Renovation and Building Work

A feasibility study has been carried on the creation of an underground car part next to the municipal Gardens. Over 500 spaces should be created. Everybody agrees on this bit. Everybody disagrees about everything else….Who is going to build it? Who is going to run it? Will there be buildings on top or a public square etc. etc.

By the time you read this, work should have all but finished on the first phase of the renovation of the beach road. There will be new pavements, cycle paths, benches, and street lighting all the way from the Old Harbour to Agnostou Square. Tough new measures have been announced to stop people from parking on the Square, and yes we have seen several cars with parking tickets under their windscreen wipers. But will this stop them? We hate to be cynical, but on the basis of previous experience, we doubt it!

Waste of Time?

The operating company of the landfill in Amari has received a hefty fine for breaching environmental legislation after a spot check was carried out during the winter. They are contesting the fine because of 'exceptional weather conditions' at the time, and everything is apparently OK now. But the bigger picture of waste management in Rethymnnon is not great. Amari is the only landfill site in the prefecture. For the next 18 months it wil be able to continue to accept waste but after that it will be full. What next? The Cretan Regional Authority is discussing the possibility of a processing unit that would deal with the waste of Lasithi, Heraklion and Rethymnon. But this wouldn’t be ready until 2020. We see a repeat of the Maroulas scenario where the landfill was operating illegally for more than a decade. The European Commission is getting tough with Greece over its waste management policy in general. Compared to the rest of Europe, Greece’s environmental record is shocking (no other word for it). The threat of enormous fines has led to the closure of well over a 1000 illegal landfill sites over the past 12-15 months, and work has been carried our on many more so they conform to current legislation. The need for a decent policy is obvious as is the need for more recycling facilities. We’ve said it before and we’ll say it again. It’s time for the powers that be to move into the 21st Century!

Horses for Courses

This is the only headline we could think of for the Sport Section, and, as for the picture, well, we don’t even know why. There are of course some excellent riding stables in the Rethymnon area, but I digress. One thing is for sure, though, aside from one shining example, our sporting teams have not really been on track this season….

Asteras Rethymnon (our local cutie football heroes) have been relegated to the Cretan Regional Division. They never seemed to get going this season. And with so many problems on and off the pitch, this season, it is not too surprising that after two years in the National League it is back to the drawing board for the stars.

The players of OKA Arkadi (local basketball team) will have gained a lot of experience during the short time they have spent playing at national league. They realized that there is a big difference between the regional and national level, and it’s not an easy step to make. Hopefully they will give it all they’ve got next season so they can make a speedy return to the National League.

Unfortunately Rethymnon Aegean did not have a good April. All hopes for promotion have gone out of the window, and with just three games to play, they need to start thinking about how they can improve next season.

And now for the good news. You wanted some.
OPER (the volleyball team) are training hard to get themselves in prime condition for the regional playoffs which will decide which teams will be promoted to the National League. Play offs start on May 4th. We wish them luck!

Rethymnon Business Park

Development minister Kostis Chatzidakis has just inaugurated the Rethymnon Business Park which is to be built in Agia Triada, near Adele, just South-East of Rethymnon. Work on the local infrastructure of the Park started in August 2007 and is now almost completely finished. The first steps in the initial project were taken in way back when in 1994. Bureaucracy, changes in legislation and the other usual glitches and obstacles associated project development in Greece were some of the reasons why this project has taken so long to get off the ground. But now, a site of 285 acres with 91 plots, is ready to welcome local businesses to start building their new premises. The businesses that will be permitted on this park are those classified as "low environmental impact" and are likely to include some of the arts and crafts from the area. Interesting times!