Ah, so that’s why photographers have been seen in every street of every town, snapping at houses
Published:
October 29, 2013 at 12:57pm
Opposition MP Ryan Callus asked about it in parliament. The prime minister replied that it is a Malta Environment & Planning Authority exercise in which 31 photographers have been engaged to photograph the facades of every building.
These will then be organised into a “digital library”.
The exercise is to cost €240,000.
I can’t help thinking there’s some kind of ulterior motive. A door tax, perhaps? Or a medieval window tax. Or perhaps even a ‘width of facade’ tax – the reason why 16th-century houses in the Low Countries are tall and narrow rather than wide and low.
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http://www.independent.com.mt/articles/2013-10-15/news/ps-farrugia-explains-reason-behind-property-photo-taking-2896887808/
So does this mean that in the case of semi-detached or detached properties, they are taking pictures of all sides of the property?
And in the case of the aerial photos, they are published online on MEPA’s map server. Are they going to publish pictures of the facades of private homes on the internet as well? Isn’t this invasion of privacy and the filing and publication of data that may be used to identify persons and families?
What a splendid idea. However this exercise should be carried out by Google Map employees for Google Map Street Level use. It’s high time that Malta joins the rest of Europe and has its streets and houses published on Google Maps.
Why?
Why not?
Why do you want your house on Google Maps?
I’ve always wanted to be on Big Brother. This is my ticket to stardom.
In the days of Google Street view this makes it to the top five of the government’s most moronic ideas
The missing part of Dr Muscat’s road map.
And where the expression ‘daylight robbery’ comes from.
Definitely, Sant had a go with the drainage tax. Scicluna’s calling it an indirect tax.
Chetcuti’s on the rampage with his proposals. Most of them indirectly linked to forcing owners to sell.
They held imported cigarettes yesterday, no prior announcement.
My father used to say how, with Mintoff, it was about getting up in the morning curious what he would have come up with that night.
They are preparing for the introduction of a property tax.
:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Property_tax
In what form? For tenants? Landlords?
Has this got anything to do with the surge in registered holiday homes?
Oh well. I suppose I just have to make sure I’m towelling off at a full-length open window when the MEPA cameras drive by. Then they’ll have to edit out my facade, and I’ll beat the taxman.
A tax on the width, it says.
I will lie naked full-length on my bed with the window WIDE open when they come by, and I am getting one of those ceiling mirrors to make sure they capture my image from any elevation. This way they will have to edit the width of my house, and I’ll beat the taxman.
And I am putting a sign on the door: Joseph Muscat said his government will not intrude in my bedroom.
And I take it your real name is NOT Joe Grima, nor is it Manwel Mallia, because the image would be just a little bit too much.
What about multiple facades, ciccio? They’ll have us racing from window to window, willies flapping in the slipstream.
So the government can take a photo of my house, but no one can take a photo of the government’s coconut?
Let’s hire a mobile house
Which brings to mind – Are try also taking photos of all the caravan sites such as those in Armier, Marfa and St. Thomas Bay?
I heard it’s an exercise for a new ‘censiment’, a detailed one this time, following which the levying of the tax but not on the facade, Ah we’ll wait and see the indirect taxes will surprise us and them too
Your explanation Mr Parliamentary Secretary is nothing but B…S***.
It does not seem, but we are definitely moving towards the very old Malta Labour Party days of terror when in power.
If Joseph Muscat et al waited a bit, Google Street View would have saved them €240,000 and they could have spent it on more courses for Super One reporters and their friends.
31 switchers or diehards, I bet.
I am sure the photographers were all engaged not on Meritocracy but on their political leanings.
In Medieval times, when window tax was introduced, poor people resorted to the removal of windows from their facades to avoid paying this tax – hence the term “Daylight robbery”.
I suggest that once the front door tax is introduced, the switchers follow suit and remove their front doors; they should be ashamed of showing their face in public
Is it possible we will be coping Enrico Letta;s latest move? Is Malta’s economy as bad as Italy’s?
What most miss is what it takes to turn things ugly over here. Absolutely nothing.
No mass equals no momentum. Business is at standstill, everyone holding their breath.
Guess what happened to government income.
We could have done it for free with Google Street View. At least with Google the faces would have been blurred. With this, nothing will be blurred out, no privacy at all, I’m sure.
So it’s OK to photograph my private property without my consent, but an arrestable offence to allegedly take a picture of two political aides leaving together for a secretive, state-funded course in London.
I’d advise them to skip Kurt Farrugia’s house, because he’s obviously a tad sensitive.
Ssssh! They’ve already done it! http://thinng.com/535-coconut-house
daqs nofs passaport …..
I honestly think that they’re doing it to curb illegal development or any development that takes place without a permit.
Kemm int fidil, jahasra. This IS Labour we are talking about, after all.
Spiza ta’ kwart ta’ miljun ewro ghan-nej..
Iridu jindahlu wkoll fil-faccati. Allahares naqbad wiehed minnhom jiehu ritratti tal-faccata tieghi ghax issa diga xebbawni.
Will they be taking snapshots of illegal structures too? The ones belonging to ****** MP, ********* MP, *********** MP and ******* MP?
Sorry guys! You’re missing the wood for the trees. The question should be ‘who will pocket €240,000 from this unnecessary exercise?’
Exactly!
M’hemmx dubju li xi hadd se jdahhal kwart ta’ miljun. Ikun interessanti nkunu nafu min hu.
Apparti dan nahseb li Daphne ghandha ragun. Taxxa fuq kull bieb hija taxxa indiretta u bhala tali tinkwadra tajjeb fil-politika ekonomika ta’ Scicluna.
Niftakar li ezercizzju bhal dan kien inbeda minn Alfred Sant u kellu jieqaf hesrem meta twaqqa’ l-gvern tieghu. L-ewwel pass kien li inghata numru lil kull bieb, Kienu twahhlu karti zghar bl-arma ta’ Malta, li uhud minnhom ghadhom jidhru sal-lum.