EDITORIAL: Is your mayor ripping you off?

With all the furor surrounding the variants of solutions to the Cyprus problem on the table, and the distraction due to the devastating fires in Saittas-Pelendri and in Greece, public opinion seems to have forgotten about local administration issues – which is exactly what your mayor wants you to do.

With the incumbents being in their office for less than a year, some mayors have little work to show for the last nine months. They all campaigned on a platform of transparency, efficiency and future development, while trashing their opponents’ past record. Instead, they have all gone dead silent, almost like a conspiracy… to do nothing.

Plans for major infrastructure projects (such as the transformation of Plateia Eleftherias into a proper square) have been put on hold due to the bickering between interested parties. The development of the next phase of the sewage system is crawling along, coastal pathways and bicycle lanes are gradually increasing, barriers have been posted along some of the narrow pavements of the old parts of all towns, while some thoroughfares have been somewhat improved to allow for greater traffic flows and prevent congestion and pollution.

On the other hand, the hellish situation created by the road works in the capital’s prisons area, goes to show how incompatible public works and private contractors are.

Apart from the occasional project here and there, nothing new has come about. In actual fact, the present-day improvements and works are nothing more than the continuation of previous-term contracts.

So, it is fair to say that mayors and their municipal councils are operating on automatic pilot, using the golden rule of “if it’s not broke, don’t fix it.”

Businesses will be called to pay their municipal dues very soon, while households also have their share to pay. But where is all the money going?

In most of the commercial centres of Limassol and to a lesser extent, Larnaca, little has been done to improve paving and parking, which are two of the most important ingredients any business looks for when relocating (and taking their municipal dues elsewhere).

Perhaps the mayors don’t know that unsatisfactory parking and lethal pavements cause stress and frustration to employees, who in turn become less productive, affecting a company’s output, eventually forcing that enterprise to relocate.

But what seems to terrorise these mayors more is accountability and transparency. Citizens have every right to demand checks and balances, but will the mayors oblige?

Try it with your local mayor and see if he or she flips it. Then you will know if they truly care or deserve to be there.