4×4. Therefore it is ridiculous that the market remains open whilst the parking is closed: there is either a danger or there is not, in which case both should be open or both be closed.
(News: Almunecar, Costa Tropical, Granada, Andalucia)