Palma residents take the civic ordinance to court: "The goal is to overturn it."

The Federation of Neighborhood Associations, together with Palma XXI, take the case to court. the civic ordinance of Palma with "the aim of overturning it," according to the president of the Federation, Maribel Alcázar. To this end, the neighborhood groups have filed an administrative appeal in the Provincial Court against the legislation recently approved by Cort with the support of the PP and Vox.

Alcázar explains that to attack the regulations, the neighborhood groups have followed a "very similar" plan to the one they used years ago to overturn the civic ordinance of the former mayor of Palma, Mateu Isern. "We have chosen the same path," she emphasizes.

The neighborhood groups have filed the appeal because the regulations "have significant defects such as the lack of reports and duplications with other regulations and, furthermore, it is a copy and an extension of the one that was already presented in 2015 and has also been poorly processed," according to Alcázar. He also adds that the regulations also presented flaws in the public disclosure process and emphasizes that they lack all the necessary reports from agencies such as the General Directorate of Traffic and the Government Delegation.

Similarly, he insists that "there are already sufficient ordinances" and criticizes that some "however, are not being complied with." Therefore, he proposes that new aspects that need to be regulated be included in existing regulations through the incorporation of articles. "And that way, there won't be a need to set up all this spectacle that will be used when convenient, because they won't put a police officer behind each citizen," he reproaches.

He also adds that the legislation "places all responsibility on the individual citizen, as if there were no others." To exemplify this fact, Alcázar brings up the problem of noise in certain neighborhoods of Palma, such as Santa Catalina. "Is the problem that people are making noise or that licenses are given to play music until four or five in the morning in residential areas?" he asks.

For her part, Mercedes Celeste, Councilor for Finance, Civil Service and Internal Government of Cort, explained that the City Council "should not worry" about whether the appeal filed by the neighborhood groups "succeeds or not," but that Cort should try to "apply it." On the other hand, she stressed that the Palma council should know "what the ordinance says that some people don't like."

Celeste added that the regulation is a "useful tool to make improvements in civility and to have a more friendly and comfortable coexistence." However, Alcázar points out that "civility is fostered through education and through investments in socio-educational resources," among other systems.