Mrs Vella discusses herself – in the third person singular
Is-sekinthewm ta' Estrit
Astrid Vella has issued a statement in her defence, after the accusations made against her on Xarabank last Friday. She writes about herself in the third person singular – Astrid Vella did this and Astrid Vella did that – and then signs the statement ‘Astrid Vella’.
Il-bambin jaghtini pacenzja. And that’s not all.
She also sent out a covering message with the statement, by email, in which she refers to herself as ‘Astrid Vella’, rather than just saying me, myself and I.
How would a psychologist describe this? Is she distancing herself from her own actions? Does she think of the public Astrid as separate from the private Astrid – a sort of Frankenstein’s monster with tits and some heavy investment in red hair-dye?
Read her email to editors, and spot the ‘she will I will’ slip:
Please find below my rebuttal of all the accusations made against Astrid Vella and FAA on last Friday’s edition of Xarabank, as well as present-day photo of the terrace of the property formerly owned by me. The small pool applied for was to be sunk into this terrace which is within the building line.
I trust that in the interests of balance and truth in broadcasting, this press release will be issued in its entirety.
Thankyou,
Astrid Vella
In reply to accusations aired on Xarabank last Friday, Astrid Vella states that plans show that her application was to build a pool just larger than a jacuzzi on a 20-feet wide terrace within the building line and that at no point was the field below involved in the pool plans. In fact the field was not even developed into a garden, let alone a pool, and left untouched, in its natural state.
Asking the application was labelled ODZ by MEPA, Ms Vella was told that this was a technicality for blocks was built on a slope, and extending more than 25metres from the road, even for buildings which on the MEPA site maps clearly show up within the building line. The incorrectness of MEPA’s labelling the application as ODZ is proven by the MEPA Report which talks of valley dams and dredging, impact on natural watercourses and on the traditional skyline and destruction of trees and plants, none of which are even remotely relevant to the sinking of a small pool on a bare ‘terrazin’.
Astrid Vella declared that she will I will make the plans and photos publicly available as she has nothing to hide.
Contrary to what was claimed by Dr. Victor Scerri, this application bears no resemblance whatsoever to his application in a scheduled ODZ site. Not only is the pool applied for within the building line, but the site is not a sensitive, protected area so much so that a subsequent applicant was automatically granted a permit for two pools in the field below. Unlike Dr. Scerri, when Astrid Vella’s application was refused, the applicant respected MEPA’s decision and did not apply for reconsiderations or appeals, still less submit three more ever-increasing applications.
Astrid Vella rebutted the false accusation that Flimkien ghal Ambjent Ahjar only takes up PN political cases. Out of over twenty cases which the FAA has campaigned in the media, only one clearly involved politicians and that is the case of Australia Hall in Pembroke, property of the PL.
This proves that this unwarranted attack on NGO activists is just part of the smear campaign which has been ongoing for three years, in an attempt to gag anyone who speaks any inconvenient truth; a sad reflection of the state of democracy and free speech in this country.
Astrid Vella
39 Comments Comment
Leave a Comment
Naf li m’ghandux x’jamsam, imma …
http://www.timesofmalta.com/articles/view/20091207/local/woman-runs-off-with-mans-trousers-cash
Anzi hallietlu l-qalziet ta’ taht.
‘An(y) inconvenient truth’. Aha, not only is this woman narcisstic, she is also a plagiarist.
This got me thinking… was she too busy at the hairdresser’s to give her statement a read before she sent it to the editors? Why didn’t she go on Super 1 to give her statement there? Very unusual of her not to appear on Lejber’s media.
She must have been trying her recipe for mulled wine before she wrote it.
So, for everybody else it’s “zero tolerance to ODZ development” but in Astrid Vella’s case it’s “Oh, but this particular ODZ is just a technicality”. Astrid actually thinks that it was incorrect of MEPA to classify her site as ODZ.
Apart from one or two typos and grammar mistakes, there is some confusion in the press release. For example, after telling us what insignificant impact the tiny pool will have on the environment, the statement then goes on “when Astrid Vella’s application was refused, the applicant respected MEPA’s decision …” So, was the application for the pool refused after all or is she talking about some previous case?
Is it possible that someone else is writing Astrid’s letters and she just signs without even reading them?
[Daphne – No. That she will I will is a dead giveaway that the person writing the missive was thinking in the first person but making a conscious effort to write in the third person. Also, why would she get somebody to write for her when she majored in English?]
She claims that the above picture is of her ‘former’ property. How recently did she sell the property?
Do FAA and Ramblers ever stroll along this pig sty? Doesn’t it bother them at all even if ‘the site is not a sensitive, protected area’?
