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send your comments to letters@benahavis.net
 

COPY OF LETTER TO EL SUR IN ENGLISH

Dear sir,
I did not read the article about the foreigner departments on the Costa until this week, as a friend of mine saves the editions I miss because of being abroad. I think that the bit about Benahavis is an absolute laugh and a gross excuse for not doing anything. That is why I send you this e-mail, which I hope will be published as well.

I have been living in the village for over 5 years and, even if I can get by in Spanish now, I have received more help and information from www.benahavis.com, which is a one man project, than from the entire town hall, which sends e--mails that are either pure publicity ( for the driving school, which happens to be owned by an uncle of the mayor ), in Spanish without translation, or come 2 or 3 days before the actual event or deadline. This is not just a problem for foreigners though, it is town hall policy, even in Spanish.
Although Benahavis is not the biggest town hallon the Costa del Sol, it probably has the largest percentage of foreigners. The 2007 census shows that of the registered voters over 1200 were foreigners while less than 900 were Spanish.
Therefor I do not think the town hall can justify the absence of a foreigner department and that hardly anybody in the town hall has a decent knowledge of English or any other foreign language.
kind regards

________________________________

OK Peter I have just come home and the rubbish I complained about last night has still not been removed. I am now going to collect and give to Juans.

The next bag of rubbish will be delivered to the Major!!

I think we have been patient enough.

________________________________

Hi
 
We have stayed in Benahvis now on numerous occasions and i can not complain 
about anything,to me Benahavis is a piece of heaven,we are back there again 
in May as when my Husband asked me what i wanted to do for my 50th Birthday i 
replied"i want to be in Benahavis",there is one thing for sure we will also be
 having a fish dish with Chuck and Anna as you dont get fish as fresh as
theres  any where.I could go on and on and on about this beautiful village but i
will  sum it up in one word "PARADISE",this is certainly where we aim to retire.

________________________________

Hi,

I saw the note on the web stating you wanted comments good & bad.
Firstly, I think its a great place to live and the facilities are perfect.  Where else can you live for a gym, swimming pool, golf etc etc for just over 1euro a month, bargain.
The kids love it, its a safe and wonderful environment for children but apart from the dog waste.
Please please, we have such a wonderful village apart from owners of dogs not cleaning up from their dogs, its a disgrace.
The road on the way up to the reservoir is littered.  A fine system should be introduced.

________________________________

Hello,

Having lived in this lovely village for nearly 2 years I felt it's time I emailed to sadly complain.
Living in Benahavis is perfect but sadly the owners of dogs don't seem to feel the same way.  I regularly go for a run or walk with my family & friends and the amount of dog waste on the pavement is now worse than ever.
Is there anything that can be done about this?  It's especially bad on the road up to the reservoir.  This lovely walk has now been ruined and we are now forced to walk on the road which, with kids is not ideal.
I had family over for Christmas and they too noticed this and the smell also.

________________________________

Dear sir,

I would like to make some comment on the behaviour of the local police in Benahavis. When I came to the village a few days ago to go to the bank, I parked for a couple of minutes on a disabled parking space, which I know is not allowed but since it was only for 5 minutes, I thought it would be OK. When I came back after 5 minutes and wanted to drive away, a local police officer told me to hold on ( obviously because his collegue was still writing out the ticket ) and came back to me after a few minutes with a fine of 70 euros. Of course, I said I had only been there for 5 minutes and suggested he could let me leave with a warning since they had not even had time to write the ticket but he answered me rather apologisingly that it was his collegue that had "taken the initiative" ( can't remember his exact words ), so there was no way out. I continued trying to make them review their decision even after receiving the fine and said they could be a bit more lenient since they hadn't even had the time to write out the ticket, but no way so I accepted it going on about leniency towards people living in the village, even without hope of getting rid of the fine. Then, when I wanted to drive away, his collegue blocked the road with the police car and ( then I saw it was a woman officer ) asked me from her seat behind the steering wheel whether I had any more comments. She did so in a very arrogant ( and very MACHO ) way, as though her being a police officer gave her all the rights in the world. She blocked the road for about a minute, making sure I realized who the AUTHORITY was and then drove away.

About a year or so ago I witnessed another scene that I could not believe. A car drove into the village and parked in front of the pharmacy, then the driver got out and walked in there. Just 30 seconds afterwards a police car stopped behind the other car and the officers got out. They waited exactly one minute ( looking at their watch! ) and then started writing out a ticket. When another minute later the driver came out of the pharmacy, they handed him the fine, and more or less the same thing happened as in my case.

I do not want to discuss the rightness of my fine, but I do think local police are not supposed to be waiting to write out fines, but to sort out local problems and get to talk to and get to know the people who live in the village. I am just advocating for a livable village, and I do think that this is easier to reach with communication and compromise than with 70 or 120 euros fines.

Benahavis Townhall
Plaza de España, 5
Tel : +34-952 85 50 25
townhall@benahavis.net

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