Looking for new opportunities

We are on the threshold of a new year, a tough and difficult year both from a local and international standpoint. This year, however, we cannot give up and we will need all our physical and mental energy to move forward. The turn of the year does not coincide with a cyclical change, since all forecasts for 2012 indicate that the complicated situation that we experienced in 2011 will stick with us until next year. However, although the picture is markedly difficult, the government of the New Majority will face 2012 with courage and confidence. We know that positive results will come only if we approach our goals with hard work, faith and hope.

2011 was a year of adjustments and sacrifices. From a strictly local perspective, such adjustments were just part of the absolutely essential measures taken by the City Council. The adverse economic legacy we received left us no other possible option if we wanted to maintain the provision of basic municipal services. The frail state of municipal finances is the result of a very irresponsible policy. Such a policy involved spending beyond our means, accumulating an unsustainable debt in the process. As a result of this policy, the adjustments were the only way to save the ship and return to a safe port. This is our bearing and our goal.

However, the last six months of 2011 were also an opportunity for the new municipal government to improve management processes, restore harmony with cultural, social and economic organizations and work on projects and initiatives that will come to fruition during the near future.

In times of restricted investments such as today, it is time to find imaginative ways to get new resources. The Municipal Government is working tirelessly to achieve this goal, and I have no doubts whatsoever those favorable results are around the corner.

This is the line that we are implementing, for example, with the school Agnes of Sitges. We are obtaining the involvement of different organizations to ensure the construction of facilities. Not an easy task, but we are nearer to the goal than a few months ago.

Also, in the field of economic development, 2012 will witness how all the work done in an efficient and constant manner during the closing year will come to fruition. We are working to create ways of collaboration between public and private sectors, to contribute to socio-economic promotion and to the creation of new business opportunities. The success of the meeting with the unemployed, held on 13 December, will be applied to different economic sectors, in order to jointly study and implement measures that promote employment, entrepreneurship and economic opportunities...

In short, 2012 will not witness the solutions for the large amount of problems that have been piling up for years, but present new opportunities for dialogue and confidence in our possibilities. Let's take advantage of those opportunities!
Happy New Year

Christmas Time

We are in the previous days of Christmas. Just along the Town's Festival and Saint George's Day, Christmas has been and is one of the most important dates in my private calendar. From my early childhood, when Christmas approaches I become immersed in a special sensation that combines the magic of happiness, certain flair of melancholy and an invitation to reflection on the people and society that we are in condition of correcting and improving, both individually and collectively.

This year's Christmas is special. For me, this is the first Christmas as Mayor of Sitges, the first Christmas in which I’m performing a prime responsibility in the management of the municipality. A task that fills me with pride, but at the same time I feel an enhanced sense of responsibility.

The situation of extreme economic hardship suffered by many people today makes this Christmas a new opportunity to rethink the values ​​of our society. Often overly influenced by uncurbed and alienating consumerism, Christmas has lost somewhat  its real meaning in our society: the celebration of the birth of Jesus Christ. Christmas is a celebration of love, faith, joy and a great opportunity to meet with your family and the people you love and you share your life with.

Last week, during a meeting with one hundred unemployed in Sitges, I had the opportunity to share with people who are suffering as no one among us the hardest and critical aspects of the crisis. People who struggle to find a job, people that must make their way to overcome the obstacles that are the unfortunate characters of personal tragedies. Those are the people to whom I want to address in a more significant way during the celebration of Christmas: I wish that these days of spiritual joy and family meetings are also days of hope and light.

I will take advantage of these lines to invite everybody in Sitges to participate in the traditional Christmas events that we hold in our town. The exhibition of nativity scenes and dioramas, the representation of "Pastorets" (Nativity play), concerts or Christmas Park, among others, are a demonstration that among us Christmas is alive, a tradition that endures and strengthens its meaning.

I wish you Merry Christmas and Happy New Year, I wish you good health and a better 2012.

Fight unemployment and promote economic activities: target priorities

Tomorrow, Tuesday, we arranged a meeting with the unemployed in Sitges. In half-hour sessions and accompanied by the Councilor for Employment, Business and Economic Initiatives, Ferran Ignasi Llombart, I will meet with the unemployed  in Sitges in order to know their situation, which, no doubt, will be useful for our policies for actions shared by the public and private sectors. At the same time, the event will also be a good opportunity to transmit them the programs at our disposal. This is an initiative integrated into the programs for developing and supporting employment and the task we have activated at the City Council, whose target is to contribute to the economic recovery and employment creation in our municipality.

