I refer to the letter signed by the 14 bar and restaurant owners in Marsascala on 10 August. I would like to state the following in my defence and for the information of the Marsascala community and the public in general:

• There are about 58 bars and restaurants along Marsascala Bay which are directly affected by what happens along the promenade.

• Although the letter carried 14 signatures, purporting to be from owners of establishments, two signatures in fact belong to employees hauled in to increase the number.

• The rest of the Marsascala establishments, together with the vast majority of the Marsascala community, do not approve of the setting up of yet another monti selling cheap wares. What the Marsascala business community wants is a specialised market to attract quality visitors and a promenade that does justice to the beautiful bay.

• On the 31 July, during a council meeting, the councillors’ attention was drawn to the fact that the Director for the Department of Local Councils had informed the mayor by a letter dated 25 July, that he had acted illegally in allowing the hawkers to set up their stalls. In fact, the hawkers have since disappeared.

• During the same sitting, the mayor tabled a notice proposing that until the matter is resolved, nine hawkers will be given permission to set up stalls along the promenade. Significantly, not one councillor seconded the motion. As it turned out, I could not be present for this part of the meeting.

• I have repeatedly tried to influence the mayor and the Local Council to have Marina Street, Triq il-Gardiel and part of Triq is-Salini closed on weekends, allowing the bars and restaurants to lay out their tables along the whole street, of course leaving the wide pavements for people to stroll up and down. I believe this would have attracted people in far larger numbers than nine hawkers selling cheap wares.

• I enclose the embellishments I proposed to the council for Marina Street and Triq is-Salini, embellishments that I believe would have attracted more people than a monti would have done. I leave it to one and all to draw their own conclusions. On my suggestion, the council agreed to write to WasteServ to finance this project. To date, no reply has been received from that end.

• I believe that no businessman worth his salt would support the present haphazard development of Marsascala. We cannot even keep the place clean and tidy. It is a pity that the mayor still insists on running a one-man show instead of uniting the council so that together we can work for the benefit of Marsascala and its people. It is only through cooperation that we can make a difference for Marsascala, like we did when we united to insist on new ornamental street lights to replace the dangerous rusty ones we had before.

Dr Josie Muscat

Councillor