Agenda 21 Local (A21L) presents citizens’ proposals and its new Web page
(From Xàbia al Dia on-line. Translated by Huw Griffith March 2006 )
At the first meeting of the forum for Agenda 21 Local of Xàbia in its latest phase, the councillor for Citizen Participation, Pepa Gisbert, presented the revamped image of the forum. The new official logo of a silhouette of a mill will be used alongside the existing drawing of houses at Barraca beach. Verónica García, the representative of Imedes (the consultancy now managing the A21L process), introduced the Web page for A21L Xàbia, where the public can find what the Agenda is, its history, news and coming events, as well as how to participate in the forum, and how to receive details of meetings by SMS messages on mobile phones.
The Xàbia professional in charge of the coordination of A21L is Begoña Burguete, and anyone who would like personal clarification of questions about A21L, or without Internet access, can visit her office in the Casa de Cultura in Xàbia, from Monday to Friday, from 11:00 to 13:00.
Imedes also made available to the public a dossier with a basic quantitative analysis of the municipality and the proposals, organized by categories, that had been reached in the forum during its first phase. This dossier is available in Castilian and Valencian, and an English translation is to be made available by people interested in the forum.
In response to a question by a member of the public, as to whether the political will really existed to develop the Agenda, and not merely to make propaganda, Pepa Gisbert explained that the present political commitment is total. She cited the cases of councillors who have gone to the A21L to ask what projects the public would like to progress. The councillor for the Treasury, Vicente Chorro, in a meeting with the coordinator of A21L, showed representatives of the public the municipal budgets for 2006.
Following the suggestion of a member of the public, Gisbert promised to meet the councillor for Property to ask that these budgets be made available to the public in the Municipal Library. They will also appear in the Web page of the Agenda.
On the subject of the proposals that the previous councillor for Citizen Participation, Amanda Dean, had begun to develop, such as the green route by the ways of les Valls, Gisbert clarified that this proposal is being studied by environmental specialists. But in any case, the general proposal of the Green Routes for the entire municipality is included in the dossier of proposals.
The public now has until the 21st of April to study the dossier, and to make new proposals if they wish. The following step will be the evaluation of the viability and cost of these proposals. After this necessary first selection, the forum for citizen participation will choose those proposals that it considers high-priority.
In order to encourage greater participation, the common language of the Agenda 21L of Xàbia is Castilian, although all the written information will also be distributed in Valencian, and through the contribution of members of the public, will be also available in English. www.agenda21xabia.com
