Judging by the reaction there was on the social media, Valletta residents do not agree with their mayor.

In an interview with The Malta Independent on Sunday, Alfred Zammit said that the Valletta noise issue “is under control” and that the residents were misguided on the legal notice which established that, in some streets, music could be played until 1am. He said that only moderate music can be played in the two extra hours that have been afforded – in the past, the curfew was 11pm.

Many residents who reacted to the interview, first of all, questioned what the term “moderate” means and how this could be established. But, aside from this, they also said that the mayor is not correct in his interpretation.

We cannot sleep, many of them said. The noise is too loud, the complained. Others, who do not live in the city but said they had been frequent visitors, said that they no longer do so because the capital city has become too much like Paceville, and they no longer like it there.

Zammit may have wanted to toe the Labour Party line when he downplayed the situation, but it is clear that the residents are far from happy with the way the situation has developed. “The residents always come first,” he said during the interview. But, from what they said, many of them do not believe this is so.

The government ploughed on with the idea of “pleasing” owners of restaurants and bars in spite of the opposition to the idea of extending the hours in which music could be played. It even voted against a motion that was presented in Parliament by the Nationalist Party to revoke the legal notice.

That all this came about after the election makes it evident that the government knew it would have been an unpopular decision. Normally, the toughest calls are made soon after the vote of the people, more or less five years before the next election, as happened in this case. People will have time to forget, or get used to the new system, is what governments argue when going for ideas such as the one about late night music in Valletta.

One other suggestion made by Zammit during the interview was having a designated day for late shopping. He would prefer it being Friday, and is envisaging retail outlets being allowed to remain open beyond 7pm. His idea is to generate more business, and give time to people who do not work in Valletta to visit the capital city when their working hours are over.

This can be described as a “business-friendly” idea. One has to see what employees at retail outlets think and, equally importantly, what the residents think. Late-night shopping would inevitably be of great inconvenience to the residents, and could spur more of them to find alternative accommodation in quieter places.

The population in Valletta, unlike other European capital cities, is on the decline. Such a move could lead to a bigger exodus.