Madeira News Blog

TODAY’S PHOTO : Thanks to Vic … Cafe Cristo Rei, over Garajau way I think.

Front Page News : source : Diário de Notícias 27/7/2008

The police force of Madeira only have 6 radars and 8 trained officers that can identify and deal with speeding on our roads. 3 of the radars are in fixed locations. A spokesman says that over the last 6 years, the traffic division has lost 25% of its budget. Nevertheless, the number of detections is growing, with the offences recorded rising from 716 to 1,074 between 2006 and 2007. This year so far 957 speeding vehicles have been identified, 953 of which have been exceeding the limit by 20km per hour or more. Another problem is evident with transporting children, where in only 74% of the cases analysed children were adequately restrained inside the vehicle. Only 5 cars a day stopped for speeding, that’s incredible. It’s better than the 2 cars a day in 2006, but there is a long way to go in establishing identification of speeding drivers as an effective deterrent. The newspaper publishes an illustration showing the 17 most dangerous spots on the motorway, you can see it at the bottom of the page:

http://www.dnoticias.pt/Default.aspx?file_id=dn04010209270708

Murder on Madeira is on the up! Over the last 10 years or so, the average was about one a month, but in 2007 it was only 9. This year so far there have already been 10. Normally the crimes are not premeditated, and often involve excess consumption of alcohol.

The regional government has decided to put the Madeira Tecnopólo conference and fairs centre into private management, basically because independent management would be better for use and profitability. Public tendering will be used to find a suitable management company.

A proposal has been made to provide regular programmed entertainment in St. Catherine’s (sta. Catarina) park in Funchal. The proposal includes the erection of a permanent structure to allow concerts of various types. Nice idea, but I thought President Jardim said the government didn’t have any money?

Other News :

After a long absence of reported ‘syringe crimes’, a new one happened in a supermarket in Imaculado Coração de Maria. The thief went into the ‘Supermercado Regional’ stole 4 packets of shaving blades, threatened a member of staff with his syringe, and then fled the shop pursued by local(s) until the police arrived and arrested him.

High ultra violet sun warnings around again at the moment, so eye and skin protection is recommended between 10am and 5pm.

The Diario reader participation section on the website is attracting plenty of letters and suggestions in response to what can be done to reduce road accident deaths. One writer suggests that accidents in general are due to a lack of education and respect for others, and suggests that people need to organise their lives better. Another suggests police signs telling drivers to slow down, and more police stop operations at weekends and at nights to control drink driving. Another suggests that the use of mobile phones whilst driving causes danger and with little police enforcement. Another suggests limit the CC of the vehicles used on Madeira, and has the only suggestion certain to work … close all the roads.

Bit of a ‘thin’ newspaper, so that’s it for the day.

www.madeira4u.com

Aside from your valued blog responses (you can reply direct using the form at the bottom of each blog comments page), please send any unreported Madeira news, photos, events information, or snippets for the madeira4u blog to blog@madeira4u.com – anyone can join in! Thank you!

TODAY’S PHOTO : Cows grazing on Porto Santo Island. If you are getting fed up of looking at Porto Santo photos, please feel free to send in some fresh material … thanks! 

Front Page News : source : Diário de Notícias 26/7/2008

(President) Jardim promises to talk “moderately” at the festival of “Chão da Lagoa” today. “The Region should show a face of moderation to a State that abuses power and is becoming a police State against the rights, liberties and individual security”. If that second sentence is moderated, I think he has already exceeded his ambition in the first sentence. What a charmer …!

The police will be particularly attentive to alcohol and drink driving, mentioning the 4 road deaths in the space of a week, and to disorder at the festival.

The Regional Government is to create a new system of incentives exclusively to boost the islands main economic activity … tourism. Full details are not being revealed until September, but the Diario headlines the article SPECIFIC PROGRAMS ARE GOING TO GUARANTEE EXCELLENCE IN  TOURISM and mentions the sum involved of €40 million up until 2013, courtesy of Brussels.

