Where are Astrid and her FAA?
Astrid Vella is too busy objecting to “foreigners” and “coloured people” to tell us what she thinks about the Yana Mintoff/Charles Polidano land deal, which involved the twisting of boundaries to accommodate them.
When I remember her reaction to poor old Victor Scerri’s (he was the PN president at the time) attempt to rebuild an old farmhouse at Bahrija, and compare this to her silence now, I want to laugh.
The woman is ridiculous, but dangerously so.
Back then, she rounded up a posse of demonstrators to march on Bahrija and led them while squeaking slogans though her famous megaphone, with Jason Micallef prancing daintily through the mud behind (min jaf kemm tqazzez).
Now Astrid discovers that the ODZ boundary was twisted out of whack to allow Mintoff’s daughters to make millions, and she says nothing. Or maybe she knew all along.
God bless her little cotton socks.
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The reason is simple – man-Nazzjonalisti kulhadd jaghmel l-arja imma kullhadd jibza’ mill-Laburisti ghax jaslu.
Five tumoli of virgin land have been negotiated for euro 3.6 million and Astrid Vella does not pull out the LEGALITY NOW placards, the megaphone, and her flasher’s raincoat to march along Republic Str in Valletta?
This is a disgrace.
One hopes that she and the Ramblers Association have filed objections to the development.
bahrija not fawwara
[Daphne – Yes, I corrected it.]
Daphne – My memory is bad but yours is shot to pieces. If I recall, FAA managed to organise a large (by our standards) rally in direct response to the “rationalisation” of development zones (which Yana and Co found so favourable). “Vote George Get Lorry”. Beginning to ring any bells yet? You of course ridiculed the event at the time. Now you are scandalised. Better later than never I suppose (ditto Mistragate incidentally). If my (failing) memory serves me well, I believe a certain Beppe Fenech Adami happily found the zone twisted out of shape to his benefit at the edge of Ghargur (completely by good luck of course). A quick google search turns up lots of good stuff from the time in question, e.g. http://www.timesofmalta.com/articles/view/20060623/opinion/vote-casa-get-pullicino.49880
[Daphne – Harry Vassallo? Please. He works for John Dalli. Enough said.]
Ok, ignore the random link, but consider my core point. FAA and other NGOs spoke up when the ground was being laid for this outrage (and others) to take shape. And of all people to taunt over their current non-action, you pick on the founder of FAA. I mean, for crying out loud…..
[Daphne – Thank you for reminding me that Astrid Vella protested back then. It drives home the point that she deploys two weights and two measures, depending on the political orientation of her targets. Did she know that the land covered by the abusive warping of the ODZ boundary was owned by Yana and Anne Mintoff? If she did, then why did she keep quiet about it and not kick up the sort of stink she did with, say, Victor Scerri and his little farmhouse? I rather suspect that she didn’t know, which might well be why she was motivated to kick up the stink in the first place. Now that she does know, she’s silent about it. Fantastic.]
Huh! Maybe Astrid’s informant ‘forgot’ to wise her up about the messing around with the ODZ boundary to favour the Mintoff sisters when he/she tipped her on Vic Scerri’s development.
U tghid mhux hekk?
“She deploys two weights and two measures, depending on the political orientation of her targets”. Hmmmm…. sounds familiar! Anyway, hats-off for exposing this particular outrage. It is a bona fide political scandal. It’s just a shame you have to be such a bully.
[Daphne – Exactly how am I a bully, Jackie? Because I don’t conform to the southern Mediterranean ideal of feminine coyness while being taller than most men? It’s strange how, sometimes, women are by far the greater misogynists. The real bully in this equation is Mrs Vella, but because she’s small and squeaky and not particularly bright, some people don’t actually register the fact. I’m afraid you’re one of those people who confuse the quite obvious fact that I am completely un-bully-able (always was) with the notion that it must be because I am a bully myself. Wrong. It’s because I’m completely indifferent to their efforts. I think of them as people rushing up against a glass wall and smashing themselves against it in their attempts at getting at me, while I watch them on the other side of it and laugh. ]
jackie, this plot doesn’t in any way correspond to the rationalisation process. It lies squarely outside the boundary. There’s no other area submitted to LN71 sticking out like a sore thumb as this one.
