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Crime\u00a0is on the rise in\u00a0Paceville. The news and stories we have heard lately have confirmed not only St. Julian\u2019s Local Council\u2019s concerns about crime in the locality but also the parents\u2019.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n In an interview with\u00a0Voice of the Workers<\/i>, Albert Buttigieg,\u00a0the Deputy Mayor of St\u00a0Julians,\u00a0explained the problems and issues that the St\u00a0Julians\u00a0Local Council is facing, among them the\u00a0ever rising\u00a0crime rate in the locality.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cParents\u00a0worry when their children tell them they want to go to\u00a0Paceville\u201d, said the\u00a0Deputy Mayor of St\u00a0Julians.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n He\u00a0admitted that\u00a0Paceville\u00a0has changed and is slowly becoming more of a\u00a0red light\u00a0district than a place of entertainment. He explained that the drug problem is real and is not something we can ignore or deny. Albert Buttigieg said that increased police presence is not sufficient, saying \u201cit could be that the law is not being enforced as it should.\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n \u201cYes, I think that crime rates have increased,\u00a0mainly because crime has increased all over the country \u2013\u00a0Paceville\u00a0is no exception\u201d, said Albert Buttigieg, adding that \u201cthere is crime that is not reported\u201d. He said that drunk people, people lying sprawled on the ground or sleeping on the pavement or in residents\u2019 porches are a common sight in\u00a0Paceville\u00a0at the weekend. These actions, although not illegal, are unacceptable.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n In\u00a0Paceville\u00a0there are a number of\u00a0issues that need to be addressed immediately. The Local Council of St\u00a0Julians\u00a0has been bringing these issues to the attention of the present Government and the previous administration for years, but so far it has not been heard and the issues have not been given the attention they require.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n The fact that\u00a0commercial activity in\u00a0Paceville\u00a0has exploded and yet the locality still lacks a Police Station is an issue that should be given priority. The St\u00a0Julians\u00a0Local Council appreciates the considerable work done by the police stationed at the St\u00a0Julians\u2019 Police Station. \u201cBut they are overloaded dealing with\u00a0Balluta,\u00a0Spinola\u00a0and\u00a0Paceville\u00a0at the weekend \u2026\u00a0Paceville\u00a0should have its own specific Police Station that can deal with the needs of the locality\u201d, said Albert Buttigieg.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n The\u00a0Deputy Mayor of St\u00a0Julians\u00a0expressed solidarity with the police that do the rounds at\u00a0Paceville\u00a0at the weekend and said that they should have a place where they could rest and that could serve as a point of reference for people who need help or who need to make use of a service. \u201cSometimes the point of reference is in bars and this leads to overfamiliarity with the bar owners\u201d, said Albert Buttigieg, who even dared to say that there may have been occasions where the line\u00a0of familiarity\u00a0between a policeman \/\u00a0policewoman in uniform and the owner of a bar has been crossed.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n The Deputy Mayor of St\u00a0Julians\u00a0explained that\u00a0Paceville\u00a0also needs a public lavatory and a clinic. He explained that recently, during the activities linked to St Patrick\u2019s Day, 30 mobile toilets were not sufficient to cater for the needs of 30,000 people.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Apart from this, it is not the first time that there were incidents or fights fuelled by alcohol or\u00a0someone\u00a0under the influence of\u00a0illegal substances\u00a0who required assistance. A clinic is crucial to address such situations. \u201cWe have seen ambulances in the area but this is not sufficient; there needs to be a permanent structure with a paramedic team ready to give First Aid.\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Albert Buttigieg said that over and above all\u00a0Paceville\u00a0needs a Master Plan that does not\u00a0favour the few over the many. The Master Plan needs to include all those who are involved in the locality, that is, the commercial community, the residents, the Local Council and Central Government. These entities need to\u00a0meet and discuss the exigencies and needs of\u00a0Paceville. \u201cWe need to take the bull by the horn and develop a holistic plan that is in everybody\u2019s interest\u201d, said the Deputy Mayor of St\u00a0Julians. He said that the word on the street is that\u00a0\u2018Paceville\u00a0is one construction site\u2019.\u00a0\u201cPender Gardens have been in construction for nine years, now there will be Mercury House, that is going up instead of Villa Rosa and these will take some time to complete.\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n He said that law enforcement in\u00a0Paceville\u00a0should be taken seriously.