How come she did not say a word until Glenn Bedingfield referred to the excavations on Dr. Scerri’s site as a ‘quarry’ (barriera) on Xarabank? Does she know the difference?
Why did she not address the statement made by Joe Falzon claiming that he knows of four cases where ‘sensitive and protected’ areas were concerned and only two whose approvals by MEPA were (eventually) withdrawn, coincidentally belonged to people connected with the NP – Dr. Scerri and Jeffery Pullicino Orlando?
Spare a thought, a prayer or whatever you have to spare.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6GAHFrLAxzM
And this person purports to speak on behalf of ‘The People’ – She does not even seem to be able to speak on behalf of herself – Tal-biki, veru tal-biki.
Daphne, I think you’re missing the wood for the trees. People don’t care much if Astrid wrote the letter the way she did.
I find nothing wrong with Astrid’s application, and nothing wrong with Dr Scerri’s development in Bahrija. In both cases one has to see the development ready. Surely Astrid won’t be living in a pig sty and Dr Scerri would not relax in a quarry.
I find Xarabank’s invitation to FAA and Ramblers unprofessional. And if Dr Scerri’s application was going to be discussed why wasn’t a MEPA representative invited on the discussion panel?
If there were any questions which remained unanswered, they were from MEPA.
Xarabank’s programme was a political shit-stirring exercise; it was dominated by four politicians out of a panel of five. If anything the public was misled to believe that FAA and Ramblers did not attend because they are cowards.
Perhaps in her own mind she feels so important that she deserves to have people think there’s two of her… herself as Astrid Vella and the Astrid Vella of the FAA?
Duh, and then they put Noel Arrigo in Mt Carmel……..
Astrid Vella wrote on 28/3/09:
“A great many policies and regulations have been broken:
– Two of the architects involved have been MEPA board members for years. This is a clear case of conflict of interest &lack of ethics.”
http://www.timesofmalta.com/articles/view/20090327/local/mosta-residents-protest-against-proposed-development-in-wied-il-ghasel
In this pool application she appointed an architect who sat on one of the decision boards: the planning appeals board (illum ma ghadux hemm).
If only all women were like Astrid Vella. Whether I agree or rather not, she doesn’t abuse of her power.
Do her and Astrid sport the same hair colour or does she change it very often? And once on the subject given her visceral love for the environment, couldn’t she cut back on this practice….saving all the solvents she flushes into the sea she may contribute to make Copenhagen more achievable.
This looks newly built to me. Technically, it is nigh on impossible to fit a pool into that terrace. Firstly, the arches are load bearing and it’s obvious that part of the house is resting on them. Did she want to take out the arches and put in a pool instead?
She must have been given the wrong advice, or she is amazingly whimsical as to what one can or can not do to a building.
Bottom line:
Astrid chickened out and refused to appear on Xarabank.
Alfred Sant chickened out of a pre-arranged mini-debate on television once he saw the person (JPO) he was attacking incessantly just before last election.
Joseph Muscat chickened out of his own press conference after the budget speech and refused to answer any questions by the press.
Seems like a lot of chickens to me in FAA/LP. How about throwing a real live rooster into the coop? It might do them some good.
I remember a girl who started to speak in third person, we thought she was psycho and in the end her actions proved us right with a rather creepy phone call to one of us early in the morning. Her defence was “why should I know of this phone call; she was sleeping at the time and her parents can prove it” and at that point the guy pulled out his phone and pointed to 2:45AM. Duration 1:00 min and apparently all she did was breath .. really heavily.
Just watching the associated Xarabank programme on streaming. Loved the bit where Ms Julia Farrugia spoke about the “Cetta Borg inkazzata fuq pesisa ta’ tieqa”. You can really see who she is trying to communicate with. Check at about 47 minutes into the on-demand version of the programme hosted by DIVE.
The strange thing about all this is that Ms. Astrid Vella usually argues in a way that she assumes MEPA labelling is gospel truth!
While able to protest on their own, Astrid and her Rambler friend Lino are not capable of facing direct discussion. The reason for not attending Xarabank was that the topic was political, but why did they not attend for the official MEPA meeting in August?
What definitely came out of Xarabank last week were three statements by three different people who do not necessarily always agree (ie MEPA Chairman Walker, MEPA Auditor Falzon, and the journalist who I usually watch on One TV Julia Farrugia), stating that Victor Scerri did nothing wrong.
People in glass houses (I do not mean the Labour headquarters!!) should not throw stones, and I state this because I have come across the name of Astrid Vella a number of times as follows:
Application 4654/02 (Xewkija, Gozo): For alterations and additions to existing dwelling and to construct a pool. (By the way this is different from the one she is already trying to defend by stating that it was only because of a MEPA rule that it appeared as being in an ODZ). MEPA listed this particular application as Scheduled Property/Conservation Area consent.