It’s also questionable how the application was made by third parties, and not simply for political reasons, imagine being a creditor.
A PC application, obligatory in this case as per the legal notice, requires the name of the owners to be published, third party owners informed, the works. I don’t see it here.
And Galdes’ little place? Against policy? But hey, he’s a Labour guy, so, miskin, he does not get a chorus of hounding media.
Dak Mintoffian hi , so , lil dak jahasra ma naqbdux mieghu u minflok naqduh mil-koxxa..
Astrid Vella will have her work cut out when Labour is back in power as there won’t be a single boundary that would not be moved to accomodate the Labour thugs.
In fact this is a good opportunity for her to show us how truly impartial she is. Go on Astrid just a little murmur of protest and a call for investigation.
Bet you the spineless little twerp stays tight-lipped.
Ghandek cans! U naf x’qed nghid.
L FAA probabbli qed diga ”jinvesti” halli jidru helwin meta jitilghu il Mintoffjani moderati u liberali fil-gvern erbat ijiem ohra.
She made a scene (well, a virtual one) on Facebook when I pointed out that her comments were xenophobic and silly, especially in view of the fact that most of Valletta, including the Royal Opera House she’s always banging on about, was built by “foreigners”.
This is what I really dislike about the FAA and Ramblers’ Association. I can understand their not liking a building – it’s a matter of taste – but why do they have to be so offensive? Piano taking us in. Indeed.
My thoughts exactly, does she really think Piano would risk his reputation, that he’s not used to real criticism?
She is dangerous, setting the lowest standards in public discourse, her taste verging on the grotesque. She can’t distinguish form in its abstract. Baroque, in her book, is individual detail, orders and recognisable signs.
Her proposals are uncanny in their similarity to Lowell’s, bombastic, non-functional, oppressive and melanchonic.
This thing with foreigners was the logical conclusion to her obsession with regimented uniformity.
Oh look, there is a Kappella (chapel) next to that yellow plot of land on that map of the ODZ of Marsaxlokk. It must be a real shame that the Kappella, such an important part of the skyline in this remote part of town, will be engulfed by modern apartments. Are we sure it will not develop cracks when the excavations begin?
And are those rubble walls and carob trees on the agricultural plot?
I’m sure Astrid and her friends will be able to find the precise policies in the Local Plan and in the heaps of MEPA policies to stop this development.
Funny, that kappella (chapel) seems to have its entrance from the site marked for development.
The circle in the middle of the chapel signifies a ‘dome’ of some sort, which means that the chapel has its back to the street.
Where would its entrance be if the site marked in yellow is built up?
And quite rightly as ciccio says the chapel which at the moment can be seen from miles away in open countryside will be engulfed within (most probably) tall buildings.
Then there’s the interesting zig zag in the adjacent ring road, totally against good practice and safety standards.
I expect her to request compensation if she’s asked to provide at least the service road for public access to the properties. Fancy that.
Victor Scerri’s farmhouse did not involve millions.
In this case, where vast amounts of euros are at stake, money talks and also helps people not to.
Tillers?
Nahseb tilers riedet tghid.
Reduced to xenophobia – what a shambles.
This, if I may, is a challenge; if Astrid Vella, or the FAA don’t speak out, we can safely assume she’s onto it as well.
After all, the rumours about hire-a-lobbyist have become a sick joke. Thankfully, Labour will always, inevitably, end up in this crap, too ravenous to resist.
Given that Astrid insisted on establishing herself as the island’s guardian, anything less than a sincere protest against Yana’s hypocrisy isn’t acceptable.
As for trying to denigrate Piano, the more time passes, the more bitter she sounds, the perfect illustration of Labour’s deceit.
I simply love it when you write your own comments in Maltese in brackets (min jaf kemm tqazzez) :)
[Daphne – Why? That’s how I actually speak.]
Astrid only tries to save freshwater crabs. She leaves the (terrestrial?) sharks to be handled by Daphne.
Someone says the usual mantra about MEPA – it can now be said about FAA “FAA is strong with the weak and weak with the strong.”