\u00a0\u201cIt is not right that the few residents that remain in the locality become slaves or prisoners of the people who frequent the zone\u201d, the Deputy Mayor continued to say. Albert Buttigieg hailed and referred to the residents, particularly of Ross Street, who every weekend have to leave their homes and go stay with their children because they cannot sleep with the loud and vibrant music being played until the early hours of the morning or else end up locked within their homes as they would not be able to leave because of the numbers of people outside their door and cars parked on pavements.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cWe\u00a0need to look out for the residents who are not always afforded the respect and dignity they deserve\u201d, said Albert Buttigieg.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n The Local Council of St\u00a0Julians\u00a0has not really been consulted about\u00a0Paceville. At the moment there are discussions about creating a committee which would operate over and above the Council, leading to a situation of too many captains.\u00a0The Local Council of St\u00a0Julians\u00a0has always insisted that it is a council elected by the people according to the Local Council Act and, as such,\u00a0it should be the entity that\u00a0issues and approves certain proposals or regulations.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n The Deputy Mayor\u00a0of St\u00a0Julians\u00a0said that the Government helps in a number of areas including street cleansing and rubbish collection but this is not sufficient. He said that in light of the fact that St\u00a0Julians\u00a0is the biggest locality with the largest number of hotels, the funds gathered from the bed tax should be invested in the zones of St\u00a0Julians\u00a0and\u00a0Paceville.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n If not\u00a0totally invested, at least the Local Council should be given a percentage of the funds. \u201cIt is not right that we are given the bone and not the meat on it\u201d, said the Deputy Mayor. Albert Buttigieg said that we also need to invest in the tourist environment because the tourists do not stay within the hotels but you can hear them complain about the state of the pavements, the noise and the dust.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cIt is in our interest that we be consulted and I think that the Local Council of St\u00a0Julians\u00a0can do more if the Government gave it the space and the resources \u2026\u00a0this is not to say that we do not have any but I do not think that they are sufficient\u201d, concluded Albert Buttigieg.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Crime\u00a0is on the rise in\u00a0Paceville. The news and stories we have heard lately have confirmed not only St. Julian\u2019s Local Council\u2019s concerns about crime in the locality but also […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":1192,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mi_skip_tracking":false,"spay_email":""},"issuem_issue":[52],"issuem_issue_categories":[9],"issuem_issue_tags":[],"translation":{"provider":"WPGlobus","version":"2.8.8","language":"en","enabled_languages":["mt","en"],"languages":{"mt":{"title":true,"content":true,"excerpt":false},"en":{"title":true,"content":true,"excerpt":false}}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/weekly.uhm.org.mt\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/article\/1167"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/weekly.uhm.org.mt\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/article"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/weekly.uhm.org.mt\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/article"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/weekly.uhm.org.mt\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/weekly.uhm.org.mt\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1167"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"http:\/\/weekly.uhm.org.mt\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/article\/1167\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1194,"href":"http:\/\/weekly.uhm.org.mt\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/article\/1167\/revisions\/1194"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/weekly.uhm.org.mt\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1192"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/weekly.uhm.org.mt\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1167"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"issuem_issue","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/weekly.uhm.org.mt\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/issuem_issue?post=1167"},{"taxonomy":"issuem_issue_categories","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/weekly.uhm.org.mt\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/issuem_issue_categories?post=1167"},{"taxonomy":"issuem_issue_tags","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/weekly.uhm.org.mt\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/issuem_issue_tags?post=1167"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}“Paceville\u00a0needs a Master Plan that does not\u00a0favour the few over the many.”<\/h1>\n
\u201cWe\u00a0need to look out for the residents who are not always afforded respect\u201d\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/h1>\n