|
Some call it “an independent republic” but Floriana Mayor Nigel Holland says his council sets an example of working in the residents’ interests beyond partisan politics
True to the label it has earned for sticking up for its residents, Floriana remains the only local council to have never had a mayor belonging to a political party.
Independent Mayor Nigel Holland grins whenever he is told that he heads “an independent republic.”
“Once even Austin Gatt, when he was minister for local councils, told me in a mayors’ meeting that Floriana acts as if it was an independent republic. I’m proud of this label,” he says. “If you classify us as a republic because in other councils anything goes, then I cannot but be proud of the label. Some of the stands we took were not only beneficial for Floriana, they served as catalysts for other localities too.”
The latest controversy emanating from Floriana concerns the opening of public gardens on the eve of Malta’ accession to the EU. While the WelcomEurope consortium wanted to ban access to the public and open them only to its sponsors, the council was divided, with the mayor opposing any form of restriction on the public’s right to access the gardens and a PN councillor pushing for access only to Floriana residents.
Il-Fosos is perhaps the battle site where Floriana became a ‘republic.’ As soon as he became mayor, Holland took a stand against the way political parties were leaving a mess there after their electoral meetings, damaging the old granaries and letting rubbish pile on the historic site.
“We started imposing conditions on the use of the granaries for public manifestations,” he says. “At first organisers complained, but then they realised it was necessary. Nowadays they get mobile toilets whenever they organise anything on the Fosos; previously we used to get a swimming pool of excrement next to the church.
“The same with Carnival – I insisted with organisers to start cleaning immediately after the celebrations are over, while before they used to clean some two days later, leaving Floriana in a mess.”
And it was at il-Fosos that the Floriana council protested against the construction of a podium for the Pope’s visit without any development permits.
“Laws and procedures apply to everyone, the Pope included,” the mayor says. “They were going to erect the Papal podium without a MEPA permit. How can you do such a thing when MEPA demolishes aluminium balconies without a permit build by common citizens?
“Local government has to be esteemed as a local government not as mere rubber stamping organisation and we still have to go a long way to achieve that. We’re still in a culture where you end up phoning a minister to solve something because nothing gets done.
“Many Maltese abuse the power they gain from their connections with ministers. Sometimes you get phone calls from people telling you ‘the minister told me to do this,’ ‘the prime minister ordered me to do that’… but now people are more on their guard with us. They start off bluffing, but then they end up swallowing their words. We are the living proof that people can stand up for their rights.”
He says the Floriana locals have always felt betrayed by successive governments.
“The stock phrase of Floriana people is that we’re a small community, there are few votes to garner from here and nobody cares about us. We, the people of Floriana are very attached to our locality.
“We used to get very saddened whenever we saw yet another ‘Florianiz’ leaving for somewhere else. In Floriana we went through a collective depression. People were grumbling and melancholic all the time. Yet, despite the smallness of our community, we have the largest number of sports organisations competing on a national level. Floriana has never lacked initiative.
“Still, a shrinking community faces a lot of problems because it will lose its social texture. Even physically, you’ll end up with not enough people who can be active in the community.”
Despite political polarisation which is pervasive in Maltese society, Holland has managed to succeed as an independent councillor. He attributes his success to Floriana’s strong civic sense.
“Floriana is a small community of around 2,600 inhabitants, the majority of them elderly people. Some argue it’s more difficult to convince the elderly who are emotionally tied to the MLP and PN to vote for an independent.
“I was surprised I was elected, especially when the two parties started contesting. But on the other hand in Floriana there has always been a very strong civic sense, it’s something I’m proud of. Floriana was the first locality to establish a civic committee, there are organisations that were copied by other localities. For example we didn’t have to wait for the councils to be set up to give an annual award to a citizen from the locality.
Next June, Holland will be contesting the local election again. Should we expect him to become mayor for the third consecutive term?
“I will have a chance of becoming mayor again if we elect two PN and two MLP councillors again, although there are some in Floriana who would vote against their own party colleagues because they are ambitious to become mayor themselves.
“I have heard there are some candidates who already approached the other side to see what could be arranged in that regard. Maybe you should have asked me whether I believe I will be re-elected.”
Why? Does he think he won’t be re-elected?
“Despite the people’s disgruntlement the majority will always respond to their party’s call whenever they switch on the propaganda machines.
“But I have a lot of trust in the Floriana people. My message is: there is a time for everything in a democracy. There is a general election to elect the government, there was a referendum to join Europe, and there is the local council election to elect the local government.
“You can satisfy your partisan passion for a couple of seconds by voting for the major parties but then you’ll end up with a poor local council for three years. On the other hand the Floriana people might be concerned that the balance we’ve reached in our council can be disrupted with a partisan mayor. I get the impression that they value the balance we’ve reached, that they got used to it.”
How are relations with the council of the neighbouring capital city?
“We always said we should collaborate more, but so far we haven’t made many inroads. Actually I’m irked by some elements from the Valletta council who wanted to interfere in our affairs.
“We’ve been told, for example, that someone from the Valletta council advised a minister to issue a legal notice in relation to the European accession celebrations so that he could just hand the Floriana gardens over to the WelcomEurope consortium for that day.
“On the other hand I have to say that when we opposed the introduction of local wardens, the Valletta council dismissed the government’s pressure to send wardens here, to respect our decision.”
Wardens were another issue which served to reaffirm Floriana’s ‘independent republic’ label.
“We faced enormous pressure from the government to introduce them,” he says.
“I didn’t oppose the idea of having wardens. We were in favour of them, but we said we couldn’t introduce them when Floriana residents have such enormous parking problem. Wardens would have been against residents’ interests.
“So we wanted to introduce a residential parking scheme which would give some space for residents, and then introduce wardens who would enforce this scheme. Don’t get me wrong: now residents have no excuses if they are fined for parking contraventions. We designated short-stay parking areas in three streets and we limited wardens only to those three streets. We remain consistent to our principles.”
The mayor says housing remains his council’s priority, even though funding is a problem.
“Nobody wants to live in a ghost town. I’m proud that we got the central government to invest in social housing here after so much reluctance. Now we’re getting a new housing project in the Balzunetta after a long campaign. The problem we’re facing now is that the government has no money. That’s the standard answer we get whenever we request anything. So we have to find a way to involve the private sector in social housing, even though I’m against the government’s abdication of duty – particularly as regards housing. Politically, I am on the left of the spctrum.”
Apart from social housing, Holland says there is currently a new trend in Floriana promoted by the private sector.
“A very positive development that is that we’re getting applications for new private flats to be built in Floriana. It’s a phenomenon that hasn’t happen since World War II. “I don’t recall anyone who built private residential buildings in Floriana. There’s an application for flats and a penthouse near the government housing project overlooking the Argotti gardens, and there’s another application for six new flats.
“This indicates a new trend – Floriana locals who are living in posh houses elsewhere are very willing to return to their locality. Now that we’ve restored our gardens and made some very important urban regeneration projects, people will start returning.
“In Floriana, every street leads to a garden or a pjazza. There’s no other locality like it and it is being rediscovered, slowly but surely.”
|