A very low rainfall this year is threatening water supplies. First to be cut as non essential use will be supplies to agriculture and for watering gardens. The water authority maintains that if everyone makes a big effort to save water, then maybe we can get through the summer without water cuts. “In the last 15 years, the rain between October to May was limited to 1,380 mm annually, reducing to 1,237 mm annually over 10 years, and 1,146 mm annually over the last 5 years. The rain, especially in the two last years, has been scarcer. The traditionally humid months of December and of January have became dry”. With the increasing pressure of urban consumption, it is easy to see that the situation with Madeira is worrying. 

With the Peking Olympics almost here, 6 Madeiran athletes are on their way. Here they are :

Alberto Paulo (22) – Athletics, specialising in 3,000 metres hurdles

Ana Moura (22) – Badminton, specialising in singles

Helena Rodrigues (23) – Canoeing, specialising in K2 500 metres

Marcos Freitas (20) – Table tennis

Marco Vasconcelos (36) – Badminton, specialising in singles

Joao Rodrigues (36) – Sailing RS X M

The Diario names them as the ‘great Atlantic pearls’.

It certainly would be nice to put Madeira on the sporting map for reasons other than Cristiano Ronaldo, but I don’t think expectations are too high. And if not, at least they will be over there drinking Chinese water supplies rather than ours.

Other News :

So far 2,460 youngsters have been identified to start school for the first time in the new term, but that leaves around 1,000 vacancies unfilled in the public schools.

“It is easy to speak about poverty” as President Jardim answers the critics that “go home and sleep easy”. “Poverty has always existed, that is not the reason that we did not  eliminate it.  We should fight poverty.  But it is an action of selfishness when is said ‘that responsibility is with the politicians’ and we are going to sleep very well”. Jardim says there is no money, and therefore the priority is the construction of a new hospital. Well, nothing forthcoming there then, just a few  more roads, municipal golf courses, hospitals, fire stations, sports centres, beach conversions, football bungs, white elephants and whale museums, to go, and maybe then there will be some money left to help the poor.

A paedophile was released to freedom by the court in Santa Cruz last week, after being detained since 2007 for abusing minors of 12 and 15 years of age. He received a 4 year prison sentence suspended for the same period. No mention of a register of sex offenders, so perhaps they just go back on the streets with the hope they won’t re-offend?

The Porto Santo ferry ‘Lobo Marinho’ has transported nearly 1.7 million passengers since it came into service just over 5 years ago, but like all passenger ships it has to do safety demonstrations and evacuation simulations periodically under whatever rules their jurisdiction dictates. I think that the ferry, being just a short trip, has particular problems in getting passengers to cooperate, especially with such a multilingual clientele. On Thursday morning the crew undertook such an exercise, with a lifeboat actually being lowered, but complained that hardly any passengers reacted or cooperated. I remember being lucky enough to go on a 10 day cruise once, and they did exactly the same thing, but it was on the day before the cruise finished.

The new Hiper Sá store in Santana opened as planned, providing work to 75 people, and brought with it the promise of further investment in the region. Work is now underway to build a store in Machico (Easter 2009) and thought is still being given to building a store on Porto Santo Island.

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Aside from your valued blog responses (you can reply direct using the form at the bottom of each blog comments page), please send any unreported Madeira news, photos, events information, or snippets for the madeira4u blog to blog@madeira4u.com – anyone can join in! Thank you!

TODAY’S PHOTO : Thanks to Tobi … thought it was about time we had a picture of Ponta do Sol.