Enforcement Notice 236/07: Internal and External alterations not according to permit. The contravenor is listed as Ms Astrid Vella!! Does it mean she was also caught breaking the rules??
PA 4583/07: To sanction amendments to development permission PA 4654/02. Rumour has it that there was also a fine for illegal works.
At this stage her credibility is abysmal. The only way is out. This person is trying to tell us what to do. Definitely not what she has done.
Berthie
“Enforcement Notice 236/07: Internal and External alterations not according to permit. The contravenor is listed as Ms Astrid Vella!! Does it mean she was also caught breaking the rules??”
If I remember correctly this was something to do with an unauthorised window. In Julia Farrugia’s immortal words: “pesisa ta’ tieqa”.
This is getting mighty serious. As the Internejxinall Segretri used to say on Duper One: “Din il-bicca tax-xoghol irridu narawha”.
I think we are going down a dangerous path if we accept that anything which is outside the development zone must be left “Untouched”. If you have a look at our countryside you will notice that there are large swathes of “untouched” land which in actual fact looks dilapidated if not an outright dump. Whilst we should all oppose the distruction of the little countryside we still have, we should be looking at ways and means to promote the landscaping and upkeep of many areas which in the absence of a better option are just left to rot. I know many persons who own land in ODZ areas and who use it only for picnics for their families. As long as the so called development involves an improvement – both visual and environmental – then it should not be stopped by MEPA. Obviously there will always be those who try to abuse the system and there should be a good system of checks and balances to ensure that a) abuse is nipped in the bud and b) that those who abuse are brought to justice and stopped from submitting other applications for a number of years – that would make unscrupulous developers think twice.
Now that is a sensible contribution !
Both Dr Scerri’s and Ms Astrid’s properties were/are ugly looking as they are/were, I prefer Dr Scerri’s new build rather than the ruins of a small farmhouse.Who would go and take good care of his land without having a reasonably comfortable place of shelter in his fields?
Prosit Claude.
Wouldn’t it have been more appropriate if she had called a press conference on the new ‘Piazza tal-Poplu’
Obviously drafted by her architect and badly adapted.
Having sometimes observed Astrid Vella and Lino Bugeja on television, it is obvious to me that neither could withstand the rough-and-tumble of a lively Xarabank debate with all the interruptions, heckling and loudness that typifies the programme. Astrid Vella is particularly disadvantaged as her voice is easily drowned out. Since neither FAA nor Ramblers have anyone who could understudy the figureheads, I’m convinced this is why they renounced going to Xarabank. The “we don’t do politics” line is a banal and transparent excuse: environmentalism is essentially political and, in any case, the term “political resignations” (which was the title of the programme) doesn’t necessarily refer to party politics. After all, FAA are always shouting for people to resign so the title should have fitted nicely their overt agenda (but perhaps clashed with their undeclared one).
Imhawwad said that Astrid’s architect was on the Planning Appeals Board. Mela, it shows, doesn’t it. If Astrid chose him for unethical reasons, she would have appealed and used him. Instead, she didn’t even ask for reconsideration or appeal. And from all the rubbish the case officer report says about dams, water courses and dredging of valleys, the report and refusal would have been dismissed very easily. How different that is to Victor Scerri who appealed every refusal he got and won the appeal every time. X’kien? Then he gets his architect to send another, bigger application every time.
And you, Berthie, it seems you have very good access to MEPA’s internal system to find out so much about her. Why don’t you say that the enforcement was about putting in a keyhole window over a balcony door? Don’t you remember, it was on Malta Today? One window so small you can’t put your head through it or it gets stuck, and I think an extra filata on the roof for safety or something. Oh, what huge infringements, call out the army!
Il-veru m’ghandkhomx taghmlu, hlief gossiping about someone’s hair colour or petty infringements? Il-veru taqghu fil-baxx.
Who can blame her for opting out of Xarabank? Nasty little show. It’s about time we had a real debate programme on local TV, and I refuse to believe people who claim that being loud and annoying is somehow part of “Maltese political culture”.
Is that terrace house built in the countryside?
Attn M Buttigieg
Big or small, Astrid Vella infringed the rules, whereas Scerri did not break any rule.This is what matters in terms of credibility.
Of course I have access to MEPA’s system. I know how to use my computer: all the information is there for all to see. And you are reminding me that this was on Malta Today – so there is no need to access the internal system.
If only you could look at yourselves objectively. What a pathetic sight you make, competing to see who can be the most bitchy/vicious.
[Daphne – This is an equal opportunities blog, Twanny. Women get discussed in the same tones as men. If it’s OK to laugh at Anglu Farrugia and his elephant, or Joseph Muscat and his hair gel, then it’s OK to laugh at Astrid Vella and her choice of red hair dye.]
