Councillor Luis Aragón in Almuñécar called a press conference at the end of last month explain the Town Hall's stance and to answer questions concerning the Jardin del Bonsái.
Sr. Aragón made it clear that he has nothing against anybody, referring to the ex-leaseholder of the park, and that his only task is to look after municipal interests. He came armed with an impressive dossier containing documents and copies of bills, etc.
“As the press release that we issued before does not appear to have been sufficient, we consider that it would be convenient to call a meeting before the press, explaining all developments and the history of the park since it first opened its doors on the 19th of December, 2008 so that everybody will know what has been happening,” he said, initiating his appearance before the gathered reporters and cameras.
Councillor Aragón read out each of the grants received by the Asociación Amigos del Bonsái, totalling 66,000 euros. He explained that when his administration took over in 2011 the Jardín del Bonsái functioned on money from the public coffers every six months.
On the 19th of February this year the association received 44,000 euros to cover maintenance and the purchase of 283 new bonsai trees for a total amount of 38,000 euros, meaning that those bonsai specimens are the property of the municipality.
It was in January 2014 that the lease was put out to bidding for the first time, for a period of one year, plus another (i.e., one year with an automatic extension of 12 months). Later on this was extended to a lease of two years plus a 2-year extension. When this lease concluded the leaseholders were notified on several occasions, right up to the 22nd of April.
While he had no bitter words against the leaseholder, he had plenty of scorn for the Spokeswoman for the PSOE, Rocío Palacios and the Spokesman for the CA, Juan Carlos Benavides, over their behaviour literally comparing them to political scavengers because both know full well the condition the park was in and how lease awards are governed.
“With all that has been said on social media on the Parque del Bonsái, there are only two losers; Almuñécar and the hitherto leaseholder, Sra. Joya,” he considers.
He concluded by saying that had the PSOE still had Francisco Prados as the local head (who has since died), whom he considered a reasonable man, then between them they would have sought a solution together, pointing out that personally he would have preferred it if Sr. Joya to have remained as “he has a working knowledge” on how to run the park.
(News: Almunecar, Costa Tropical, Granada, Andalucia)