Front Page News : source : Diário de Notícias 25/7/2008

Porto Santo Island also has a town called Calheta, but unlike it’s namesake on Madeira, has lacked its yellow beach sand for some 2 years. That has now been fixed, but the mystery is why the changing rooms and toilets have been left locked by the council (Camara). Beachgoers are forced to hide themselves away to get changed, and much to the annoyance of a local restaurant and its customers, some beachgoers are passing between the tables to get to the toilet, and leaving it in a “regrettable” state. THAT WAS YESTERDAY NEWSPAPER – IN TODAY’S PAPER THE FACILITIES ARE REPORTED AS OPEN … the power of the media at work!

A large diesel spill between Doca do Cavacas and Funchal (Lido area) caused some concern, but when a clean up operation was started the diesel had already dispersed. The area is now safe for swimming. The police had taken samples and will open an enquiry.

The Palace of Saint Lourenço is the venue for a ‘multimedia spectacle’that runs on the 15th and 16th of August, and tells the story of the City of Funchal, as part of the 500 anniversary celebrations. The display promises a “big visual impact”. It says the show will be displayed on the wall of the palace, and it may be an outside wall (not very clear in the article). Some of the displays are created by well known illustrators in Portugal, one who has received an international award. It costs nothing to go and see.

The 5 judicial courts on Madeira have over 7,000 household debt cases to deal with. Families involved are unable to pay utility bills, condominium bills, and for their mobile phone usage etc. Numbers have been increasing steadily since the end of 2006, and are worsening with rises in fuel prices and climbing interest rates. Some of the cases involve debt of up to €20,000. As a result of the actions there is a glut of personal property being sold, including countless vehicles, a boat, commercial property, shares, and furniture.

I had heard several times about a proposal for a golf course in Prazeres, but in an article yesterday the talk is of a golf course project to be built in Ponta do Pargo (the most westerly point of Madeira). Perhaps the two are the same thing? Anyway, the 18 hole golf course project will be concluded in 20 months, and has the ‘seal’ of the British golfer Nick Faldo. There are also plans to build a ‘tourist village(?)’ and there is a strong possibility that a 5 star hotel will also be built, and a 9 hole ‘pitch & put’ course. 4 houses will have to be demolished, and the purchase of these from the owners has already been negotiated. There are some artists impressions’ on this link: http://www.dnoticias.pt/Default.aspx?file_id=dn04011006250708 

Just to recap on the golf scene on Madeira, this is my understanding. Aside from the two established courses on Madeira, at Palheiro and Santo da Serra, and the one on Porto Santo, two more are definately planned at São Vicente (2011) and Ponta do Pargo (2010). Other rumours I have heard over the last couple of years include another course on Porto Santo, one at Prazeres, and even one at Ponta do Sol. Anyone able to confirm / deny these three, or know of any other plans?

Other News :

Year on year the problem of beach theft is increasing and casuing increasing concern to the police. Mobile phones, watches, sunglasses, towels, and money are the items usually stolen. Targets are normally tourists, people on their own, and sunbathers in more isolated places. But it’s not normally a snatch and grab affair, as the thieves normally watch the movements of their target before making their move. The record theft was a €5,000 Rolex watch. This is all news to me, as thefts don’t normally get mentioned in the newspaper. On the odd visit to the beach, I have always felt fairly happy to leave my stuff on the beach while I take a dip … but there are beaches … and there are beaches. As for the €5k Rolex, I am not sure that if I was the insurance assessor I would be settling up on that claim, but next time maybe I will take my €5 fake Rolex with me to see what happens.

TAP airline says that its passenger occupancy figures for routes from Portugal to Madeira are up 10.3% on the same period last year.

Finances (DRAF), or the tax / inland revenue people, are to take on another 40 tax inspectors to track down tax shortfalls and irregularities. The ‘Technicians of Tax Management’ will reinforce the existing team who in 2007 identified discrepancies of €28 million. Looks like time to dust off your high performance speed boats maybe?

www.madeira4u.com

Aside from your valued blog responses (you can reply direct using the form at the bottom of each blog comments page), please send any unreported Madeira news, photos, events information, or snippets for the madeira4u blog to blog@madeira4u.com – anyone can join in! Thank you!