Sunday 31 January 2010

Penedès News in English

Penedès is not only white wine and fabulous cava, but also four comarques (Alt Penedès, Anoia, Baix Penedès and Garraf) west of Barcelona which aspire to be a separate administrative unit – a vegueria. Here is a summary of local news from this area, for the period January 24-31, 2010, starting with the Penedès as a whole, and then split by comarca.

Penedès

The Spanish Ministerio del Fomento has made a final approval of the stretch of the new motorway A-7 between Vilafranca del Penedès and Altafulla, via l’Arboç and el Vendrell, and the bidding process for the project will take place this year. (ElPunt)

One owner of strategically important land in Canyelles protests against the new C-15 motorway between Vilanova i la Geltrú and Vilafranca del Penedès and the start of the construction works is thereby delayed. (DdV)

A train breakdown between Cubelles and Cunit caused a 30 minutes delay on Rodalies line-2. (Avui)

Cinema owners in Penedès join the strike against a proposed law to promote Catalan in the dubbing and subtitling of movies, claiming that it would hit small cinemas in unfairly hard. (3de8)

Garraf

To learn how to set up a joint agency for economic promotion, the six mayors of Garraf have carried out a study trip to Euskadi (the Basc Country). To save costs, they all went in one car and took turns driving. (DdV)

Parts of the tarmac along the passeig de la Ribera of Sitges will be replaced with greenery and an extension of the pedestrian area. (ElPunt)

The Sitges government defends the 6% price increase for municipal fresh water with the investments carried out. (ElPunt)

The new documentary movie Calidoscopi. 41,2°N- 1,8°E by Imma Serra shows how one busy intersection of Sitges changes through the different seasons of the year. (VD)(ElPunt)

Two old gigants – els gegants de la Cuyna Vella – have been restored as of their historic looks and will be re-incorporated into the carnival program of Vilanova i la Geltrú. (VD)(ElPunt)

La Penya Barcelonista (the FCB fan club) of Vilanova has celebrated its 50th anniversary. (ElPunt)

Alt Penedès

The political parties of Vilafranca del Penedès aim, but have not yet managed to reach consensus on the social aspects of the 2010 municipal budget. The CiU government denies that the year 2009 was closed with a 4 million surplus, as has been claimed by the PSC opposition. (ElPunt)(PD)

The renovation of el Palau Reial within Vinseum – the Wine Museum of Catalonia located in Vilafranca, has started and will be completed within a year. (Avui)(ElPunt)

Baix Penedès

In Calafell, two people have been detained for burglary into 50 storage rooms located in communal car parks.

(ElPunt)

The court of el Vendrell opens a criminal investigation to determine whether the iman of Cunit has put unreasonable pressure on a woman of Marroqui origin for not wearing a veil at her work at the town council. The PSC mayor of Cunit, Judit Alberich, who initially asked the parties to negotiate, has now decided to defend the individual freedom of her staff. (LaVanguardia)(ElPunt)(LaVanguardia)(3de8)

An officer at the police station of el Vendrell has been detained for having kept stolen jewellery, valued to € 200.000. (ElPunt)

The collection community SGAE demands a 342 € payment from the restaurant 'Al costat del museu' in el Vendrell, although the latter claim to only play artists who share their music for free. (3de8)

Anoia

The only suspect held for the murder of Francina Castelltort, a former CiU councillor of Igualada, has been acquitted by the Superior Tribunal of Justice of Catalonia (TSJC). (ElPunt)(AD)

In Igualada, a 22-year-old has been suspended from education for two weeks after having entered the secondary school (institut) Milà i Fontanals, dressed in military clothes, with his face covered and carrying a paintball gun. (ElPunt)

Some hundred people have come together in a frozen flash mob, summoned via Facebook, calling for more community spirit (civisme) and a cleaner Igualada. (AD)

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My objective with these summaries is to, in English, present news which might be of interest to expats living in anyone of the municipalities covered, but I do not claim that local news from, for example, Vilanova, automatically are of interest to the inhabitants of the other towns of Penedès.

The idea behind the format is to present all items as extended headlines, with a focus onwhat, who and where. Readers who want more facts, like the hows and whys, will have to follow the link to the source articles. The answers to when will be the time period stated in the opening paragraph.

The main sources are AnoiaDiari·cat, Avui, Penedès Digital, El Punt, El 3 de Vuit, LaVanguardiaand Vilanova Digital.

L’Extra - the only news service which treats the Penedès as a united entity –and our local newspaper Diari de Vilanova, serve as inspiration, but are not presented as sources since their digital formats either are incomplete or do not allow you to link to individual articles.

The signature EW signals that I am personally the source of information. Any opinions expressed are my own. Earlier editions can be found under the blog label Penedès News.

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Technorati tags: Anoia, Catalonia, Garraf, Igualada, Penedès, Sitges, el Vendrell,Vilafranca, Vilanova,

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