Madeira News Blog

(29th August). Today’s main news story : ‘Robberies In Madalena – The police admit that there is a new wave of break-ins on the Avenida da Madalena. Garages and cars are the targets’. The area itself is quite calm, but the break-ins just don’t stop. Even the noise of the car alarms don’t deter the criminals. The article gives quite a few stories from residents in the zone of Funchal, who have had their cars broken into, both on the street and in garages, but they are all much the same. According to a spokesman for the PSP (police), Commissioner Roberto Fernandes, "the PSP has been monitoring this phenomenon closely and has found a fluctuation in the crime of car robbery in the area of Madalena. He said the population needed to take more care, making sure they were not followed into garages for example, and also mentioned condominiums where access is not secured.

‘Gripe A : Six Thousand Masks Face masks For The 1st Cycle And Pre-School’. Madeira government preparing plan to ensure there is no disruption to school meals. Paper towels and hot air hand driers installed. All measures in response to the risk of the spread of H1N1 swine flu. The masks will only be used in the event of a suspected case, while the situation is being dealt with and the kids are in isolation. In fact, right now, all eyes are focused on a contingency plan to avoid disruptions in the supply of meals in schools. The Director of Planning and Educational Resources points out that this issue is very sensitive and, if not taken care of, can cause problems for families. "Imagine that two of the three kitchen staff of a school fall ill during the night. The school must have alternatives to continue to provide meals to students, in order not to compel families to find solutions on their behalf". Now there’s a scary thought … 6,000 infants, … even scarier is 6,000 hungry infants with masks.

The sports story of the day is an expansion on what was given yesterday : ‘The Distinguished And Dangerous In The Group Of Nacional – Club President Rui Alves expects to get through the group stage with victories in the Choupana’ (home games). Group L fixtures for our local football team in the Liga Europa are : Weder Bremen 17/9 (h) & 3/12 (a), Austria Vienna 1/10 (a) & 16/12 (h), and Athletic Bilbao 22/10 (a) & 5/11 (h).

‘Licensing Hours Annoy Businessmen In The Docks – The council of Porto Santo provides for the bars of the city and leaves Penedo do Sono deserted’. The article is accompanied by a photo outside the location in question, with not a person in sight. The bosses in the dock area say they are worried. Those that invested in bars in Penedo do Sono are upset with the câmara who have spoiled their Summer by "giving out licenses to any bar on the island that might want to stay open until 4 or 5 am in the morning", said Ruben Drumond, night club owner and spokesman for the discontented. He said he made a considerable investment in his venture on the strength of a ‘scenario of withdrawal from the city and residential zones, that did not come to pass’. A measure adopted, he adds, because it is a local election year.  "It appeared to us a sense of injustice and disrespect on the part of Mr. President, Roberto Silva, who conceived and laid down certain rules that now have no value in themselves, thereby showing a great contempt for those who believed in his ideas" he regrets. "The city council had set a strategy to remove the noise from the city centre and focus on the nightlife in Penedo do Sono" he recalls, explaining that this was intended to "feed the evolution of the island as a destination of quality", with a separation between those people seeking rest and those seeking nightlife. Ruben, who owned a bar in the town in 2005, was approached directly by the câmara president in November that year, and told that the opening hours were to be cut back, and anyone wishing to ‘make a noise’ late on would have to do it in Penedo do Sono, which was to be built for this purpose. A politician who doesn’t keep his word … whatever next! A businessman who bases a substantial investment on the word of a politician … whatever next!

‘Adverse Weather Conditions Cancel Entertainment In São Vicente – The international group Hermes House Band should have been playing, but the performance was cancelled’. The entertainment programme, including the open air disco, for the night in the annual festival in São Vicente was cancelled due to strong winds and rain. Tonight the top comedy act ‘Super Gordo’ also depends on weather conditions. And there’s me just down the road struggling to find a breath of cool air last night, and certainly not a sniff of rain.

UPDATE

‘Excavation makes rats to flee to the homes’. An excavation which is being undertaken in the area of Ribeiro Seco, which is encompassed in the work of connecting the Port of Funchal to Pilar, is causing the rats to flee, which were there in large numbers, to the houses in the vicinity, including the Caminho da Fé. The complaint was made by a resident of the area, directing criticism at the company who is doing the work, in particular for not having targeted the rats for extermination before the start of the ground-works. Something he stresses that has been suggested by residents at an earlier stage of the work.

Restriction on some lands preventing hunting have been lifted, in time for the new hunting season. As a result, in Paul da Serra there will be 400 more hectares available to hunters than there were last year.

‘Biofuel production to start in Porto Santo before the end of the year’. The production of biofuel from biomass, made through the intensive cultivation of micro algae will start to be implemented by the end of the year in Porto Santo, said a spokesman from EEM (Empresa Electricidade da Madeira). The new ‘substation’ at Calheta is costing €1.3 million, and is in response to growing demand on the island, and to make Porto Santo "truly green in terms of electricity". Porto Santo, was the home of the first wind farm in Portugal, established in 1998.

Several ‘bush’ fires were reported yesterday, including in Santa Cruz and Câmara de Lobos, and also two suspicious fires started in Campanário.

Funchal’s taxi drivers are to put together a petition against the decision to make the 4 ‘eco buses’ free of charge to users, on the basis this it creates unfair competition. Actually it says ‘taxi drivers of the region’, so maybe they are expecting others outside of Funchal to come on board. The decision was taken at a meeting last week, to which very few taxi drivers actually attended. The petition will be signed by the drivers, families and friends. The chances of getting public support will be pretty thin, like turkeys voting for Christmas, and what with the fierce inter rivalry between the 11 regions of Madeira on taxi matters, I doubt whether there will be much support from outside of Funchal either.

The ground staff on strike at major airports have returned to work, after promises from the airline TAP that jobs will be retained. Unions and management signed a protocol after a meeting lasting 4 hours, that ended the industrial action of the ‘handling’ company Groundforce.

The last of the front page offerings for today is from politics. The main photo today shows a close up photo of the face of Humberto Vasconcelos, the president (or soon to be ex) of São Vicente Câmara : ‘Humberto Felt That They Wouldn’t Allow Him To ‘Give More’ – Humberto Vasconcelos expressed his state of spirit on The Dia do Concelho (day of the region) of São Vicente about not being able allowed to continue the work in the North. In an interview to the Diário, he explains himself better. Who doesn’t feel …’. A restrained interview with HV who seems to be popular locally, but he got on the wrong side of President Jardim, who stopped him standing for another term. "That I have to respect" he said. "From my point of view there is no conflict, it was a strategy determined by the (PSD-M) party", he said. At his farewell speech in the ‘dia do concelho’ this week in São Vicente he received a standing ovation from the crowd, something the government representative in attendance didn’t get. The opposition parties will use this controversy to pressure the PSD-M in the forthcoming elections, and as the seat is less safe than the social democrats would like, they might find winning here a bit of a struggle. Another Uncle Bertie classic ‘own goal’ perhaps?