I did not have sex/gender in mind when I made that comment. Don’t really know why you brought it up.
My comment applies in any case.
As I said before…. All very “West Africa” “no wahallah oyibo” to me. I have to stop reading the news….
Keep up the good work Daphne
Steve
Re One News coverage of Joseph Muscat at the PES meeting in Prague:
He was sitting between Alex Sceberras Trigona and George Vella with his Ara – Kemm- Jien- Zaghzugh / Ara- Nanna -Kemm-Ilhaqt smirk on his face. In reality he appeared as though two same-sex parents took their adopted son to some meeting. Especially Alex peering down on him, explaining something.
There’s something about Muscat where he seems to feel good about himself, but indeed he comes across as being completely out of his depth. It then just crossed my mind that in just over three years he will be Malta’s PM at the EU summits.
I will only say this, Daphne. For someone who once said that Astrid is all about negativity and should do something positive, your utter fixation with Astrid bashing is hardly a paradigm of positivity!
[Daphne – I bash lots of other people, Chris, but men just love what they see as a cat fight. To me, Astrid is just another male politician.]
Why don’t you call a truce? I could then try to get you (both) to do something positive with the resources this would unleash: do you know the parlous state of sign language interpreting services provision in this country? I assure you it’s a far, far bigger scandal than anything MEPA or Astrid ever did or didn’t do.
The trouble is, I have neither the clout nor the time – especially because our daughter is deaf – to conduct a media/blogosphere campaign. Believe me, in any other civilised country it would be a huge scandal and heads would roll. But because the deaf – literally – can’t speak, no one is aware of what’s going on.
Push will eventually come to shove . . . but it would be a lot quicker and less painful if the right people were convinced of the cause.
You’re confusing catfight with topless mudwrestling.
The funny/sad thing in all of this is the fact that, in the normal course of events, most of the people on this blog would feel most at home rooting for the environment side by side with Astrid Vella and the FAA.
[Daphne – No, Twanny, you’re wrong. Marika Mifsud’s comment sums it up. I don’t know about Mr Bugeja, because I don’t know him at all. He comes across to me as quite a nice man from the little I’ve seen of him on television, but what would I know about that. But I certainly know about Mrs Vella and her kind, because that’s my home turf she prances around on. I can’t explain why I don’t respect her judgement, mode of action or opinions without coming across as very rude, so I won’t – but basically, it’s what happens when you give a ‘child’ a bit of power and attention.]
But, since, by definition, NGOs have to deal with the government of the day, and since the government at present is PN, they feel obliged to take every critical word as a mortal insult.
[Daphne – Not at all. I am a firm supporter of Din L-Art Helwa, for example, and I put my money where my mouth is with them. DLH enjoy enormous respect right across the board. Their criticism is always well considered and well balanced – and credible. What’s more, they don’t just whine, whinge and carp – they do things. They don’t collect money for their personal campaigns like Mrs Vella does, but for the restoration of buildings – and then they restore them. Mrs Vella, on the other hand, comes across as ever so slightly potty, easily manipulated (and manipulative) politically, misguided and at times even not particularly bright. Also, her methods are those of a loose cannon, picking on apparently random buildings while ignoring wider environmental issues or even major projects. It is the convent-school playground approach to ‘doing business’.]
whinge, whine and carp..easily manipulated politically (and politically manipulative), slightly potty, not particularly bright, loose cannon behaviour, ignoring wider environmental issues..convent school playground approach to doing business….wow, for a misguided minute there I thought..fleetingly..of this government.
Din L-Art Helwa do great stuff…wipe up the mess stuff..but they’re a bit like a Band Aid Brigade..they focus on fixing the rot which is admirable, but they don’t seem to target the source of the rot, and that’s where FAA comes in (typical of 3rd World countries, organisations get condensed into single personalities such that in this case FAA becomes Astrid Vella just as last PN electoral campaign became Gonzi).
FAA tackles the rot at its root: MEPA (read:government) in cahoots with big money to fiddle the system to make more big money. Well, there’s only so much time in a day (give or take several hours for following bitchfests on the DCG blog) and one organisation can’t be doing both raising funds for fix-it jobs and keeping track of government shenanigans..so we have DLH and FAA and this country needs them both in equal measure.
By the way, I love the way you insinuate Mrs. Vella works only for her personal gain..can you prove that she is making any personal gains (in Maltese read: fat bank account)? Or is she possibly just being a thorn in the backside by trying to overcome her inadequacy issues as a result of her short height on the convent playground? (Not something you can relate to I’m sure).
[Daphne – Actually, I think it’s the latter.]