NEWS AND INFORMATION FOR FOREIGN RESIDENTS
FUENGIROLA MONTHLY Information provided by
MARCH 2014
ISSUE Nº 7
Ayuntamiento de
Fuengirola
952 58 93 00 // 952 58 94 40
FOREIGNRESIDENTS@FUENGIROLA.ORG
NEWS Allotments for pensioners
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NEWS
WWW.FUENGIROLA.ORG FUENGIROLARESIDENTSRESIDENTESFUENGIROLA
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NEWS Free dental service
Grandma’s casseroles
Health centre needs volunteer interpreters THE Councillor for Foreign Residents in Fuengirola, Katia Westerdahl, is asking for more volunteers to come forward to help out with the translation service. The service was launched by the town hall in 1996 and is available for anyone who requires it. Westerdahl said that volunteers to interpret between Spanish and Finnish at the health centre in Los Boliches were needed the most, although anyone with language skills who could volunteer would be much appreciated. The Foreign Residents’ Department is looking for anyone with foreign language skills and some time to spare who thinks they would be good at this
Councillor for Foreign Residents, Katia Westerdahl. to come forward and contact the department. The Finnish community is the largest in Fuengirola, which is why more interpreters are required.
“The person providing the service doesn’t have to be at the health centre every day, but maybe a few hours every week to help out,” the councillor explained. To express your
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interest or find out more, visit the Foreign Residents’ Attention Council at the Tourist Office in Avenida Jesus Santos Rein, or send an email to foreignresidents@fuen girola.org.
First time cookery classes COOKERY classes for beginners will be held on March 10, 12, 17 and 19. Councillor Carmen Diaz announced they will be held for the first time following demand for cookery classes to apply to daily life. She said the course will cost €50, which includes the materials and ingredients. It will be taught by Abraham Garrote, from La Solera Restaurant and run for sessions of four hours each on the four days, at the Cookery Class of the ‘Edificio Colores’ in Avenida Nuestro Padre Jesus Cautivo. Registration is open until March 5 at the town hall in Los Boliches.
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March 2014
Allotments available for local pensioners COUNCILLOR for Social Services Francisco Jose Martin has announced that allotments are to be provided within the town for local pensioners. Fuengirola covers an area of only 10 square kilometres and has no real countryside area; however, the allotments will allow residents over 65 years of age to have an area where they can grow vegetables. The allotments will be available temporarily (three years) and for free. “Fuengirola has to make good use of all available resources and the space we have,” the councillor explained. The conditions for acquiring one of the allotments were approved at a council meeting and can be checked online or at the town hall. They include being over the age of 65, retired, and a registered resident of the town on the padron. A draw will be held to determine who gets them, as there are only 23 allotments on the selected plot, some 21 square metres and some up to 42 square
Councillor for Social Services, Francisco Jose Martin. metres. Those who obtain them can cordon them off with fences up to one metre high. They will have to purchase the materials they need to cultivate the
land and provide water for irrigation. If it is found that they are not using the allotments correctly, they will lose the right to cultivate them.
Activities to celebrate Women’s Day ACTIVITIES will be held locally to mark International Women’s Day. The Councillor for Equality, Maria Luz Puentes, announced that on March 5 there will be a comic representation of Paloma Pedrero’s ‘The Masseur. Little Female Story’ by Carmen Aragones, at 7pm at the Casa de la Cultura. On March 7 at midday, the mayor, Esperanza Oña, will read the Institutional Manifesto for Gender Equality in the Salon Real at the town hall. These activities are part of
Councillor for Equality, Maria Luz Puentes. the work done throughout the year by the council.
Fuengirola was one of the first town’s to have an integral
service for women. Since the Information Centre was created in 1991, women can receive psychological and legal guidance, training for employment and other services, as well as leisure and culture activities. When it comes to domestic violence, the department not only attempts to lessen the consequences, but also to prevent them and help women to gain confidence and self-esteem to avoid getting into similar situations in the future.
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Talks for foreigners a huge success FUENGIROLA Councillor for Foreign Residents, Katia Westerdahl, has reported that talks regarding legal and tax matters of interest to foreigners have been a success. The talks were held in the Casa de la Cultura in three languages, Danish, on February 4; Finnish, on February 11, and in Swedish, on February 18.
