Empuriabrava Online Blog and News

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#justsaying

Not a good end to the evening. I only hope the driver was OK.

Thanks John for the pictures.

I’ve just uploaded a load of photos to Flickr from last night’s firework display in Empuriabrava. Enjoy:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/23634513@N05/sets/72157620307427009/ 

Picture the scene:

Wednesday 27th May 2009 and on a balmy Roman night Sir Alex Furguson becomes the first manager ever to watch his team successfully defend their Champions League title. His jubilant team are eager to receive the trophy and amongst them are the three goal scorers; Rooney, Ronaldo and Vidic.

The Barcelona players are distraught having played their part in one of the most gripping finals ever. Their fans are in tears.

………………………………………………………………………………….

Unfortunately I don’t have a ticket for Rome so instead I’m off to Figueres to watch the match.

Why Figueres? Well, El Cafetó (by the Plaça de l’Ajuntament on the way to the Dalí Museum) have organised a Jumbotronic live transmission of the match right outside their cafe and Different2, supporters of this website, are sponsoring the event.

A plaza, a giant screen, emotional fans. Perfect!

Sorry everyone. I haven’t written anything for ages. No excuses.

Mike

Most meetings about the Act of Apeo have been held and they have been very well attended. From what I have heard, everyone has signed against the new proposals. Tomorrow is the last day of meetings so everyone is urged to support them.

The most important piece of news from today’s meetings is that Castelló Town Council has pledged it’s support to Empuriabrava residents and the Resident’s Association in fighting this demarcation law. A little birdie tells me that the support comes from political pressure but who cares? Better late than never Town Hall!

Here is a letter that my friend Veena of Different2 has sent to all of their clients:

Dear Client,

There have been a lot of discussions about the canals in Empuriabrava. Some of the information issued by the Local Authorities and the Port Captain’s office (Capitania) has not been exactly clear, and certainly not sufficiently detailed.

The Town Hall in Castelló d’Empuries has now issued a report in several languages explaining the laws and regulations and how they affect mooring owners.  The report can be downloaded via the following link.

http://www.castello.cat/upload/File/MarinaEmpuriabrava/ing.pdf
An opposition group has been formed, called the Owners Association of Empuriabrava (APE – “Asociación de Propietarios de Empuriabrava”), to deal in a legal and informative way with the issues relating to this matter.

In addition to this, there is another, much more URGENT matter at hand which is the marking of the demarcation (severance) line that the Spanish Government is attempting to make.

The Coastal Authorities of the Government are working their way around the country clarifying boundaries and what is public domain, what is private.  The turn of Empuriabrava has arrived.  As per Spanish law, all sea water is public property, and also all that is encroached by sea water also becomes public property.   From this “imaginary” line that they are in the process of identifying and attempting to enforce, a distance of 6m is to be marked which they are proposing to make as public domain, hence affecting all properties to a larger/smaller degree that are situated on the canals.

There are a series of meetings next week, namely on 29^th and 30^th September and 1^st and 2^nd October, for property owners, the date designated according to areas.  Many of you will not have received official citation to these meetings, (which in itself is a point for dispute), but the Association APE can inform you of the dates for each area.

www.ap-empuriabrava.com

This website is in various languages including English, and is extremely informative, well worth reading.

As this matter is of such importance and will affect all canal side owners in one way or another, it is VITAL that you be informed of your rights and what is expected of you.  The Association are offering their members (50,00 € to join, maybe one of the best investments you will make), models of representation, of how to file complaints and allegations, and the procedure to follow.  There is also a model that you can fill in and return to them if you are unable to attend these meetings next week and would like them to represent you.

While our Company policy is to remain unbiased and above all non-political, we urge you to join this Association in order to best defend your rights and together create a UNITED FRONT against any administrative decision that may affect those rights.

For those of you who are here next week, it is very important to attend the meetings (whether you have received formal notification or not).  If you are unable to attend, please refer to the website and request assistance from the Association.

Should you wish to contact us for further details, please do not hesitate in doing so.

Yours sincerely,

Veena Birtwistle

Different2

Member of the Oreilly Birtwistle Group

Now listen guys, this is very serious. Time is running out and if you have a property on the canals then you really need to do something about it. As Veena said in the above letter, you need to join the association to help protect your rights.

How important is this? Well did you know that last night there was a demonstration in Castelló? There was a protest march from the Cathedral to the Town Hall of around 500 concerned residents. It was even filmed by Spanish TV. I’m going to be putting photos of the march up on Flickr soon. Here’s the Flickr photos.
So what’s happening here? Property owners in Empuriabrava are being hit on two fronts: Mooring Fees and Demarcation Lines. I have a fridge magnet that says “Alone we can do so little, together we can do so much”  Man the barricades!

Good news for non-residents owning property in Spain. As from 2008 the Patrimony-Wealth Tax is being abolished. As Veena from Different2 wrote to her clients:

An important modification to Spanish Law now applies to you as non-residents.  In the Economic Stimulation Programme approved by the Spanish Government on 18^th April, 2008, the obligation to present patrimony tax declarations has been withdrawn from 1^st January, 2008 (among other modifications relating to such things as IVA).  This is an attempt by the Government to contribute to increasing the attraction of investing in Spanish property.  Thus, you are still obliged to present your declaration for 2007, but in 2009 you will no longer have to present one for 2008.

Veena goes on to say “We are sure you will agree that this is a positive step in promoting the benefits of having assets in Spain, and every little helps!”

The post title says it all.

As from yesterday the water restrictions that have been in force for the Empuriabrava and surrounding region have now been lifted.

CORRECTION:

The restrictions are still in place for the Empuriabrava area but have been lifted in most other places.

First of all, if you are on holiday, or just about to arrive, then I know that you don’t want to hear this but let me tell you; we really need the rain.

You may know that we have had water restrictions here for a while – we can’t use hose pipes or fill swimming pools – but things are starting to look up.

Over the last couple of weeks we’ve had quite a bit of rain and so the reservoirs are starting to fill up a bit. Not a lot, but enough to make the introduction of  real water restrictions (e.g. no water at all during certain times of the day) become an unlikely possibility. Last week in fact the restrictions were lifted but quickly reinstated after it was realised that the water levels were still too low. However, a few more days of heavy rain might just be enough to lift the restrictions for the summer and take us into the winter without worrying too much about consumption or fines.

So like I said: Rain, rain, beautiful rain!

“Hang on a minute, what’s that I said about fines?” I can hear you asking. Well I saw a leaflet that explained all about the water shortage, the restrictions and also mentioned something about fines if a household went over a certain usage level. The leaflet was multilingual but unfortunately it was a friend’s copy and I don’t have it to hand.

Where did my friend get it from? The Tourist Information Office! What’s that about? Why can you only get information about the shortage from the tourist board? Why isn’t this information being provided with our water bills?