The current critical economic situation channels much of the efforts and energies of the municipal government. The economy and employment are the main concern of citizens and governments, and we, as public administrators, must respond to the needs and expectations of citizens. What can the City Council do in this regard?

The municipal authorities have no jurisdiction in matters of employment. In fact, it is still the Spanish state that should activate appropriate plans, many of which are parallel to the planning and development of macroeconomic and fiscal measures at national level. However, City Councils also have tools and policies at their avail that can contribute to the stimulation of the local economy.

For this reason, the “Centre d'Iniciatives Econòmiques Nivell 10” (NICIES NIVEL 10) (Centre of Economic Activities Level 10) ascribed to our City Council, has different lines for supporting the unemployed, entrepreneurs and businesses in the town. The services of awareness towards entrepreneurship are intended to stimulate the creative capacity of young people in their inclusion in the labor market. Information, orientation and assessment services facilitate the task of entrepreneurs and contribute with structural support. The consolidation services assist in the dissemination of the projects already established. And training programs is an excellent tool to provide content to companies in the development of management skills, negotiation, planning and strategic thinking.

The "Centre d'Empreses Creatives de Sitges" (Creative Business Centre of Sitges), the SME incubator inaugurated two weeks ago in the old design center under the initiative of the previous government team, was the last tool provided by the City Council to facilitate the task entrepreneurs and contribute their bit to promote employment and economic revitalization.

Night of Sitges Awards 2011

Last Friday, we held the fourteenth edition of the “Night of Sitges Awards” at Casino Prado Suburense. It was a joyful event that brought recognition to winners; it was also an event of complicity thanks to the union of efforts and initiatives, and also of trust in the future, notwithstanding our current situation. Because culture, in all its dimensions, is one of the features that best defines Sitges. Next, I'll reproduce the intervention I made at the closing ceremony.

"Councillors, awardees, representatives of organizations, good night everyone.

The event we have just experienced, the awards to the world of culture, is the best reflection of our collective reality. A reality that makes Sitges a town that loves culture. All this is possible thanks to the combined efforts of many individuals and groups who, during many years, have outlined a way to do things that those here today have inherited, but we also have the merit of pampering and building it every day.

I think that one of our main strong points is the ability to combine tradition with innovation. The preservation of older signs of identity, while granting room for innovation, but especially, we have accepted and pampered all those that found in Sitges a place to work for culture.

During this night, the disciplines that received awards were folklore, photography, music, painting, sculpture and literature. Most of these awards were made possible thanks to the initiative of promoters, organizations, families and people who believe in culture and wish to keep it alive.

And as the Alderwoman declared, our local Administration also believes in culture in all of their manifestations. We believe that we must take care of all those that promote it, but above all, we must place culture at the reach of everybody.

We are all going through difficult times-families, organizations and administration, we must advance with fewer resources. And probably, many of you gathered here think that culture is at risk in times of crisis.

But I want to tell you that we will work to avoid such trend in Sitges. And I am stating this because I understand that, although culture requires financial resources, in a town like Sitges we can continue our cultural advancement. It is quite obvious that we can always plan for the improvement of cultural facilities, offer a wider range of training courses or add more space to develop any and all cultural disciplines. But it is also true that we often waste what we have.

Therefore, it is just about time to optimize existing resources and make them available to everyone. This is something that has already happened. We will work to obtain resources that will allow us to improve both private and public facilities. The theater where we are tonight is an example. We will work with the aim of obtaining resources for the refurbishment of this wonderful theater.

We will pamper and preserve our cultural heritage. We will work as quickly as possible so we can enjoy our museums again. Our museums must remain being a cultural flagship for our entire nation. We will work for the recovery of other areas such as Can Falç.

But now, more than ever, we must work together to bring out the wisdom, talent and loyalty that transformed Sitges into a cultural reference.

Miquel Marzal, Joan Iriarte, Quartet Octavia, Victor Sicard, Yolanda Martín, Rafel Gascón, Hospital de San Juan Bautista, Mònica Zgustovà, Rosa Muntané and Bibioteca Popular Rusiñol: again, my sincerest congratulations, and above all, my special thanks for your help to bond the name of Sitges with the world of culture. "