Each of them filled the hall. The councillor explained that the talks had been very successful and thanked the Prius, Fernandez-Navarro and Ana Navarrete lawyers’ officers for their collaboration, as well as Evo Bank for sponsoring the talks. The conferences were organised by the Foreign Residents’ Department with the aim of
solving many of the queries received by the department every day, including whether or not it is obligatory to register on the ‘padron’, declaration of assets, foreigners’ rights or taxes, amongst other matters. The talks were aimed at Scandinavian residents and the council is now working towards a similar series of talks aimed at British residents.
TUCKING IN: Mayor Esperanza Oña (second from left) with local councillors.
Grandma’s casseroles boost bars and restaurants SEVENTY-THREE local businesses took part in the third ‘Cazuela de la Abuela’ (Grandma’s Casserole) gastronomic event in the town. Mayor Esperanza Oña, accompanied by Councillor for Tourism, Ignacio Souviron; Councillor for Taxes, Carmen Malo, and Councillor for Internal Regime, Isabel Gonzalez, visited some of the participating establishments. The event has become very popular and aims to promote the excellent bars and restaurants in the town, support local business owners and allow people to try traditional Spanish recipes. Local residents and visitors were able to enjoy the casseroles, served in earthenware dishes and washed down with a drink, for just €2. Each of the restaurants had to offer at least one dish of their
own creation. They all participate in a competition in which the visitors vote for their favourite dishes. People who visited at least five participating restaurants, got their ‘passports’ stamped, and handed them in at the Tourist Office before March 5, also took part in a competition with prizes including a week’s holiday in a complex on the Costa del Sol or Tenerife, a weekend at a hotel in Andalucia, a flat-screen TV, meals in local restaurants and many more. The restaurants with the most votes will receive prizes and the 10 finalists will also receive diplomas. The restaurant with the best dish will get free advertising on Fuengirola Television for a month. The winners are due to be announced on March 11.
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March 2014
Fuengirola first for free dental services for those in need FUENGIROLA COUNCIL has taken another step to help families in need. The mayor, Esperanza Oña, has signed an agreement with the Charity Dentistry Foundation to provide an area for the non-profit entity to offer dental services for people at risk of social exclusion. Fuengirola is the first town in Andalucia to offer this service, which is already available in Madrid, Barcelona, Zaragoza, Valencia and La Coruña. It aims to complement Social Security services by also covering filling or removable dentures, currently only provided by private clinics. The foundation will provide them as long as they are for health, not just aesthetic, reasons.
CITIZEN SAFETY Councillor, Rodrigo Romero, has confirmed the town hall’s support for the local taxi sector. This comes following weeks of upset as taxi drivers in Malaga City want to overrule a decree which allows drivers from other towns to pick up passengers at the airport as long as their services have been hired in advance. Mayor Esperanza Oña held a meeting with local drivers to listen to their requests and said that she will defend their interests if any changes which could be detrimental to them are introduced.
Mayor Esperanza Oña (centre) announces the initiative. Mayor Oña explained that the organisation contacted the town hall several months ago asking for premises for the clinic. “This will help people
in financial difficulties to access dental treatment more easily,” she explained. The town hall will provide a 60-square-metre area on the
second floor of the Edificio Colores in Avenida Nuestro Padre Jesus Cautivo. The foundation will provide the necessary materials. Patients will only have to pay €12 for treatment, although they will require a report from Social Services to confirm that they are unable to pay for treatment at a clinic. Local dentists have been consulted about the project because the council didn’t want them to feel that it would be unfair competition. The representative for the foundation, Ana Campi, explained that they began their mission two decades ago in Cataluña and that dentists and health care staff who join the project are volunteers who receive no payment for their services.
Support for town’s taxi drivers
President of Radio Taxi, Olivia Rodriguez, explained that the current law, dating from 1985
and approved again two years ago, allows them to pick up passengers at ports, airports and train
stations throughout Andalucia if their services have been hired in advance. She added
that the number of journeys of this kind is ‘minimal’. Taxi drivers in Malaga have held several strikes and those in the rest of the province claim to feel ‘defenseless’ as they have met pickets at the airport terminals. Rodriguez said: “The decree is not a right for the drivers, it’s a right for passengers.” She pointed out that Malaga Airport also serves the rest of the province and Andalucia. Romero said the strikes have given a poor image of the Costa del Sol and criticised the Junta de Andalucia for allowing them.