To start this weeks edition of Local News
I am going to update you on the MTV Ibiza festival, an issue
that is being talked about a lot this summer. The decision
to hold the music festival in San Rafael's discotheque Privilege
on Wednesday 29th August comes after the licence applications
to stage the concert in the outdoor venue of San Rafael Hippodrome
was denied. p
MTV, one of the biggest broadcasting companies
in the world, planned to hold their annual festival at the
Hippodrome after being informed by the local authorities that
a third year at sa Pedrera, "the quarry" used by
MTV in 1999 and 2000 was out of the question.
San Rafael residents' complaints, police
and fire services disapproval along with the local politicians'
objections meant that MTV faced many problems trying to obtain
the necessary licence and permits for the festival.
Privilege, the largest club in the world
with a legal capacity of 4,000 people, seemed to be the best
alternative after the San Antonio officials and the Consell
Insular (Island Council) made it clear that the event would
not be taking place in any of their open-air installations.
Polly Stevens, communications manager for
MTV Networks Europe, assured me that "the number of tickets
that will be put on sale for the event has not been decided
because we still do not know how much space the stages and
sets are going to occupy. Privilege will be in charge of informing
us on how many people we can legally fit into the club".
MTV is making the most of their new location
by totally transforming the club making sure that the event
is one of the most memorable the island has ever seen.
Tickets for the festival that includes live
performances from leading dance groups Faithless and Basement
Jaxx are available at MTV's San Antonio office in Calle San
Antonio N°1 for 8,500 pesetas. Wednesday night will definitely
be a night to remember at Privilege.
More boats and more cars have invaded the
island in the past week. The port officials (Autoridad Portuaria)
are demanding licence that will permit them to build more
moorings for private yachts for next year. The port has registered
a record number of yachts moored in the Ibiza marina this
summer.
"A lot more people own private yachts
because the economical situation has improved over the years.
People spend their money on leisure and boats are their first
choice", according to Bartomeu Bestard, the president
of the Asociacion de Instalaciones Nauticas de Baleares (Nautical
Installations Association of the Balearics).
The port officials (Autoridad Portuaria)
have also revealed that the number of cars arriving in Ibiza
has increased in 26% in comparison to last year. 40,000 vehicles
passed through the port between January and July of this year.
It is only normal that traffic jams have been a big problem
considering the traffic increase.
Parking has also been a big problem this
year, especially in the main towns, where cars have even been
parking on the footpaths. The public car parks have also had
their problems. The Policia Local (local police) arrested
a man on Monday 20th August accused of demanding money from
everyone that wanted to park his or her vehicle in a public
car park. Francisco F. F., a 20 year old born in Mallorca,
was found with 43,570 pesetas, mostly in one hundred peseta
coins, that the police believe he obtained from charging people
to park in a public place.
Most of these men spend their day in a public
place with the excuse of directing the cars where to park,
then ask for money. If they are refused they tend to get violent
and they could even damage your car. No one should have to
pay to park in free public car park so, hopefully after this
first arrest, the police will be clamping down on this illegal
activity.
The Policia Local (local police) are having
their own share of problems this year after denouncing the
poor conditions of the San Antonio police station. The lord
mayor of San Antonio, Antoni Marí Tur, assured the
police that three million pesetas has been set aside to renovate
the installations. Although Enrique Gomez Lama, active member
of the Policia Local, believes that this amount "will
not be enough. The walls are cracked, our men have nowhere
to get showered and changed and the place is full of cockroaches
and other insects".
The policemen now fear that the Town Hall
will not come up with the money for this year and, if this
is the case, the local policemen are prepared to take drastic
measures. "We will get changed outside the police station
so that everyone can see us in our underwear. Maybe then they
will realise that we have had enough".
More developments in Ibiza this week include
the presentation of a new construction team that will be active
from September this year. The new team, funded by the Ibiza
Town Hall, will cater with all small roadwork problems such
as burst pipes or new underground installations in a maximum
of 72 hours.
The Town Hall, who has put up 25,000,000
pesetas for funding, believes that three days will be enough
to fix all minor problems.
The residents will be able to contact the
new roadwork's brigade through a telephone hotline set-up
by the Town Hall.
Moving on to other news, the only English
school on the island, Morna Valley, is planning to renovate
their building after the Conselleria d'Educacio (Cabinet of
Education) denounced the school earlier this year as being
"gravely deficient in stability and security".
The owners of the Morna Valley School are
planning to spend 91 million pesetas on the new project. An
administrative office, a main reception area, two buildings
with three classrooms each, a special area for a children
nursery and a sports centre will be the result if the planning
permission is granted.
It is all up to the Comision Insular de
Urbanismo (Building Developments Commission) and whether they
declare that the educational centre is of general interest
to the local public. If the licence is granted, the Morna
Valley School will be able to teach just over 100 students
under 11 years old, following the English curriculum.
You may have noticed that the streets of
Ibiza have been inundated with Harley Davidson motorbikes
over the past weekend. And, no they are not Hells Angels,
just the annual Harley Custom reunion that each year chooses
Ibiza as their meeting place.
A total of 600 bikes met at the camping
of Cala Bassa for a weekend full of games, paella and plenty
of beer.
Another event in Ibiza this week has been
the various performances given by the Ballet from the National
Opera of Kiev in the Can Ventosa auditorium. The Ibiza cultural
centre was full for the two performances given by the talented
group. On Sunday night they opened with "Swan Lake"
and then on Monday night with the famous "Nutcracker
Suite" featuring music from Tchaikovsky. Both performances
were a huge success managing to sell all of the tickets that
were on sale.
The richest girl in the world, Athina Onassis,
returned to Ibiza for her annual holiday in the sun this week.
Athina will be 18 years old in January when she will receive
her inheritance of 450,000 million pesetas left to her by
her mother Christina Onassis. Her father Thierry Roussel is
also on the island with his daughter enjoying the Mediterranean
sun. The family has visited Ibiza for many years; they own
a summer home in the Cala Jondal area.
Athina Onassis visit will probably not be
to next year when the young multimillionairess will have already
inherited her fortune.
For a change, the international newspapers
are not just reporting on the drugs, the strikes or any other
negative aspects about Ibiza. It has been the German newspapers,
Berlin Morgenpost and Die Welt, that have reported about Ibiza
in positive way this week.
The Ibicencan fashion delegation Adlib made
their front covers after their spectacular collaboration in
the Berlin fashion show "Big Q", also known as the
Coral Fashion Show.
The annual show invited three fashion labels,
French designer Thierry Mugler, Pompoos new collection and
the 18 different designs from Adlib.
This was Ibiza and Formentera's chance to
make it big in the fashion world, especially as the Berlin
fashion parade was witnessed by more than 200,000 spectators
and more than 300 journalists and photographers from all over
the world.
I am writing this in anticipation of San
Bartolome night on Friday 24th August. The night when San
Antonio becomes alive with people from all over the island,
crowding into the town to witness the best firework display
of the summer festive season. I have not missed the fireworks
for the past 15 years and every year the display improves.
I know that this year's pyrotechnics will not disappoint so
I am of to join the crowds.
Louise Wright
louisewright@ibizahistoryculture.com
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