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The “golden mile” was the term coined by hotelier Winston Zahra Junior to describe the stretch of coast from St Julians to the Sliema Promenade. Studded with five star hotels, desirable up-market residences and a liberal sprinkling of commercial establishments, it is meant to be a showcase of all that is good on the Malta scene. The zeitgeist-y restaurants, modern architecture and well-maintained promenade are a feather in our politicians’ hat which they preen no end. Every time another section of the promenade gets its long-awaited replacement of spanking new paving stones, the politicos turn up in droves, jostling each other and elbowing their way within camera range for the latest ribbon-cutting photo opportunity.
No-one is absolutely sure of where the golden mile comes to an end but my guess is that it’s beyond the Fortizza, where the line of spruced-up trees peters out, where most of the wooden benches are cracked and broken and where the abandoned hulks of the old Chalet and the vile Jumbo Lido vie for the top spot in the ugliness stakes. Rounding off to Qui-si-Sana, the mammoth buildings being erected are transmogrifying the once quiet residential corner of Sliema into a Maltese version of Batman’s Gotham City. In the midst of this relentless march of so-called ‘progress’ there remains one bright green spot – the Qui-Si-Sana garden.
Looking out over the sea and still dappled with sunlight which filters in beyond the high rise blocks it is one of the few places where residents and passers-by can have some time-out from the frenetic rat race. That’s why it is so close to their hearts and why some two thousand-odd residents are up in arms against the proposed development of a car park underneath the garden. Developers C & F Building Contractors intend to have a three-storey car park excavated in the area with another storey being destined for commercial outlets. The reinstatement of the garden is also on the cards, but the residents are wary. They have heard too many of these sort of promises broken in the past. They know only too well that an application for the change of use of the car park to yet another commercial outlet can be filed and accepted. It has happened in the past. All the residents have a reason for wanting the garden to be left as is and to try and stop the area from becoming another congested traffic triangle. There’s the seventy-two year old grandmother who has always been a Sliema girl at heart and who felt terribly homesick during her three-year stint in Canada. She’s lived in the area for forty-nine years now and can’t bear the thought of the garden being changed into a pressure cooker lid for a fume-filled car park. “The garden means a lot to us. My husband and myself go out there in the mornings and meet pensioners like ourselves and children on the swings. It is the only place in the vicinity where we can sit and chat and relax.”
Another pensioner remembers the way the garden was developed from debris and waste material after the Second World War. He remembers sailors playing “likk” there and his children growing up in the area. “They were always rushing off to the beach and to the garden. They called it ‘Quisi’. Now the beach has been taken up by beach concessions and the Jumbo Lido and the garden is going next.”
It’s not just pensioners who treasure the garden. A young working mother likes the garden as it has the only monkey bars around which her boys prefer to other swings. The residents have now formed an association to oppose the application, which they claim is not in conformity with the development for Qui-si-Sana. So far, it has been an uphill battle, with stormy meetings with the local council and much precious free time spent pouring over paperwork and planning laws.
There’s a whole chorus of dissenting voices clamouring for the garden to be left alone. Theirs is not a unique story. It is the story of thousands of citizens in different parts of Malta. Residents who want to retain their quality of life even in the face of untrammeled development and commercialization. They fight a costly and time-consuming battle against the greater commercial interests and the bureaucracy which bedevils local authorities and the planning administration. Whether the Qui-si-Sana residents win remains to be seen. If they do, it’s a victory for the little man.
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